California Day 3031

Well, we are back home after a late night flight. It was great to see the "kids", but sad to leave such a beautiful place. Who's going to bring us lavender scented, chilled facial towels at the pool?? Wait....what pool?? Who's going to bring us breakfast in bed?? Ugh...reality is setting in!

At least we have our incredible memories....oh yea, and over 1,000 pictures. We love pictures, and with two cameras with us nearly constantly, we snapped away. We were talking on the flight back about how "back in the olden days", before digital cameras, we all had to buy film, and wait to get it developed until after we were back from vacation. At the rate we took pictures, we figure it would have cost us over $500.00 to develop the pictures we took. Thank god for modern technology!

Our first reports on the kids were that Digby was a perfect little gentleman and Peanut Butter was good too....BUT.....dear Prinnie....well, she wasn't so good. She pottied in the house at least twice a day from the moment we left. She was definitely sending a message.

Anyhow, we are back, but not in reality yet. We are still living on "Maui time", a phrase coined by our outrigger canoeing instructor. I hope we can stick with Maui time for another few months, but I guess a few extra days would do!!

Maui Day 8

Today was our last day in absolute paradise. What a vacation this has been - truly what dreams are made of. We have been pampered beyond anything we ever expected, soaked in the beautiful sun of this pacific heaven, and relaxed our minds and souls on the beach. We are, as anyone would be, sad that we have to go home.

We've had an absolute blast, and hope you have enjoyed our trip as much as we have. Here are some final pictures for our last posting here before we head back to reality. Look closely at the picture with the bush, and see who is hiding in there....

ALOHA!

Maui Day 7

We always seem to start off by saying "What a day", but WHAT A DAY!!!

We went on a Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tour this morning of western Maui and the islands of Molokai and Lanai. Holy maloly! First off, K was scared to death because this was the first time either of us had flown in a helicopter before and she is scared of heights. As we entered different valleys (and I mean we ENTERED them), we thought for sure we were going to crash into the mountain side. But the beauty and spectacular views of the waterfalls, lush green landscape and the breath-taking views of the shorelines around the islands made us quickly forget how terrified we were. We have just a sliver of the hundreds of pictures we took below.

We then came back to the resort and hung out at the pool for the rest of the afternoon, sipping on Lava Flows....really great drinks that are supposed to represent lava flowing. Whatever - they were great. We took a stroll along the beach, which was amazing. Then we came back to the room, had a wonderful sunset dinner on our lanai overlooking the ocean, and later headed down to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Sprago's, which is here at the resort, for some desert and cappuccinos.

We finished off the night with another stroll to the beach to hear the crashing waves - something has been stirring up the surf progressively stronger as the day goes, so the water is now crashing ashore with a thunderous roar, with perfectly shaped curling waves - by far the biggest waves we have seen since arriving.

It's late, and we have an early day tomorrow, so enough for tonight. Here are some pictures of the day......

Maui Day 6

We started the day off by going on our second outrigger canoeing trip this morning. We got to see a few more sea turtles (picture of one below). S says that it has been one of her most favorite activities on the island. While there, ladies, we went Man-Hunting for you again, and have now found MORE than enough choices for each of you, so no worries about staying up as late as you can to see who can get to this blog first (your choices from today are below)!!

After outriggering, we donned our snorkel gear, which today included wet suits, our snorkel gear and a boogie board. What a riot we looked like. We went out into the ocean off our beach quite a distance, unfortunately though, we didn't get to really see much except a little coral, and what S called and eel and I called an evil snake. I love animals with every fiber of me, but I HATE snakes! We were told early in our stay that there are absolutely no snakes on the island of Maui because they have been banned from being brought into the islands. Well, then some dumb snake SWAM his way here, because I saw it....granted it was in about 20 feet of water and appeared to live in the ocean floor. S said it was only about a foot long, but I KNOW it was about 8 feet long.

After our water-play, we cleaned up and dined for lunch on a beachfront table (picture below) overlooking the ocean. One of the 4 restaurants here at the Four Seasons. Just unbelievable views and ambiance. After lunch, we took about a 2 mile jaunt down this ocean trail, again, leading from our resort. Most of the pictures posted today were captured on that walk. The beauty of this place is amazing, and not something you can get tired of seeing.


After that, we went to dinner at the same restaurant we had lunch at (Italian food, of course - my favorite). We had violins and stringed instruments providing live (quiet and romantic) entertainment as the trade wind breezes blew through our hair. Again, just an awesome, romantic atmosphere. Gosh we can get used to this!

Tonight was a relaxing night just hanging out at the resort in all it's splendor. So there you have it....we played in the water, Man-Hunted and ate today. Notice the common theme appearing - water play and eating????

Maui Day 5

Today was a perfect R & R day! We started off our day as we have each day so far with breakfast on our lanai. From there, we decided to hang out at one of the pools for a bit before heading out on another snorkeling adventure.

What's so amazing about this place (beyond the unbelievable service and attention to detail of the resort staff) is that the temperature doesn't ever fluctuate more than 10 degrees from the hottest part of the day to the coolest part of the night. It has ranged from 75-80 degrees during the night to 82-85 during the day. Amazing, and it puts southern CA to shame (or at least the area that we live in).

After a leisurely bout at the pool, we had lunch in a poolside cabana. We then headed off to snorkel. As we headed into the water, S noticed huge white caps on the water for as far as the eye could see. After about 15 minutes in the water, the red flag went up, which meant the water was too dangerous to be in because of the trade winds blowing in and causing hazardous water conditions. We decided it would be wise to end our snorkeling adventure and get out. But, before we did, we swam with a huge sea turtle for a short bit then headed back onto the beach. After watching a few beach umbrellas blow around, we called it a day for our water play.

We came back to our room and cleaned up (again, getting sand out of places it was never meant to be, although I'm hoping that maybe in a year or two, my belly button might start producing some good sized pearls!!). We then headed out to do some shopping and touring of the island. It was so relaxing that a few times we wondered what time it was and then said to one another "who cares - time means nothing here". Speaking of time meaning nothing, we were running a few minutes late to our outriggering lesson yesterday. When we got to the beach, we apologized to the staff, who said "you're not late, you're on Maui time". That statement was exactly how things seem to be here. Too cool!

On our journey around the island, we found several public beaches, and stopped to take some pictures. Our next mission was to go MAN HUNTING for the ladies who read this blog and are battling one another over the great bods we have posted! So, for them, we found a real boy-man. We took a picture, which now brings our Man Hunt to 3 selections - one for each. So you go, girls, and battle it out for today's man!

Here are some pictures of the day.....enjoy!