We took a quick plane trip from Oahu to Maui (it was a total of 16 mins) and that uneventful short trip was more action packed for my comfort level on an airplane. As we are coming in, we are turning to the right and all the "ooohs and aaahs" as we get to see the beautiful waters, we hit a thermal and dropped about 50 ft and the water was that much closer. So, getting off the airplane with my heart still in my throat, I was a little shaken. My kids thought it was pretty darn awesome.
We stayed in Ma'aalea Bay which is right next door to the acquarium and not far from the airport. However, its also not far from the sugar cane fields and they were burning the sugar cane so there was dust on everything in our condo. But were in a great location for all the stuff we had planned. Our condo was right up against the water and we had a beautiful view everyday.
Later that night we attended a luau at the Royal Lahaina Resort. Great entertainment, great food. 
The next day, our family was off to snorkel in Molokini Crater and Turtle Town. It was a 5 hour event and we got breakfast and lunch out of it. Pride of Maui, the way to go if going out to Molokini Crater. We definitely got the most bang for our buck and most importantly had get service, the staff was wonderful from helping with food to helping us with the kids. Awesome!
Our 3rd full day in Hawaii, Steve and I signed up for an EARLY excursion. We were picked up at our condo at 3am and proceeded up 10,000 ft to the top of Haleakala Volcano (inactive). We got up there about 45 mins before sunrise to watch the sunrise. We took a van up, but we went bike riding down. So, us and 400 hundred of our closest friends huddled on the top of the volcano to play the waiting game. I get bored easy and it was cold, so I was really ready to get on my bike.
It was very cold up there, abot 45 degrees.
After the sun fi
nally rose, we went down about 4000 ft to our bikes to coast down the mountain at about 25 mph. Apparently, some folks go about 35 mph, but they are probably more comfortable on a bike... I was fine at our speed. We were in a group of 12 and had a lead biker and the van behind us. It was truly awesome. We rode about 25 miles down the mountain and had a great histort lesson from out guide. He's a history buff and had lots of interesting facts about Hawaii he shared with us.Once we got down the mountain and back to our condo, it was 10am. Steve and I already had full action packed morning and the rest of the condo was just waking up, watching TV, and eating breakfast. We were pooped. So, we took a little siesta because we had to be in Lahaina (about 45 mins away) at 2pm for Steve and Jake's surf lessons. :)
Surf lessons had about 5 people and the motto is "everyone gets up once" and they truly hold true to the saying. Jake & Steve were up on the 1st run. Each person had 13 waves they caught and Steve and Jake averaged 9 - so pretty darn good. Jake learned something very valuable in surfing, having arm muscles is a must otherwise you can't paddle through the waves. Poor kid had the hardest time. At one point, he ended up down the beach and the photographer had to put her camera down (not me) and go chase after him. Steve finally saw that Jake wasn't heading in the right direction and went paddling after him, but Jake was paddling to his heart's content to what look like the other side of Maui while hugging the beach. After that, Steve and Jake went together and Steve would paddle both him and Jake back out to the necessary location.
Lots of fun to watch and maybe next time I'll give it a go! The surfing was our last full day in Maui. We left the next morning, all equally sad to say good-bye to our wonderful vacation. We made lots of great memories and lots of photos to look at. I like to think we are taking a hiatus because we are going back soon!
