Maui Days 9, 10, & 11

Nothing really exciting has happened. Nothing that I think grants a whole post to itself anyways. The weather has been kind of grey and rainy, although still unbelievably warm and pleasant. John and boys have gone golfing a couple times, we've done some more shopping, vegging and eating. We went to Peggy Sue's a second time, and we've eaten at Stella Blues a couple more times too. It's so nice to just lounge around and be on holidays.

Here are some photos from the past couple days:

These are some golden raspberries we bought, that none of us had ever seen before. They taste pretty much like regular raspberries, just a little more tart.
Nick & Jack were out tossing the football around before dinner and these little guys from the condo next door came out. They wanted to play with the big boys. It was great to see Jack and Nick be so patient and play with them a bit. What nice boys!
For Christmas, Jack got a certificate for a new watch. So we went shopping and he picked one out, and for days now he tells us the time every 5 or so minutes. I'm glad he found the watch he wanted. This was Nick fooling around after the pool, doesn't he look cute?
The only bad part about this vacation for me, is that I miss my little dog. I really wish we could have brought him, but I'd be really nervous about him flying in the cargo area alone, and I'm also not sure how he would handle the heat. But I would love to see his reaction to the sand and the ocean! Oh well maybe another time, at least I know he's in good hands back home with Pat.
Well I know this isn't the most exciting post ever, but we just haven't really done anything. But that's what vacation is about!

Day 8 - Boxing Day

Originally, the boys had planned to golf today, but after looking at the forecast, they changed their minds. They were predicting rain Christmas night and on and off all day Boxing day. And they were right. I woke up to the sound of rain outside the window at 7:00am. We all kind of slept in and took our time.

We headed to Stella Blues but we were unsure if we would get brunch. They only serve breakfast until 11am on weekdays, but we were hoping that because it was a holiday (boxing day) they might have their weekend hours, which means they would serve brunch until 2pm. We were wrong, so we all settled with lunch. Nick and Matt had tuna melts, Jack and I had grilled cheese, and John had a french dip. It was all fantastic!

After lunch we headed to Kahalui to check out the one big mall on Maui: Queen Ka'ahumanu Center. We had been there before, but not on this trip. It was so busy!! I know that it was boxing day, but I still wasn't expecting it to be quite so busy. We had to fight for parking, and when the boys did find something they liked, I waited in line for 1/2 an hour to buy it. If that's not love, I don't know what is. They got some good deals though. So it was worth it.

After the mall, we had to go over to Safeway to pick up some things for dinner. And then back to the condo to make it.

John made homemade hamburgers, which he has never made since we've been together, and they were really good. I love those homemade hamburgers. It made me feel like a little kid again, because my parents used to make them all the time. Here's John mixing up his special blend:

He's growing his annual holiday goatee, which I think makes him look even more crusty, don't you think? Actually we were at this little convenience store and he wanted to buy some little cigars...and he got carded!! The lady was like can I see some photo id sir? We both turned to each other and laughed, but she was serious, so he showed her. John was pretty flattered!! Matt says it's because of his sparse facial hair, but I don't know I think this relaxing is really good for him.

While we were at the mall, we went into Radio Shack at picked up a $40 DVD player, so we could watch Curb Your Enthusiasm together. It's kind of a family holiday tradition for us. Last year for Christmas & my birthday the boys gave me 4 seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm (which I asked for). At first they wouldn't watch it with me, but then I started telling them about it and once they tried it, they were addicted. We watched the whole 4 seasons together. Then when we got home we got the 5th season and only watched it when the 5 of us were all together. We went on a golf weekend trip to Radium and watched all of season 5. Now we have season 6 to watch and we were all really excited to watch it, but then found out we had no DVD player. So when we saw this little one for $40 we couldn't resist. It's nothing special, but it works.

So we watched a whole disc of Curb and then went to bed. Family time is great!

Maui Day 7 (Christmas!!)

Christmas Day!!!

We had a fabulous Christmas day this year. I tried really hard to make Christmas special for the boys this year. Last year we spent Christmas in Maui, and we had given the boys their gifts before we left because it was all golf stuff and we wanted them to be able to use it for the whole trip. I think the boys were disappointed that they didn't really have anything to open (although we did give them each a little gift) and that they didn't really get stockings, so to them it didn't really feel like Christmas. So this year, we implied that they wouldn't be getting stockings so that it would be a surprise and I wrapped every little thing so they would have lots to open. I think it worked, they seemed very surprised and much happier and excited than last year.

The Stockings:

When my niece stayed with us for a week in October she brought her Magna Doodle and the boys could not stop playing with it, so they each got their own mini version in their stockings. And seriously they played with them all day, and are still playing with them.
Jack got a calculator!!

The boys got me the first 3 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I have always wanted to watch, so now I can!!

John made us all a nice Christmas day brunch, here are the boys enjoying it:

We didn't really do too much for the rest of the afternoon, just kind of vegged, and the boys went to the pool. Before we knew it, it was time to go to dinner. I made us a reservation at the Wailea Marriott's Mala Wailea. They had a big Christmas Buffet going on, so I thought that would suit us just fine.

Here is the view from our table at the restaurant:

And the food was spectacular. There was turkey, prime rib, sushi, seafood, the best mashed potatoes you can imagine, stuffing, cheese & crackers, salad and everything in between. It was fabulous, and we all got our fill.

Once we were done eating, I had yet another surprise for the boys. I brought table gifts for everyone, which I can't believe no one noticed me carrying the bag, but hey they're teenage boys. Table gifts are something that their Mom always does with them, although she does a way more extravagant tie a ribbon around the gift/maze to your dessert spoon thing, and we just did a gift at the table. I didn't want to steal her tradition, but John and I both wanted the boys to feel like they weren't missing out on anything. And it went over really well. They really enjoyed it.
After dinner we headed back to the condo, and chilled till we went to bed. All in all it was a great day, and I think it was way better than last year. Way more Christmassy!

Merry Christmas!!

Just a quick little post to say Merry Christmas!! Or as the Hawaiians say: Mele Kalikimaka!! Need some help pronouncing that? Try this: MEL-lay KAH-lee-KEY-mah-kah.

I'll write more about our day later. We are going to a restaurant at the Marriott for a Christmas buffet. I hope it's good, and I hope there's turkey!

Aloha!

Maui Day 5 & 6

Well......day 5 in Maui, December 23, was relatively uneventful. Which I have to say is really nice! I went and got my haircut at this cute little place called Sisters & Co. Boutique & Salon. It is run by four sisters, hence the name, and it is quite small but very friendly. With all this warm weather I really wanted to cut my hair short again. Actually I have wanted to cut my hair really short again for awhile, but this beautiful humid weather made me want to do it even more.

So I did!! It's pretty short, but super easy and it feels amazing. I really like it. The girl who cut my hair was named Emily and she had the coolest pink glasses. She is originally from Chicago and she said she doesn't miss the snow one bit, except for when she wants to go snowboarding.

When John came to pick me up the boys wanted to shop a little more. Well actually, Jack just came along for the ride, it was Matt who wanted to shop. (Nick got invited to go surfing with some friends, so he was long gone by this time.)

Here are some pictures from the Shops at Wailea:

It's weird to see a Christmas tree surrounded by palm trees instead of snow.
Louis Vuitton is my favorite store to go into and drool at no matter where we are.

After that, we lounged around for awhile, and then we made dinner (steak & potatoes), lounged some more and went to bed. Pretty exciting isn't it?

Day 6 - Christmas Eve

John and the boys had booked golf at the famous Plantation course in Kapalua, so we went to Stella Blues for breakfast. We ate outside, which is different for us.

And then they headed out. The course is about an hour away. I stayed home and sunbathed and wrapped presents, which took way more time than I expected. I wanted the boys to have lots to open so I wrapped all of their stocking stuffers too. I watched a couple of episodes of Grey's Anatomy while I did it, so that was good. Then I cleaned up a little and before I knew it the boys were back.

Here are some shots John took at the golf course, doesn't it look beautiful. It's like golfing in paradise:

They have stands set up because they are preparing for a PGA tournament (the first of the year) that starts on Jan 5. Apparently, it's a pretty big deal.We decided to go to Antonio's for dinner. Antonio's in Kihei is the little whole in the wall Italian restaurant, but it is so good. If you look it up on TripAdvisor, it gets mixed reviews, but we think it is fabulous. It's always busy, and all the food is cooked by little old Chinese men. Sounds a little kooky I know, but trust me the food is great. They also have this giant world map on the wall, which John and the boys love looking at and discussing. So we always have interesting conversations while we are there.
Love the Christmas lights for ambiance, that's Nick looking up at the map.
Matt and Nick are listening intently to Jack discussing the scale of the map, and longitude and latitude.

John ordered the Osso Buco, which is veal on top of risotto, and the meat just melts in your mouth. The boys all ordered the delicious thin crust pizza, and I got the mouthwatering, creamy mushroom risotto. It was really yummy, I ate almost every bite!

By the time we got home it was already 9:00, so we vegged around the TV and now we are going to bed.

Maui Day 4

Today was another day of lounging around doing nothing. John and I got some time to ourselves, because the boys all headed to the beach with friends. So that was nice. I think John was feeling a little guilty about golfing on my birthday (which I said was fine, he did ask me before he booked it) but it was nice to spend time together. We hung out on the patio enjoying the sun. Check out this little baby lizard John spotted. It was tiny, I thought it was a bug at first.

It was so tiny, and it's little legs were clear. I've seen lizards before, but never one so tiny.

Here's John working, yes he is still working while we are on holidays. It's good for him though, because he takes an hour or so a day and answers a few messages and emails, and then he isn't so swamped and stressed when he gets back.

We also went to Safeway and Hilo Hattie. Hilo Hattie is an all hawaiian store full of souvieniers. We always check it out, it's right next door to Safeway.

When we got back, I did some laundry and then cooked dinner. We had California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizzas. Which you may wonder, are they as good as fresh in the restaurant? And I have to say they are very very close. We loved them! The boys had a great time at the beach, and didn't really burn anyway, except for Matt and Nick burned the tops of their feet. Those boys!!

After dinner we watched some tv and now I am blogging. Soon it will be bed time!! I love this laidback island!!

Maui day 2 & 3 (Heather's Birthday in Paradise)

Well, Day 2 in Maui we really didn't do much at all. We slept in, and then made ourselves all breakfast. I called Air Canada and was on hold for about 45 minutes before I finally talked to someone, so it's really great that we have access to a phone in our unit, and did I mention that long distance is FREE. That is definitely one of the perks to this condo, our bill would be huge with all the talking Matt's been doing to his girlfriend back home. The Air Canada agent assured me that Nick's bag would be on the flight to Maui that night, and that we should have it soon! We all lounged around watching TV and sunbathing, and then we hit the shops again. Gotta love walking around those shops!

Then we came home, jumped in the pool, and I made tacos for dinner. Pretty relaxing and uneventful day, but it's really nice to have quality time altogether.

Here are some shots of Nick and Jack fooling around:

I told Jack to do something exciting for the camera and here's what he did:

Here is our rental van, it's Hyundai, it's okay, but we had our fingers crossed for a Toyota Sienna, oh well!

Day 3 was my birthday!! I can't think of a better place to spend my birthday!! I truly am a very lucky girl. I love being surrounded by palm trees instead of snow. We went out for breakfast at Stella Blues again, and then the boys headed out golfing again. I stayed behind, and lounged on the patio. It was great soaking up the sun and reading Twilight (which is the first book in a long time that I am reading for the second time!). Check out my view:

After laying in the sun and reading for awhile, I did some last minute Christmas shopping, I had a couple more little things to get for the boys' stocking (but shhhh, cause they have no idea they are getting stockings this year, it's a surprise). I went to pick up John & the boys from golf around 4:30pm, and found that all 3 boys were burnt. Matt & Jack had very red faces, and Nick had lobster arms, legs, and neck. Jack put sunscreen on parts of his face and body, but missed huge places and burnt. Matt put it everywhere but his face, and Nick did his face but nowhere else. Errr!! I guess I will have to apply all their sunscreen from now on, actually I think they have learned the hard way now. John was not burnt at all because I do apply his sunscreen for him. He hates the feel of lotion on his palms, so I almost always do it. I had made us a reservation at Longhi's at 6:00pm, so we went back to the condo so that everyone could shower and freshen up.

Longhi's is Mediterranean restaurant in Wailea, and we ate their once last year and really liked it. It's a little pricey, but it is a special occasion afterall. They have lots of different things like fish, chicken, steak and pasta. And they always start you off with this delicious fresh-baked pizza bread. Yummmy!! I had the Eggplant Parmesan on top of linguine, which was fabulous. I absolutely loved it!!

Not the best picture, because the eating area is outside and by the time I got my food, it was fairly dark, but you get the idea. Nick and John both had steak and fries, and Matt and Jack both had penne alfredo with peas and prosciutto ham. Can you believe they ordered peas?? This is a shot of Matt's, doesn't it look yummy?

Here's a photo the server, who was fantastic by the way, took:

I think it turned out pretty well, it's not very often we get a picture all together. The food was great and our bill was about $280 with tip for the five of us. After dinner, we looked at the dessert menu, but nothing really caught my eye or anyone else's so we stopped by the General store nearby and picked up some ice cream. I got some Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, my second favorite flavor which is banana ice cream with walnuts and chunks of chocolate. It was sooo creamy and good, I ate way to much. My favorite Ben & Jerry's is Cherry Garcia, which is cherry ice cream with chunks of real cherries and chocolate, but they were all out.

When we got back to the condo, the boys decided to give me their present for me. I took a picture of it wrapped, because Nick wrote Merry Chritmas on it (yes that's his spelling) and Matt & Jack were laughing at him because he was supposed to write Happy Birthday, oh well I thought it was cute!

It says PS It's a calculator because the boys watched this SNL skit with John Malkovich about these two geeky brothers that want a calculator for Christmas. John and I didn't find it near as funny as the boys did, but oh well.

It turned out to be this really nice bath set from the Body Shop. It smells so good! I can't wait to try it all when we get home.

All in all it was a great birthday!!

Oh and I almost forgot Nick's luggage showed up just as I was falling asleep at 11:45 pm. There is no Air Canada agent at the Kahalui airport so you have to deal with the agents from Hawaiian Air, and they were really snotty about the whole thing. They called me around 9:00pm and asked me why I wasn't answering the phone or door, and I said because my phone never rang and no one came to the door. She said yes they did, like 20 minutes ago, and she wanted to fight about it. So after an argument she told me she would send it out again and it would be there soon, well we gave up on it at 11:00pm and then it showed up 45 minutes later. The girl dropping it off said nothing, just handed us the bag and walked away. I hope we never have to deal with this again. But atleast Nick got his luggage back!!

1st day in Maui

Keep in mind that we booked this condo in January and have been building it up in our minds for a year.....but both John and I are disappointed. The condo is relatively nice, but we thought it had full air-conditioning, and it doesn't (which granted, is probably our fault for not reading more carefully), it only has a tiny air-conditioner in the master bedroom, and it leaks like crazy. We ran out of hot water during our showers this morning which is not the end of the world, but an adjustment. There is a really nice tv in the living room, but no DVD player as advertised, which sucks because that's what we planned on doing in the evenings when it is dark. And there is a really nice private patio, but the ad was a little deceiving, in that we thought the pool was just "steps away" from our patio, when really it's around the corner and across the parking lot, and behind the main building. Also the boys' room, isn't really a room, there's just a space with two single beds and a divider, which is kind of weird. I mean it's still really nice, but for what we are paying and in Wailea we expected more. Maybe that's our problem, our expectations were just too high. Oh and we also thought there there was a fitness centre on-site and it turns out that there isn't. Plus this unit is for sale, and the realtor called and wants to do showings. Um.....excuse me I am on vacation, I don't want strangers coming in to check out my holiday mess!

Anyways, little rant aside, I am really glad we are here and the place is nice, and I am not meaning to sound ungrateful, it's just not exactly what we expected.

We started our day out with brunch at Stella Blues. It's right in Kihei and we loved it last year. It has good food, and it's quite casual which suits us just fine. Lots of hippie and old rock n'roll memorabilia, especially Grateful Dead stuff. I had delicious buttermilk pancakes, Jack had chocolate chip pancakes (which he didn't like as much as last year, I think his tastes are changing) and Nick, Matt & John all had bacon and eggs. They have the best little homefried potatoes!! I always steal a couple from John. Stella Blues did not disappoint.

After breakfast, John and Matt went golfing. Nick, Jack and I chilled in the condo for awhile and then hit the shops at Wailea. With Nick's luggage being lost he wanted to pick up some cheap flip-flops and maybe some board shorts, and Jack was also hoping to get some flip-flops. And I just can't say no to shopping! It's a really nice open mall, so we enjoyed the weather while we shopped. The boys both found some cool flip-flops at Quiksilver, which were under $20, so we left happy. Jack met up with one of his buddies, who is also here in Maui, so we left him behind and headed back to the condo.

Nick was a little bit tired, so he stayed in to sleep and I went to Safeway to stock up. It is so nice to have a Safeway close by. It's about 10 minutes away. It's relatively nice, but seemed to be out of a lot of things today. I could only find one box of KD (Jack's favorite) and they only had crunchy peanut butter. I guess lots of people had the same idea as me. The fruit was awesome though. I bought some strawberries, blueberries, and grapes, and they were so fresh and tasty. I haven't seen the boys eat so much fruit!

Once I got all the groceries put away, it was time to pick up Jack, and John and Matt. We were all pretty hot, so we headed over to the pool.

IIt's really nice, with a hot tub, and this beautiful garden right behind it. The boys swam, and John hot-tubbed, while I took pictures. John's back is still bothering him so he's trying to take good care of it by hot-tubbing and not golfing everyday. So this was perfect for him.

Isn't John cute?!?!

After the pool, we went out to another of the boys' favorite restaurants: Peggy Sue's. It's an old 50's diner that serves burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches and milkshakes. John and I both think it's just okay, but the boys absolutely love it.
Jack got a milkshake called Blue Hawaii, which is vanilla with blue vanilla syrup, and he loved it:

After dinner we went back to the condo, watched some tv and hit the hay. Pretty easy-going which is what we all look for in a family vacation.