Maui

After a fairly adventurous week in Oahu we headed to Maui, with reservations at a resort along Kaanapali beach and plans to mostly play in the sand and swim in the pools.

While lounging sounded ideal in theory, the boys don't do much sitting around, so we arranged several small excursions. Our hotel had resident penguins, and lots of other birds. One morning we went on a wildlife walk with a keeper, feeding and making friends with the fowl.
On a different day we visited old Lahaina and toured with the Pacific Whale Foundation. We watched, up close and completely fascinated, a pod of mothers and babies breach and blow, slapping their chins and flippers in what felt like a real show.

We spent one entire day, from sun up to sun down, with Valley Isle Excursions on the Road to Hana. The boys had really been looking forward to visiting the rainforest. We saw the seven pools at Ohe'o gulch, the remote back side of Haleakala, and the Pua'a Ka'a waterfall. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at a tropical flower farm, explored lava tube caves at Wai'anapanapa's black sand beach, and learned directly from homesteaders about the Kahikinui reforestation project.

We walked to Whaler's Village several times for meals, and enjoyed mai tais at Monekypod. Most days the boys made friends at the hotel pool before heading to the beach to build sand castles and snorkel with sea turtles.
Home again for a couple of weeks it appears the only thing that has not been cancelled here is laundry. Our luck in the timing of this trip, though, is not lost on us. We are so glad we could go, and so grateful to be safe at home now.