Hawaii Part 1: Maui

Well...we just spent 10 days in Hawaii...and it was glorious :).

Here's the thing...usually, I would take a 10 day trip and blog 10 posts (one for each day).  But our time spent was not a trip, it was a vacation.  Know the difference?  

Usually the Shulls take trips...we go to destinations where we are on the run from the minute we wake up to the minute we go to sleep, we visit museums, historical sites, we learn, we absorb, we come back exhausted and yet so energized because we really had an adventure.  That is a trip.  We just went on a vacation.  A vacation is when you go somewhere to purely relax.  We slept a whooping 10 hours every night (which is twice as long as Andrew and I normally sleep at home), we ate, we went to the pool or beach, we ate some more, we went back to the pool or beach and we did nothing.  Whatsoever.  That is a vacation.  And it was wonderful :).

I'm not going to give you 10 posts of us sitting on the beach doing nothing...because that's just obnoxious.  Instead, I'm going to break our vacation down into 3 posts.  Prepare yourself for lots of selfies, pics of us in swimsuits, lots of beautiful scenery and my little fishies in the water.

We left on Monday, April 7 and met my parents in Maui (they were already there).  We stayed 6 nights in Maui and then my parents went home and the Shull four sailed (brace yourself...that little sailing trip got UGLY!) to the island of Lana'i for another 3 nights.  The last time we were in Hawaii, Kensington looked like this...

...and Smith wasn't around yet.

And then the last time we went to the beach, we took the kids to Bermuda but they were only 1 and 2...

But now, we have big kids!  Our kids were so excited to head to the beach.  We have been talking about this trip for months and months.  This is our last big trip before kindergarten...and our last big trip as a family of four (on our next big trip as a family of four, we'll come home a family of FIVE!).

So, here we go.  The Shulls do Maui, part one :).

Here we are!  We loaded up into Andrew's old truck and headed to the airport on Monday morning.  Happy faces ready for the beach!

After a 8.5 hour flight from Dallas to Honolulu and then another 30 minute flight to Maui, we arrived late Monday night.  On Tuesday morning, the kiddos headed straight to the balcony to take in the view.  Not too shabby.  

We were on the 8th floor of the resort and it overlooked the grounds and the beach.  Normally, we stay in the city of Kaanapali on Maui but this time, we stayed in Wailea.  And oh my goodness!  I'm not sure if we'll ever stay anywhere else!  We loved being in Wailea!!  We stayed at the Grand Wailea Resort and it was perfect!  The pools had 7 different slides, a beach entrance, great restaurants and shopping.  It was so nice!

We headed down to breakfast and Miss K wore her swimsuit and lei...perfect for a Hawaiian breakfast, right?

Me and my other beach bound breakfast buddies!

After breakfast, we headed straight to the pools and slides!

And we spent time on the beach too :).  We stayed at the beach and pool from 9:00 am until 3:00 and then we headed back to our hotel rooms to shower and rest until our luau dinner that night at 6:00.

Sunset Luau :)

They drew a flower on Kensington's cheek as we were coming into dinner.

Love my boys!

The kids loved watching the show!!  They were mesmerized!

The next day, we drove our rent car (or van, I should say) to Lahaina for some lunch and shopping.  Me and my boys.

And my other boy :).

The only treasure he wanted from his Hawaiian vacation was a ukulele.  Sigh.  Lovie bought him this one.  The first song he sang and "played" with it...Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone.  Seriously.

For lunch we ate at Cheeseburgers in Paradise.  It's this fun open air restaurant that's right over the water.  We were on the second floor and the rail behind my dad there was right over the ocean.  Best place to eat a burger and watch the waves.

Us at lunch :)

The girls.  We stopped for ice cream...coconut flavored, of course!

The best attempt at a family picture...Kensington is giving the "I'm over pictures already and it's only Day 2 of our vacation" look.

Exploring.

I have no words.

Shopping.

Showing off her new ankle bracelet.

Love this silly boy!

We ate dinner in Kaanapali at a restaurant right on the beach.  The tables are in the sand, so everyone eats without their shoes on...my kids loved it!

Happy island girls!

To see Part 2 of the vacation, click here.

That's enough vacation pics for one day!  On my foodie blog today, I'm showing you Bar #35 Vanilla Bean Brownies!  Did you read that? Vanilla. Bean. Brownies.  

And today is my sweet friend Keisha's birthday!  She asked if I would guest post on her blog today and share my tips for birthday dinners and easy entertaining.  Click here to read that post!

Happy Monday everyone!  I loved being away from my computer and focusing only on my family...but I did miss you all.  I feel so blessed to share my life with YOU!