Hawaii 2008

Okay, so now that I have been home for a week and all of the pictures have been organized in my computer, I am finally ready to blog about my trip to Maui. Let me just start by saying that over all the trip was great. There were a few rough moments which can be expected when traveling with 10 individuals. The teenagers were mainly concerned with working on their tans and really didn't care where that happened as long as it happened. The only time they got upset was when their sunbathing time was interupted by visiting various tourist sites.

This is my second trip back to the island of Maui and I definately saw more this time than I was expecting. We went for Dawn and Darce' wedding, and Darce, having never been before wanted to see as much of the island as humanly possible. (btw, my best friend's name is also Dawn-not to confuse you) I won't bore you with all of the details, just some of the highlights.

We got to Maui on Thanksgiving day and were greeted at the airport with beautiful leis that smelled SO good. After settling in to our Condos, we quickly changed into our suits and headed to the pool for a few hours of rest and relaxation before we had to get ready for dinner at the Resort's restaurant.

The next few days went by in a blur, we went to visit a couple of old towns that had maybe all of ten stores that were WAAAY overpriced. It was funny when we got to the 1st town Darce gave us an hour and a half to go shopping. We all looked at the small town and thought, what in the world are we going to do for the remaining hour. We filled up most of the time eating lunch at a small mexican restaurant named Polly's. The highlight of our day was spent body surfing over at the North Shore. We laughed so hard at some of the girls' expressions when they unexpectedly had their legs pulled out from under them by the big waves.

Dawn and Darce got married on Wednsday December 3rd at 4pm. The morning was spent at Kapalua snorkeling with some turtles and other exotic fish. We were all so relaxed until we got back to the condo with only 45min to get ready. (not necessarily the smartest move when there are 9 girls needing to get ready at the same time) We made it down to the beach right on time, only to find out that nobody brought the marriage license with them. Thankfully our room was somewhat close so I took off running in my barefeet to get the license while Dawn and her dad stood waiting to walk down to Darce. (who kept his back to them while they waited so that he wouldn't see her before she walked down the "aisle") Besides that small inconvenience the wedding was beautiful and Bear, the officiator, couldn't have been more perfect.

After the nuptuals we headed out to a luau for the reception which was a lot of fun. We ate great food and learned to hula. The dancers were fun to watch, with the fire dancers being my favorite. The three hour party continued back at our condo with more celebrating, which, as a non-drinker, is kind of boring.

While Dawn and Darce left for a few days, we kept ourselves busy, swimming, snorkeling, surfing, and of course, shopping. Thankfully, we all got along really well and had a great time together.



I think the most memorable moment happened while we were in search for the best shaved ice on Maui. I have to say for the record that this was an adventure that I had very little interest in pursuing. Lets just say that the road we needed to take to get to this amazing shaved ice was one that the rental car companies forbid you to go on....yeah, there's a reason for that. We followed Dawn and Darce in our big van on the one way road that went on for miles and was so narrow that the driver of our car, John, was so afraid of going over the edge that he kept grazing the mountain side with the van's antenae. By the time we got to a safe place to pull over, one girl was throwing up, another curled up in a ball sobbing and John couldn't get out of the van fast enough. John was ready to leave the van there he was so shaken up. Since I was the least freaked out by the experience I volunteered to drive the van back down the narrow road and wait for them to meet up with me where the road widened again. Everybody was angry with Darce because he was the one who wanted to do this. The funny thing is, we never got the shaved ice.


Oh, another moment that was a sad reminder that I no longer look as young as I think I do, I was asked by a teenage boy if I was the mom of a couple of the teenage girls that I was with. Yeah, I know that I am old enough to be their mother, but I don't need anybody pointing that out. :)

Overall I survived the trip with a really good tan, some new friends and memories that will last a lifetime.