Cruise to Hawaii -We're in Maui

Maui greeted us with an amazing double rainbow, which told us that this island would be little different from the others - there would be rain.  Oh yes, there would be rain.

I know you can't have a tropical environment without some significant wetness, but we were not really expecting rain every single day, at any given minute, even as - and especially when - the sun is shining. We looked forward to getting on the ship at the end of every port day so we could feel dry.  Irony.

I grabbed a quick shot of the kids in front of the ship as we began our adventures on Maui.  Hawaiian haze of mist per the usual.

We grabbed our rental and headed to the west side of the island. 

While nearly everyone else was winding along the road to Hana and Haleakala National Park, we chose to go the opposite direction and visit the historic whaling town of Lahaina.

If you looked east, you could not see the tops of the mountains due to the clouds and rain.

But looking west, it was blue skies and sunshine - thank goodness!

We were pretty sure that island out there was Lanai.

Lahaina was a typical touristy kind of town and, since we're not big shoppers, we didn't stay long.

We did do, however, the two most important things we wanted to do while there.

First, the kids finally got to have some shave ice!

Needless to say, it was well received.

Next we visited the famous Lahaina Banyan Tree.  It reminded us a lot of the Angel Oak on John's Island, SC and it was quite the sight.

 
But the main goal on Maui was snorkeling, so we drove down the road a bit to Kaanapali Beach, grabbed our rented gear, and hit the water.

The strength of the current was significant and the drop off from the shore was pretty quick and steep, so it took a little getting used to. 

The coral and sea life were beautiful, much more so than our video below provides.

All I kept thinking while we were in the water was, "We're snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Maui!"  

Also, trust me when I say the newer, dry mouth snorkels are the only way to go.  I also highly recommend getting a GoPro camera.  It's so simple to use and works so well in the underwater case.

Here is some live action of our fun!
(It's only 3 1/2 minutes so you won't get too motion sick from my videography skills...or lack there of!)

Will also did some boogie boarding.

And then, as it always happens after a couple of hours at the beach, the kids crashed on the drive back to the port.

Next - and final stop - Oahu!

Cruise to Hawaii - Vancouver and Embarkation Day!

We made it to Vancouver with no hiccups and, despite being warned that it would be hard to find a taxi large enough to fit the four of us and all our luggage, we found a taxi van right away and headed to our hotel by the harbour.

We stayed at the Pinnacle Hotel Vancouver Harbourfront, which was walking distance to the port.

We arrived before check in time so we lounged around the lobby area waiting for our room to be ready because we were exhausted.

Once we had checked in, we took a walk around the area and found a nice place to grab a bite to eat - a brew pub of course - right along the water front.

 The views were spectacular!

 

Since we had been up since way before dawn on the east coast, we all crashed at 7:30PM Pacific time and slept until 6:30AM the next morning.

But, finally, it was embarkation day!  The kids were ready to go bright and early.

After breakfast, we hefted our backpacks once again, each grabbed a 50 pound rolling suitcase, and starting walking through the streets of Vancouver.

 Don't you just love Scott's backpack with the Minnie Mouse luggage tag?

10 minutes later, we saw her - the Disney Wonder!

We were a wee bit early so we sat on some benches along the pier, did some people watching, and took some pictures.

 

Finally it was time to check in.

Once we had our key cards and registered Will for the kids program, there was only one thing left to do before we boarded: get a picture with Mickey, of course!

A quick family pic before we board!

Here's how the rest of embarkation went:

(and yes, I was the videographer, so you might need some motion sickness meds.  Not sure why anyone ever let's me run the video camera!)

Christmas in September: The Wait Is Over!

It was a little less than 9 months ago when we surprised the kids on Christmas morning with a cruise to Hawaii.  

And then we told them they would have to wait until September to go.  

Cue sad trombone.

But now it was finally time!  Time to:

• Figure out how to pack 4 people for 14 days and keep to one checked bag each.
• Get up at 3:30AM to get to the airport by 4:30AM in order to catch a 6:30AM flight to Toronto and then onto Vancouver.
• Have the kids experience their first ever airplane rides!

Here's how we were feeling around the 5:30AM mark on September 6, 2015:

So basically, we were feeling fine and looking good!

The kids experienced a whole lot of firsts on this day:

- first time checking baggage.

- first time getting a boarding pass.

- first time going through airport security.

- first time wandering around an airport looking for an

outlet for their device charger.  All the fun stuff of airline travel!

Both were very excited to experience their first airplane rides. Although a little nervous, they did very well and thankfully we had very smooth flights.

Will was glued to his window and took his first pictures of a sunrise from a plane:

 

 

Eliza Grace, meanwhile, had no problem sleeping through most of that first flight:

We landed in Toronto and thank goodness we had a two hour layover because we needed nearly every minute of it.

My,what an ordeal in Canada. First, we deplaned directly onto the tarmac.  I think the last time I did that was 1994.  

Then it was into the terminal, walk what felt like half a mile to baggage claim, wait for luggage, grab luggage, haul it down the hall to customs, figure out the newfangled machines where they scanned our passports and we declared that we had not somehow picked up prohibited items from the time we deplaned, got our luggage and made it to customs.  Once through that phase we then had a human confirm what we did at the machine, then a short walk to another area where we took our 50lb checked bags and put them on another conveyor and prayed they would eventually make it to the right plane.

By the time we made it down to the Tim Horton's (which we will never do again) we had about an hour until we boarded and it took about 30 minutes to get our food.  Needless-to-say, we wolfed down our breakfast biscuits and booked it to the right terminal and gate with about 10 minutes to spare.

The upside was that we never felt like we were sitting around waiting to board.  And the kids were getting a well rounded experience in air travel!

Up next (six hours later), Vancouver!

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2015 - Kiawah Style

Once again, we were able to spend a week at Kiawah Island, one of our favorite places to relax and enjoy a well deserved break from work and school.

We did a fare amount of riding bikes around the island and on the beach.

We took some nice breaks under beautiful live oaks.

Played Frisbee and flew a remote control helicopter in the soccer field.

And I ran into - almost literally - a childhood friend who was riding the paths with her family as well!  Hi Leigh!

We enjoyed the fun New Year's Eve celebrations at Night Heron Park.

Eliza Grace always finds her way on stage if allowed. We sang and danced and enjoyed the fireworks.

And toasted the New Year at midnight!

Happy 2015!  We hope it is a year of peace and love and joy for us all!

Kiawah in the Fall

The kids and I spent a week at Kiawah Island. My sister Kelly was able to spend several days with us as well.  It was a trip full of new experiences and much relaxation!

We rode our bikes all over the island and found two of the marsh view towers. 

 The views were spectacular.

 
  One of the towers is on an island nature area.
In the middle of the week we took the ferry from Charleston to tour Fort Sumter for the first time.

The fort was really interesting and the park ranger talk was really well done. 

I find listening to the park ranger talks to be the best part of visiting our national parks and monuments. 

The gentleman telling the story at the Wright Brothers Museum in Kill Devil Hills, NC had the entire crowd so enthralled that many of us were moved to tears with his retelling of the story.  

But I digress. 

Unfortunately, you're only allowed a short time to explore the fort (less than an hour) and we felt we had to rush through to see as much as we could.

One thing that took up a lot of time on the fort was finding all the answers to the Junior Ranger questionnaire.

Back on land, the kids passed their test, took the oath and got their Junior Ranger badges as well as their names on the Junior Ranger wall of fame.

The last of firsts on this trip was kayaking the Kiawah River.  It was hot and exhausting but fun. 

We also had the added pleasure {sarcasm} of paddling against in the incoming tide on our way out and against the outgoing tide on the way back in.  

We'll definitely check the tide schedule before the next time we go out!

And so you can say you learned something while reading this, the Kiawah River is not an actual river but is instead a salt marsh and estuary. Now, don't you feel smarter?

We had a wonderful visit and look forward to getting back down to KI in December.