Last full day in Maui

Well, today was our last full day in Maui. Z woke me up around 7:00am, wanting to go on an early morning snorkel adventure at Black Rock. We had heard the fish and turtles are found in abundance in the calm morning waters. We slammed down some breakfast cereal, then headed out.

The first thing we noticed were the waves pouring onto Kaanapali Beach--significantly higher and stronger, the kind that bring goosebumps to surfers and strike fear in the heart of moms! We were so excited to get in the water that we found ourselves running the 100 yards or so to Black Rock.

We got our gear on and got into the water. What we didn't know until then was that the heavy surf stirs up the sand--we could hardly see, and what we could see was decidedly void of fish. It must be that the raucous waves caused the sea life to hit their snooze buttons a couple extra times this morning because the only interesting movement we saw was each other in the water!

Z took the news well. B and the rest of the family joined us on the beach where we watched people bodysurfing these formidable waves, realizing there is a very fine line between bravery and foolishness. We couldn't help but think of our neighbor's brother who was paralyzed by a bodysurfing incident in Hawaii (I believe on the last day of their vacation).

We hung out at our pool for a long time, then spent extended time at the Hyatt's pool about a 20 minute walk south of The Whaler. In the mid-afternoon we came back to clean up, and the boys wrote their "favorite" reports.

As sunset is around 6:30pm we headed for the beach around 6:00pm to get some final pics. Since the day had been overcast with some rain, the sunset wasn't it's normal perfect. The kids cooperated reasonably well and there was no shortage of people to help take family pictures.

We had snacked enough that we decided to go for one last Hula Pie at Leilani's. Wow! Dessert before dinner! This place must be paradise!

We then split up for "girls night" and "guys night". Sara and Christa went off shopping while the guys and I went to watch some Roddick finish off Hewitt in the U.S. Open, then went walking around the Whaler's Village area. The boys, in particular, enjoyed the Whaling Museum that taught how men used to make a living on whaling ships. We then had a long "guy chat" on the beach.

Though this was supposed to be a week in Italy, we are all thankful that God orchestrated our time to be spent here in Maui. It has been a week we'll remember for years to come!