Maui Vacation!

Thanks once again to Nathan's generous company, we set off on a wonderful adventure to Maui last week with Trenton and Ashleigh.  Owen and Dallin had their own vacation with Grandma Borders while we were away.  While we missed the little two tremendously, we were able to do so much more than we would have been able to if they had come along.  Trenton and Ashleigh had a wonderful time checking out the island of Maui.  They handled the 11 hour plane ride and 6 hour time change like pros. We made some wonderful memories together.  Here are just a few of our favorites.  

After hours on the airplane, Ashleigh got a little goofy when her neck pillow became a hat.

Four hour layover in the Los Angeles airport.

One last flight to go!  Trenton loves me taking his picture, can't you tell?

This is for real - I really took this picture with my camera.  It looks like a postcard to me!  This is the view from the beach in front of our hotel on the west side of the island.  

Ocean view from our hotel room balcony.

View of the hotel pools from our balcony.

Ashleigh loved swimming in this pool because there is a jetted pool inside the tunnel under the waterfall.

Our hotel was the home to five flamingos and one black swan.  We miss seeing them every morning already.

Each morning Cheerios were available to feed the flamingos and swan.  Who knew flamingos like cheerios!  The koi fish loved them too!

The black swan prefers to eat the cheerios right from your hand.  I tried everything to get the flamingos to eat from my hand, but it never worked...maybe it's their curved beak?

Under one of the waterfalls next to the hotel pools.

Secluded beach along the north coast.

December through April is whale season in Maui.  We had no idea before we left on this trip that we would see SO many whales.  There are around 600-1000 whales swimming around the island every single day during whale season.  We saw whales jumping out of the water every day!  It was amazing and something we will definitely never forget.  The whales travel from Alaska to Hawaii during the winter months to mate and give birth to their babies.  The four months that they are away from their Alaska home they are fasting.  They return to Alaska as soon as they can to get food, which is usually by the end of April.  The most frequent whale pod we saw was a mother, her baby, and two male escorts.  The males cruise along looking for a mate and are in constant competition with one another, which leads them to try and impress the mama.  Jumping out of the water is one of the things they do to impress her.

I took almost a hundred whale pictures on this trip because it is very, very hard to capture them when they are actually out of the water.  Over and over again I got pictures of the splash as they finished jumping or their nose right before they jumped.  I ended up with these two shots of adult whales out of the water out of all those pictures.  I also got two shots of two baby whales completely out of the water, along with several cute tail and fin shots.  The two pictures here are priceless though.  I was the only one in our group to capture the whales out of the water.

  

A little baby whale
  

 

Twice a day, professional surf instructors give paddle board lessons in the pool at our hotel.  Trenton and Ashleigh were naturals!  Not sure it would have been as easy with ocean waves, but they made it look super easy.

We spent time at the pool everyday.  We treasured every minute of it!

  We rented a boogie board for Ashleigh on our last day at the beach.  The waves were really strong during the early part of our trip, so it was nice we found a mild day for her to enjoy.

At the most northern tip of the island there is a blowhole that normally shoots water very high.  Both times we visited it, there wasn't any action happening.  We instead enjoyed the view of the ocean and watched a pod of whales off the coast.

On the way to the blowhole, we found this amazing little tropical park.  The trees and plants in it were huge!  It felt like we were in a rain forest except for the wild chickens running around and roosters crowing.

My favorite spot in Maui - Lahaina!  This Banyan tree can be found in the heart of Lahaina and really gives the old whaling village some character.  

  

  

We took a whale watching boat trip, which is where I was able to capture the adult whales out of the water.

  We went on a snorkeling trip to Molokini and Turtle Rock one morning.

Nathan really wanted to buy these cool shades, but he felt $30 was too much to pay just to be silly.  We can enjoy them just as much in this picture without having spent the $30.

Ashleigh was a little scared of the fish under her feet at first, but she eventually warmed up and got into the water until she spotted a giant sea turtle.  That scared her right back into the boat where she stayed the rest of the snorkeling trip.

The "killer" sea turtle as Ashleigh would tell you.  I think they are amazing, but they are very large.  I swam with six different ones along Turtle Rock during our snorkel.  They live in little caves in a huge underground rock covered in coral and have to come up every 40 minutes for air.  If you are patient, you will see them and they don't mind you swimming right alongside them!  I just love them!

 
On the way back home, we had another long layover in the Los Angeles airport.  We found this at the gate next to ours and kept hoping the Lakers team was going to show up, but they never did while we were there anyway.  At least it kept us entertained in the early morning hours anxiously waiting to get home.