Until a couple of weeks ago, the last time our family boarded a plane was in February 2020 when we went to Maui for a glorious week of swimming and beaching and sight-seeing. We’ve often harked back to that trip over the past couple of years – at the time, we were so blissfully unaware of how drastically life as we knew it was about to change. Shane and I started making plans for Maui 2021 before we’d even landed back in Seattle! Last year’s trip clearly didn’t happen, but we were bound and determined to spend this year’s mid-winter break someplace warm and sunny. Since the Covid-related news is largely encouraging right now, and since we had the hotel points to luxe it up at the Grand Wailea, we decided to go for it – let’s bookend this pandemic (knock on wood) in Hawaii!
We were up at 4 am to catch our early flight and while the shlepping of the car seat and the extra baby stuff and the baby himself left Shane and me a bit sweaty by the time we got to the gate, we boarded without a hitch. Let’s goooooo!
Juliette gave Isaac an ‘A’ for his in-flight behavior. I knocked him down to an ‘A-‘ only because he pooped mid-way and changing a poopy diaper in an airplane bathroom is damn near impossible, but really, he did great. Took a couple of naps, ate some snacks, squawked just a little, and loved looking out the window.
Big sis sent him mellow vibes when he started to get antsy.
He looked out at the other planes as we taxied on the runway in Maui and then looked over at me like, “Why don’t you ever let me sit in your lap on car rides?!â€
We landed around lunchtime; I had a shoulder caked in spit up and the tiniest bit of baby poop on my shirt, but we made it! A woman who had been sitting a couple of rows behind us stopped me in the Maui airport restroom to let me know I had such a sweet babe with such an attentive big sister. Nailed it, kids. It was another shlep to collect our bags and get our rental car, but we managed without any crises and started to see the light at the end of the travel tunnel as we pulled away from Avis and set our GPS to Wailea. Juliette was starry-eyed even on the relatively unremarkable drive to the hotel, saying “anytime I see palm trees I know I’m someplace specialâ€.  I was swept up in the excitement as we pulled up to our grand hotel entrance, replete with flowers and waterfalls and fountains. Talk about special!
Our room wasn’t quite ready, but we grabbed our swimsuits from our bags and headed right to the changing rooms – Juliette was itching to get in the water. We found a couple of empty chairs near the kids lagoon and got down to business!
We played in the water and ate poolside burgers and then got settled into our room. I put Isaac down for nap while Shane and Juliette sat out on the patio, but…
Buddy was far too pumped to sleep.
We changed gears and Shane took Isaac for a walk to eke out a stroller nap while Juliette and I set out on the scavenger hunt the hotel put together for kids. We found all the landmarks and then walked down to the next-door resort to grab drinks and dinner with the Chens, who had landed just a couple of hours after us.Â
Cheers, friends! I slurped down my Mai Tai, munched on some poke, and then took the kids to the outdoor lobby to let them get the rest of their post-flight wiggles out.
Dessert to-go, served with a side of sunset…
Ahhhh…the first night of vacation. Such a blissful, so-much-to-look-forward-to kind of feeling.
Isaac was pooped by this point, so I took him back to the room and we watched the skies turn dark from our patio while the rest of the crew hung down by the water.
It’s like Juliette was offering Maui an arms-wide hug…this place is so very easy to love.
Falling asleep was hard for Isaac, but waking up was easy! He started rustling at 5:30 on Saturday morning, so I threw on some clothes and took him out for a walk to allow Juliette to catch some much-needed extra Z’s. I was bleary-eyed, but Isaac was quick to remind me that hey, it was actually 7:30 Seattle time. Thank goodness the hotel coffee shop was open.
Being up before the sun isn’t high on my list of vacation to-do’s, but gosh – this moonlit walk really eased the pain.
Literally up with the roosters…
Isaac was napping before the sun even rose, but by this point I was high on beach endorphins. Wearing a tank top at 7am? Felt so good.
I met up with Shane and Juliette for breakfast and chowed down on the loveliest acai bowl.
Pool time! We snagged chairs at our favorite spot, inflated Isaac’s little raft, and spent the whole morning swimming.
And napping.
And bein’ cute.
And swimming.
Jack and La Verne had scored an extra wrist band to allow Juliette to swim at their hotel pools, so we bopped over there around lunchtime. These kids have been buddies since birth and it thrills me to see how much they still enjoy each other. Plus, their shared love of water is insatiable. A perfect vacation pair.
Baby in a sun hat! [Insert ALL the heart emojis.]
We found ourselves in need of a sunbreak by early afternoon and spent a couple of hours relaxing in our room, but Juliette was itching to do the pool circuit again before dinner. Sunscreen, swim, rest, repeat.
We ate dinner at our hotel and then headed to the beach for another stunner of a sunset.
The kids literally waved goodbye and then clapped for the sun as it made its final dip below the horizon, as if offering a big giant THANK YOU for all it did for them that day.
Kids playing wave tag is my most very favorite thing to bear witness to.
Goodnight, Maui! More to come.
