Maui Shots...

Hawaii

It took us moving across the world to visit beautiful Hawaii...and we now know why people fall in love with the islands. It is gorgeous, laid back and the islanders are friendly and kind. We have been here almost two weeks and have had a fab time. Haven and Bronson are loving the body surfing and are becoming quite the adept little snorkellers and have seen spotted pufferfish, yellow tang, humuhumunukunukuapua'a(aka:reef triggerfish, hawaii's state fish...),wrasse cleaners, racoon butterfly fish and moorish idols...just to name a few! It has been so much fun seeing how excited they get and hearing them screech and talk while swimming with their snorkels in their mouths! We are still working on getting papa dewey not to sink...Grandma Linda and I have also had the joy of swimming with green sea turtles...so cool. They are awesome to see and love to swim close to shore in certain areas. Check out the snorkelling locations and cool fish at:

http://www.hawaiisnorkelingguide.com/maui_snorkeling.html

A definite highlight was snorkelling at the Molokini crater. The sea was very rough and after some gravol and a nap things looked much brighter. We saw Humpback whales enroute to the crater which was an added bonus.Check out the journey at:

http://www.pacificwhale.org/ecotours/tours.php?catid=94

We have also checked out Kihei, Wailea,the hippy town of Paia and Haleakala state park,

http://kkohawaii.com/haleakala-state-park/

We also checked out a Luau on the Oceanfront at the Royal Lahaina...Haven practiced her Hula moves. The kids have clocked mucho tiempo in the swimming pool and a visit from Aunty Jen meant some shopping time for her and I...Sadly for us she wasn't here long enough to go home with a golden tan- but we had fun hanging on the beach. All in all...heaps of fun!

New Zealand

We had a fab time with our NZ family en route to Hawaii. Everyone is gorgeous and well. We saw Michelle and Tony's lovely new home and enjoyed time with Dave, Ali and kids. We had a bit of a comedic morning trying to get to the airport when Uncle Tony's car battery was dead and we couldn't find the park and ride place...the good news is we made it to the airport on time and hopped on the plane. The bad news is that the plane had no seat back entertainment and I realized the kids DVD player battery was with my checked luggage. After fighting the urge to vomit I settled in for the 7 plus hour flight and we enjoyed plenty of crafty craft time and eye spy...We survived technology-free until Honolulu- whew!