Cookies and Crayons

Holy cow, is Maui ever a fun place! We’d heard great things about it from family members and friends, but it doesn’t quite compare to seeing it up close and personal. We took a boat ride to the Molokini volcanic crater just off Maui, which offered some fantastic snorkeling. One of us would watch the kids while the other played in the water, looking at coral and fish.

Kim doing snuba

Scott doing snuba

Dougie and Connie had fun with the glass bottom boat

Dougie decided he has a future career as a photographer

Our hotel had a great kiddie pool – including a thrill-inducing 8” deep section for Connie

Connie giving Daddy some swimming pointers

The pool had a big pirate ship in the middle – tailor made for Dougie! At every turn he was asking to go in the “pirate ship pool”. We had to learn to avoid windows and walkways within line of sight of the pool – otherwise we never would have seen the rest of Maui.

Dougie sliding down the pirate ship

The hotel was also right on the beach – so Connie and Dougie had lots of time to play in the sand

Having given up on photography, Dougie started thinking about architecture

Connie, meanwhile, seemed more interested in geology

Of course, we had to go to a luau…

Dougie was pretty excited about the luau – especially the dancers, who (according to him) were doing lots of “shaking and wiggling!”

We had a pretty great setup in our room – lots of space for the family

We drove the gorgeous “road to Hana” and made a bunch of stops along the way

Toward the end of our vacation, we took the long, winding drive to the top of Haleakala, the main volcano on Maui. Managed to cover over 10,000 feet of vertical drop along the way!

Of course, at 10,000 feet, the weather was a bit cooler than it was by the beach. We forgot sweaters for the kids, so Dougie managed to “acquire” Daddy’s sweater. Fits like a glove! … a horribly, horribly oversized glove.

All in all, it was a fabulous vacation – Maui lived up to its very high expectations. And gave us enough warm memories to live through an Alberta winter!

After spending nine often-frigid months in Calgary, we decided that a warm weather getaway would be in order. We usually try to take a vacation around this time (coinciding with our anniversary), and this year we spent about 10 days in Hawaii – a few days in Honolulu, and a week in Maui. We figured it was a good blend of exotic (fun to visit) and familiar (easy to take care of the junior Sharaburas). Aloha! Kim had already been to Hawaii when she was growing up, so she was able to serve as a tour guide of sorts.

We started our trip by taking in some of the sights on Oahu – including a volcanic crater

Dougie was impressed with the size of the plant life in Hawaii

Dougie showing Mummy around the island

“Hey, if I have to be on vacation with my parents, I’m still gonna look as cool as I can”

Mummy and Connie on the Pineapple Train at the Dole Plantation

Dougie and Daddy on the Pineapple Train

That a fine lookin’ pineapple guitar player!

Everyone but Mummy, looking out over the Pacific

Dougie was very kind to loan Connie his old stroller!

A scenic lookout on Oahu, along with Dougie and Mummy

One highlight of the trip was our visit to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach. While we didn’t stay there (that’s well beyond our budget!), it has a special significance in the Sharabura family history – as the place where Grandma and Grandpa Sharabura first met back in 1960. We figured it would be an appropriate place to bring two of their grandchildren.

A new generation of Sharaburas at the Royal Hawaiian (shhhh, we weren’t guests!)

After a few whirlwind days on Oahu, we took off for our week in Maui.