Our celebration

So we celebrated our 11th anniversary away from home in a warmer climate.  We challenged ourselves to do some new things on Maui.  We met our challenge and had a fantastic trip.  It was nice to relax and unwind from the super crazy happenings back at home.  Let's just say before I left for the trip I was more then ready to shut down my brain.  It was on overload.....

Here are some photos from our journey.

First Breakfast....so quiet

Only could hear the crash of the waves and feel the breeze of the wind.

This was our condo

12th floor ocean front

On our anniversary we rented this little Vespa

We zoomed around the west side of the island.

We felt more secure on this thing on those 1.5 lane roads.  It is much easier to run the scooter off to the side in case you see a car coming at you head on last second as opposed to a car to car head on :)

Some pictures of us in the tropical sunshine exploring the beauty.

Ended our evening at the Cheeseburger Paradise

A dinner with live music and ocean waves right out the window.

Oh the burgers were delicious too!

The next day we went on a boat to go explore around the island Lanai.

If you look really closely at this picture you'll see glimpses of grey....

Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins

They were hard to photograph because they were in sleep mode so only occasionally would one dolphin jump out of the water.   But they are so fun to watch even if they are sleeping.  Especially when you get a glimpse at a baby dolphin.

This is a panorama of part of the island.  Just beyond that cliff and down below is where we snorkeled for an hour in the amazing reef.  It's such beauty.  Always makes me curious if we get to explore these waters and their beauty once God restores the earth.  I just love ocean life!  (OK not sharks) It's really a whole different world down there!

We walked to the top of the cliff that you can see in the panorama.  The water below is absolutely crystal clear.  We could see the reef we were swimming in about an hour or so earlier.

Exploring Tide pools.  Another favourite thing of mine!

We saw an eel in one of the pools.  That was a first!  Never ceases to amaze me what you'll find in those tide pools.

Some fellow boaters took a picture of us on the boat.

They thought we maybe were on our honeymoon...should've seen there face after we told them we were married 11 years.

Attempting to end our evening watching the sunset on the beach just below our condo with a homemade dinner....

Sunset wasn't the best we've ever seen, but sitting by the water and eating good food is still enjoyable.

This was our Saturday adventure.  Every single time we go somewhere tropical and on the ocean we say we're going to learn to surf....Finally 11 years later we both managed to get up on our boards. It sure is a thrill! The next day was pure recovery!  Wow!  paddling our is sure great exercise.  As our instructor stated.  A surfer can eat whatever they please!  You burn a lot of calories surfing.

 Sunday we enjoyed a day of rest from any adventure. Truth we were in recovery mode from surfing.  But Monday we went out on the road to Hanna.  You can always find somewhere different to explore on this road.  This time our main focus was a hike to a 400ft. waterfall after going through a thick bamboo forest.  We also made some other stops on the way so we wouldn't get car sick from the crazy drive.

The 400ft. waterfall and bamboo forest are above.  

Also loved the flower peddles littering the ground in the middle of the forest.

That ended our journey.  We enjoyed one more breakfast and swim at the condo and prepared to head home later that day.

Yes, those are purple potatoes we ate on our very empty flight home.