Maui Madness

I’ve put off posting about our trip to Maui because, honestly, I hardly know where to start! The trip was such an incredible long shot to begin with. It started with a joking text from my brother, Kenny, inviting us to come to Maui in June to help him decorate/furnish the vacation homes he had just finished rebuilding. At first I thought there was no way we could manage it. The airfare alone would nearly sink us. But after a few days of running the numbers, we decided we just HAD to go, so the frantic planning—and plane ticket purchasing—began.

Because it was such a last-minute trip, Kirk and I decided it would be fun to surprise the big boys.  A few friends knew we were going, but we didn’t tell the kids anything at all. We just woke them up at 5:00 AM, put them in the car, and headed to the airport! It was Koen who finally figured it out when we pulled up to the terminal and saw the signs for the airline.  I won’t name him here, but I’m sad to say that one of my children was actually NOT happy to be informed he was going to Hawaii for two weeks. I was informed that some children would rather spend summer break at home playing video games than sitting on lovely beaches. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was just addled from the sleep deprivation, because once everyone adjusted to the shock, they managed to have a good time. (Gosh, these kids have it so, so rough, don’t they? Sigh...)

Here is the beautiful house where we stayed:

My brother Kenny and his fiancée Karen were gracious and patient hosts, and I there are no words that would adequately express our thanks to them! Hanging around with a crew like ours is never quick, hassle-free, or easy, but they showed us all the best of Maui, and the time we spent with them was priceless. 

Despite our incredible good fortune at being able to take this trip, there were a few bumps along the way. A few days before we left, Kirk came down with a terrible bronchitis/sinus infection/god-awful chest cold thing that was so bad I truly wanted to leave him home. He was really bad off our first week there. By the time he got well, Hayden came down with Roseola, which isn’t serious but sure was uncomfortable for him! I was so busy keeping track of the little guys (and so rummy from lack of sleep) that I could scarcely think straight most of the time, so thank goodness I had my trusty Momento app, and each night I faithfully sat down and made a few notes about our day’s adventures.  I’ll break those notes down into a couple of posts with just a few pictures each; that way you can get a taste of our Maui “madness."