Aloha!

We had a perfect trip to Maui! We relaxed at the pool. Swam in the ocean. Went on a canoe ride. Played tennis. Walked on the beach almost every morning. Went out to eat without any kiddos. Enjoyed time with friends. Got a massage. Laughed. Slept. Ate shaved ice. Had a plate of yummy Hawaiian fresh fruit for breakfast every morning. It was fabulous.




One of the first things we did was go on a canoe ride with Dave & Lisa. We left right from the beach at our hotel and two guys take you out and teach you about Hawaii and the ocean. Right off the beach of our hotel is what I call "turtle town". There are turtles everywhere! The water is so clear that you can see the coral reefs all the way at the bottom. It's about 30 feet deep where they took us and one of our canoe guides dove down to the bottom and brought up a few different creatures. He found a few different urchins - one of which, the pencil urchin, is on Wes' head. It's a great morning out on the water and we always learn something new!





There is a great path along the beach that stretches miles and miles down the coast of Wailea. I loved walking every morning, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Here are a few pictures I took one morning. While the weather was decent - it was a little windy and overcast a few days.



While we thought we'd be super adventurous this trip - we stayed pretty low key. Ever since we had Nate, we cherish our time to relax! Plus, the hotel we stay in {the Kae Lani} is absolutely beautiful so you never feel like you have to leave the pool or the private beach.

We did a lot of swimming & laying out on our chairs chatting or reading books . . . almost always with a banana coconut smoothie in hand!





Here's my view from my lounge chair . . .



Here's a glimpse in to the Kae Lani Resort. It's beautiful. All of the rooms are suites so you feel like you're in your own apartment with amazing service. Nothing beats the service at a nice hotel. One of my favorite things on vacation is to sit by a pool and relax and have food and drinks brought right to me!



While we're in Hawaii, Wes has one short meeting and then all of the guys play golf that day so I have one day on my own with the girls! Wes also played another round at the Plantation Golf Course so I was able to plop down and read alot.

Surprisingly, the Jeep Wrangler was pretty cheap to rent for the week so we went for it! {Laurel P., I had to re-live our day on Oahu with our cute yellow Jeep!}. I have to say it made driving around the island much more enjoyable than being in a regular car.



One night we took a drive to the other side of the island to spend the evening in Lahaina. We ate dinner and walked around and had a nice evening out with the two of us. The sunset was pretty cool that night & of course we found an icecream parlour.



There are a few avid tennis players in our group so Wes and I were able to pick up a racket and play. We haven't played since our Hawaii 2008 trip so we pretty much SUCK at tennis. But it was fun to actually play and maybe when Vegas doesn't feel like an oven anymore, we'll start playing more!

One of my favorite things about being on a vacation without kids is being able to enjoy eating out again! I love the freedom of doing what you want, when you want. We ate some delicious food while we were there! Towards the end of our trip, we drove to Mama's Fish House. It's a well-known restaurant near Hana on Maui. It's a little fancier than Wes and I are used to so it's a nice treat. While the food was good, the scenery is my favorite part. It literally sits right on the beach and it's beautiful.




On our last day {which is really just the morning because our plane left around noon}, we go over to Makena Beach just down from our hotel as well as eat breakfast at the Golf Course across the street.

Here's our view from breakfast . . .




And here's Makena Beach . . .

Oooohh, it was fun.

I have to give a big thanks to Wes' bosses. They are the ones who make this trip happen every year. They take a group of us as a "thanks for all you do" type of a trip and it's so generous of them to pay for all of us to have such a nice vacation! It's also kinda fun being there with so many people that you know. You have plenty of opportunity to do your own thing but there are lots of people to go out and do things with if you want some company. It's a perfect mix for us & we lucked out that Wes works with some pretty cool people!

Also, have to thank my parentals because we wouldn't have had a kid-free trip without them! They are always so willing to adjust their schedules to spend time with the Naters. Nate adores them and I know he had a blast with Grandma and Papa John. They had a blast with Nate, too! Thanks mom and dad. We really appreciate it!