eleanor beach

On our last day in West Maui, before heading south, we returned to Kapalua Bay, which had become our favorite beach! The bay was shallow with no waves, so it was the perfect beach for the kids and we visited it several times on our trip. Everyone was still on California time and waking up at the crack of dawn, which meant we got to the beach before anyone else. The sun was intense for 7 in the morning, but the water was crystal clear and the beach pristine. We had to bribe the girls to take a few pictures before diving into the water… it was very tempting!

A nice old man had set up his painting supplies and was painting the scenery when we arrived. He offered to take a break from painting and take some photos for us!

He just kept clicking, so most of my photos are of us wrangling the kids.

We finally gave up and let the girls explore the rocks, which they had been begging to do all morning.

A Meredith photo bomb.

Bored with pictures, Meredith returned to the rocks.

Amelia the cave explorer and rock climber.

Meredith the mermaid.

Samantha the leaf collector.

Making sand pies and castles.

Eleanor was not cooperative for photos and just wanted to take a nap!

Amelia was the most cooperative for pictures.

After much begging, we finally let the girls change into swimsuits and go wild. Samantha and Jake put on their snorkel gear and swam pretty far out into the bay where they saw sea turtles up close! Amelia didn’t want to go, but was jealous of the turtle sighting!

Way to go, Samantha!

Meanwhile, Amelia and Meredith dug a giant hole in which to bury each other.

Eleanor observed from the quickly decreasing shade.

When Samantha returned from snorkeling, she and Amelia let Meredith and some other random kids bury them in the sand. Little did they know, Meredith is a master torturer and wasted no time tickling their faces.