maui

With the Moana soundtrack blasting nonstop, we drove up the coast to Nakelele Blowhole for a short hike. We were hoping to hike down to the blowhole and take a picture next to the heart-shaped rock, but it was too windy and I didn’t think I could balance with Eleanor strapped to me or trust that Meredith could make it down without falling to her death. So, pictures at the top overlooking the blowhole for the win!

Sammy Grumplestiltskin.

The girls weren’t too disappointed about not hiking to the blowhole… they jumped around on the rocks forever.

Jake and I couldn’t get over the fact that the last time we were in Maui, seven years ago, we had ZERO kids. And now, seven years later, we have FOUR!

There are so many little stands selling drinks, coconuts, smoothies and Maui’s famous banana brand along the side of the road, it was hard not to stop everywhere. This guy cracking open coconuts with a machete was one of the more sketchy stops, but the girls were fascinated and drank the coconut milk right up.

Is this the same guy from seven years ago??!!

Our hike of the day was through the dense jungle leading to Honolua Bay. It was only a twenty minute hike, but took us an hour because the girls were obsessed with swinging from every vine and climbing every log. The jungle was gorgeous!

Tarzan wannabes.

SO many fights broke out over whose turn it was to swing on the vine of choice. Didn’t matter that there were approximately eleven thousand other vines from which to swing. NOPE. Had to be this one.

We finally made it to Honolua Bay.

On a less windy day, the water would have been perfectly clear and great for snorkeling and seeing turtles, which is what Jake and I did last time we were here. The girls had fun splashing around, spotting fish and sea creatures, even though the visibility wasn’t great.

Eleanor and I watched from the shade of the jungle.

Lunch time with a view!

Jake and the girls went to grab sushi and my favorite Hawaiian poke bowls while Eleanor and I relaxed.

Lots of love,

On Thanksgiving Day, we left at the break of dawn for LAX, and after lugging four carseats, a stroller and all our gear through the airport, we exhaled as we took off on our 8:30 a.m. flight to Maui. We felt like we had conquered the world making our flight with everyone in one piece!

We took up two rows, with Jake sitting by Meredith and Samantha and Amelia and I across the aisle. We took turns tossing Baby Eleanor back and forth, which I’m sure the lady on the end of the row didn’t appreciate, but didn’t say anything.

A very peaceful flight! Amelia and Samantha were great and played games, watched movies and colored the entire flight. Meredith started getting antsy toward the end, but was overall better than expected during the nearly six hour flight. Eleanor had her moments of crying, mostly from being overtired and unable to nap on her normal schedule. Fortunately, we were on a party plane with tons of little kids, so her noise just blended in to the rest of the chaos.

The worst was Eleanor having two blowouts on the plane. Good thing I packed several back-up outfits for her. It’s already tough for Jake to fit in the tiny airplane bathroom himself, let alone to change a baby, but somehow, he did it! Sick of being stuck in their seats by the end…

We were so happy to be off the plane! The heat and humidity hit us with a blast as soon as we stepped off the plane and waited for our bags. All that pent-up energy and hunger finally took its toll and we endured lots of tears and tantrums grabbing our bags and car seats. It felt like an impossible task herding all the kids, bags, four car seats and baby gear through the airport to grab our car, but somehow we made it.

We rented our car through Turo, which is supposed to eliminate the hassle of going to the car rental place and waiting forever since our guy was supposed to pick us up directly outside the terminal. There was some kind of mix up, and we ended up having to lug kids and gear and all through a construction area of the parking lot, waiting for what seemed like forever (fifteen minutes in reality) for the guy to find us. No one was in a good mood when we finally got the car straightened out and I kept thinking how ironic this was that we were all cranky in paradise!

After playing tetris trying to fit all the car seats and bags in the SUV, and dealing with screaming kids, we were about ready to call it a day and go home! In hindsight, we should have just rented car seats from the car rental guy, but I’m always wary of using other people’s car seats and how dirty they are/wondering if they’ve ever been in an accident. Jake was cursing me the entire trip for insisting we lug our own! It certainly would have made the airport 90% more doable.

With a fresh change of clothes, hydrated and fed, and finally on the road, everyone calmed down and enjoyed the lush, green scenery and smell of tropical flowers as we drove to West Maui.

After unloading at the condo, we were still on California time and starving, so we walked to Kaanapali Beach for an early dinner at Hula Grill.

I was worried the kids would be too cranky from our long day to handle dinner out, but they did great! Everyone, but Eleanor, that is. Two second after we sat down, Eleanor had the pooplosion of all pooplosions on Jake! And this was AFTER pooping twice on the plane! It oozed out of her diaper, all over her clothes and Jake’s clothes, and onto the chair! Wipes would not suffice to clean up the epic mess, so Jake left the restaurant with her while I tracked down a waiter who mopped up the mess with nice white cloth napkins! They were so gracious about it and even though the restaurant was full of old people curiously observing our family, no one said a word, although I’m sure they were horrified for us as poor Jake walked out with poop all over himself! NOT how we imagined spending Thanksgiving dinner.

Jake was back 30 minutes later. He had to go into one of the shops to buy a new change of clothes for himself after he changed Eleanor.

Happy Thanksgiving 2018! We were sad to miss our annual Friendsgiving with the Erpeldings this year!

After our Thanksgiving turkey dinner, we walked along Kaanapali beach and basked in the warm sunset.

Practicing their hula moves.

We forgive you, Eleanor, for pooping all over the place!

Eleanor didn’t seem to care that we in Maui and wanted to be home in bed, stat!

Whitehead Family Thanksgiving 2018

Enjoying the Maui sunset.

On our way back to the condo, we stopped in the little shops and enjoyed the live music. It was a very festive Thanksgiving!

The next day, the girls and Jake made pancakes at their new favorite breakfast place– Slappy Cakes. They had their own griddle and made their own pancakes with their own toppings– the girls’ dream restaurant! They wanted to go there for all of our meals.

The rest of the morning, we hung out at the condo because my breast pump broke! Jake drove a round-trip 2 hours to the island’s only Target to buy me a new one… on Black Friday! Total nightmare situation. Meanwhile, back at the condo, I tried to keep all four girls occupied– we played tennis, walked around, fed the koi fish, went to the beach, and tried unsuccessfully to nap in the condo. Despite the condo being two levels, so that we could split up the girls into separate rooms, the twins were just too wired to calm down enough and the noise kept Meredith up. Needless to say, everyone went to bed early that night and I was at the end of my rope by the time Jake returned from braving the crowds at Target, victorious, with my pump!

Playing tennis until we got kicked out for not wearing tennis shoes.

I picked this particular Air BnB because of all the kids’ stuff they had– everything imaginable! Rock n plays, strollers, pack n plays, baby toys, baby jumpers, bouncers, sand toys, snorkel gear, toys, crafts, movies, board games and snacks. The girls loved it! The kids stuff was great, but the condo was a little smaller than I had anticipated and the air conditioner was set so that you had to turn it back on every three hours… Eleanor woke up every time I got up to turn on the air conditioning at night and was not a happy baby!