Maui 2018: Aloha, Maui and Worst Flight Ever

Our last two days in Wailea, the twins opted to go to the kids club in the morning instead of going with me, Meredith, and Eleanor to the beach! While the twins were out hunting geckos and making crafts, the littles and I made sandcastles at the beach and hunted for interesting shells. When kids club was out and Jake was back from meetings, we hung out at the beach and pool again. Then repeat.

There were many things Jake and I went to see last time we were in Maui that we didn’t take the kids to– Haleakala volcano (which is fun if you wake up at 2 a.m. to drive up the mountain to see the sun rise from the top, but didn’t want to deal with the kids on that one) and the Road to Hana (incredibly beautiful drive and amazing waterfalls and hikes, but four kids throwing up in the car on a two-day road trip did not sound fun either). So, the resort/beach/pool and a few easy hikes for the win. Next time, we’d love to check out the Surfing Dairy Goat Farm, Iao Needle Valley and the Maui Ocean Center, and a few other places on our list of things to do, but for this trip, a few hikes, snorkeling, the beach and the pool were perfect.

The sitter we had hired through Maui Nannies earlier in the week wasn’t available the rest of our trip, but the nice old lady at the kids club gave us some recommendations of college-age nannies who worked at the kids club part-time. We hired one to watch the kids for a few hours during the last part of our trip so we could have a relaxing meal out and walk around the town and shops. Jen was so nice and all the girls were great for her.

Jake and I tried out restaurants at the hotel, Ko and Nick’s Fishmarket, and picked up some yummy banana macadamia bread at Island Gourmet. At Ko, we ended up sitting not far from the our new friends, the four-kid family we had met earlier on our trip. It was late at night, but all their little kids were behaving amazingly well and we gave them some much-deserved encouragement for handling a night out with the kids with such poise. They had a baby the same age as Eleanor, although Eleanor looked like she could probably eat her!

  

The girls picked so many flowers every day; we should have offered to re-plant some! Good thing these tropical flowers grow like weeds here.

 

The girls were obsessed with all the statues, so that took up a good amount of our days as well.

The hotel was setting up for Christmas while we were there.

Mele kalikimaka!

 

Our last day chilling at Polo Beach!

Hibiscus flower volcano.

 

Hip, hip, hooray.

 

Our trio of hula girls.

Our last breakfast on Maui. The hotel had a delicious Asian-style buffet with every breakfast item imaginable, yummy crepes and omelettes, and some interesting savory dumplings, soups and Asian food.

 

Aloha, Maui! We will be dreaming of paradise until next time.

Our flight leaving the island wasn’t until 6 p.m., so after one last day of beach and pool, we reluctantly headed to the airport. And so began an exhausting and nightmarish flight home! Our nerves were sorely tested through security wrangling the girls– they were tired, hungry, and it was humid and sticky! The lines were long and security took forever checking Eleanor’s bottles and my breast pump… because, you know, we look like terrorists. A few nice old ladies tried to occupy the kids with games while we tried to get through security and we received many positive comments from others about how great the kids were doing (even when they weren’t). I don’t know if it was just Maui that made people extra positive and kind, but we needed the encouragement!

The airline changed the gate a million times, so just when we though we could put down all our stuff, sit down and find food before our flight, we ended up walking to different gates. The plane was late, boarding took forever, blah blah. Somehow, the airline messed up our seats, so they had one of the twins sitting by themselves, but fortunately another family was in the same position and we were all able to play musical chairs with other passengers in order to get everyone seated together.

FINALLY, we took off on what I though would be a relatively easy flight home since we were flying at night. Everyone would be so exhausted from all the fun and sun that they would just fall asleep until we got home, right? WRONG.

This is how I felt on the plane:

I sat by the the twins and held Eleanor in one row, while Jake handled Meredith across the aisle next to me because she required all hands on deck. The twins watched a movie and played on the Ipod a while, until around 7:30, I told them it was time to go to bed. They dutifully put away the Ipods, got out their blankies and fell asleep. Eleanor was a little tougher to handle… having to change the diaper and put on pajamas on such a giant baby in the tight space of our seat and the even tinier airplane bathroom was not the easiest task. She was a little fussy, but eventually conked out once she was fed. That left Meredith.

The poor girl tried her hardest to fall asleep. But even though the plane was dark, most passengers had turned off their screens, and everyone was hoping for a little nap before landing, Meredith just could not settle down. After tossing and turning in her seat and alternating between resting her legs and head on Jake’s lap, she started turning into the Mr. Hyde side of herself. An overtired Meredith is a very cranky/scary/screaming Meredith.

She was screeching and crying as Jake tried  in vain to hold her and massage her back a little to get her to fall asleep, but she just kicked and screamed. The valiant old lady sitting next to her had an eye mask on the entire time and didn’t so much as bat an eye at Meredith’s behavior, even though I’m sure she was feeling like she had definitely lost the seating lottery. The two ladies from Belgium in front of Jake offered snacks and gum just to keep her mouth chewing and not screaming, but nothing could quail Meredith’s intermittent outbursts and banshee screaming. We let her color and watch a movie, and would every so often, shut it off thinking surely she was so exhausted by now she would just conk out. Nothing worked.

Four hours into our nearly six hour nightmare flight, she was still wide awake and looking like an escapee from the mental hospital, with hair disheveled, pupils dilated, dark circles under her eyes and babbling incoherently. The worst part was that every time she had a screaming/kicking outburst, Eleanor, who was sleeping peacefully, albeit uncomfortably, in my lap, would be startled out of her slumber and would start screaming too. So the entire plane ride, the passengers were treated to a toddler screaming, with the occasional accompaniment of a baby screaming. Lovely.

We clenched our teeth and knuckles through another harrowing hour of Meredith banshee screaming and crying. Every time Meredith cried, Eleanor’s eyes popped wide open and then her high-pitched wail echoed throughout the plane, as we scrambled for a bottle and tried in vain to rock her with a blanket over her eyes back to sleep.

It was undoubtedly our worst flight ever, and I’m betting that for the majority of the passengers on that flight, they had never experienced a flight like that. Horrible doesn’t adequately describe being stuck in our tiny seats for almost six hours dealing with an overtired and screaming Meredith and baby. It’s a good thing all of the passengers were relaxed from their island vacation and were probably therefore more tolerant of our screaming kids! Thankfully, the twins were great and stayed asleep throughout the ordeal, and Eleanor didn’t scream quite the entire time.

Finally, as the plane began its descent at midnight, Meredith suddenly conked out for the last thirty minutes. We all let out a sigh of relief, except that as the plane taxied, Meredith was so out of it that we couldn’t wake her up to get off the plane! The twins were drowsy, but were able to walk off, and Eleanor was asleep, but I put her in the Ergo so that I had my hands free. But despite trying to shake, prod and poke Meredith awake, she was completely out of it, her muscles limp!

Despite being captive on such a horrible flight, the other passengers were incredibly nice. One of the Belgian ladies carried Meredith in her arms for us until we reached the gate where our stroller was waiting, while another man carried some of our carry on luggage while we handled the other kids. I didn’t hear a word of complaint out of any passenger, and for that, we were so grateful! Many people expressed their sympathy for us for trying our best to deal with the kids! Our faith in humanity was restored!

Getting our luggage and car felt like another 20 hours in of itself. I waited for the luggage with Eleanor while Jake ran off with the other kids to grab the car. Between our luggage getting misplaced and getting three sleep-walking kids to the car, it was another hour before we got out of there. After eight days in the hot sun, it was a shock to be at LAX, where it was 50 degrees (so basically, freezing for us), and with the rain pouring down. Far from the bright sun and tropical flowers we had gotten used to, everything looked cold, dark and dreary, and a fight broke out between some homeless people outside the terminal where I was waiting for Jake with Eleanor. Welcome back!

We finally got home around 2 a.m. Bandit was so excited to see us, but we were too zombie-like to greet him properly. We threw the kids in their beds and conked out! It was a good thing we had such a fun vacation… even with the exhaustion and harrowing ordeal of the trip home, it was all worth it.

We will never take Meredith on a night flight again! Or at least until she’s 16!

 

Lots of love,

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Maui 2018: Polo Beach, More Swimming & Wailea

The rest of our week in Wailea, Jake was at his law conference in the morning and working some of the afternoon, so the girls and I alternated between the beach and pool every day while he was gone. Thankfully, after figuring out where everything was, it was totally doable getting everyone down to the beach or pool, even easier than it is at home! We called the valet to drive us in the golf cart down two minutes to Polo Beach where they set up chairs and umbrellas for us and set us up with plenty of ice cold water and towels. I wish I had this service back home!

We didn’t bring any sand toys this time, but the girls were plenty occupied running from the waves, digging holes and jumping off rocks. The hardest part was moving Eleanor constantly to keep her super fair skin from getting fried. I was constantly reapplying sunscreen on all the girls, and sunscreen and sand were everywhere, getting all of our snacks and towels sandy and sticky!

Ready, set, go.

Who needs sand toys when you can make shapes in the sand with your hands and sticks?

The girls got very creative thinking of games to play in the sand.

Eleanor was eyeing the snacks.

The giant mermaid baby.

The girls had a blast jumping on and off rocks into the water once the tide got a little higher.

 

Samantha and Amelia were incredibly muddy by the time we were ready to leave. They were covered in sand from head to toe after all that body surfing.

So sandy!

By 11:30, it was too hot to stay and the girls were hangry for lunch. The beach attendants called the golf cart people for us, and while we were waiting, I showered off 1,000 tons of sand off of Samantha, Amelia and Meredith, while Eleanor was strapped to me in the Ergo and got soaked! Everyone was screaming bloody murder and I was yelling/ordering everyone around to stick legs/arms/neck/back in the water. It felt like a hundred years of my life getting them clean enough to go back to the hotel!

As soon as the golf cart pulled up, Amelia tripped over a rock and fell flat on her face. Along with Meredith and Samantha, who were crying from being wet? hungry? who knows?, Amelia was now bloodied up all down her legs and was screaming on the ground. The golf cart driver was so nice and carried Amelia to the golf cart, along with all of our gear. I was so relieved to finally get them all back and contained in the hotel room– everyone was so exhausted, hot, tired, and hungry and it was definitely one of the more stressful moments of our vacation!

In the afternoons, Samantha and Amelia checked out the kids club, and every day going forward, they asked to join the kids club! I don’t know if I should be offended by the fact that they wanted to go to the kids club rather than hang out with us, but whatever. It was run by a sweet old lady who organized crafts, stories, games and took the kids on adventures every day. Every day was themed– volcano day, gecko day, sandcastle day, coral reef day, etc. Meredith wasn’t old enough to go, so she hung out with Jake, Eleanor and me while the twins were enjoying their adventures.

   

From our lanai, we spotted the kids hunting for geckos one afternoon. On volcano day, they built volcanos and looked at some volcanic rock on the beach, and on sandcastle day they had a sandcastle making contest. On coral reef day they learned about coral and sea creatures and went snorkeling in the shallow water. The girls were so sad that we weren’t staying long enough to check out the rest of the theme days!

Meredith hopes that next time she’ll be old enough to join her sisters!

Meredith picked so many hibiscus flowers on our trip I thought we’d for sure be billed for them or something.

      

Practicing her yoga moves.

On our way to pick up the twins from the kids club.

One of the afternoons, after picking the twins up from the kids club, we took the hotel’s Escalade service to the Shops at Wailea to stock up on chocolate macadamia nuts and let the girls pick out a souvenir using their chore money. The twins picked out stuffed turtles, while Meredith kept browsing and picking up the most random items, but eventually settled on a small purse shaped like a fish, which she still affectionately calls her “fishy purse.” We grabbed a bite at Cheeseburger in Paradise, which was basically just burgers and chicken fingers and not my favorite, but the girls loved it. The staff ooohed and ahhhed over Eleanor’s chubby cheeks and she was her usual magnetic self.

On our way to eat, we saw Hawaiian Santa and his elves decked out in Hawaiian shirts and shorts! We decided this could be our Santa photo for this season.

Aloha, Santa!

   

Another morning in paradise.

I did another day at the pool/rented cabana in the morning while Jake was gone and by then, the girls had the drill down pat. Swim gear on, water slide, splash pad, pool, snack breaks in the cabana, potty break, and then repeat until lunch.

I was so afraid of Eleanor having a blowout in the pool, but she was a good girl and waited until we were back in our room!

The twins made a new friend and splashed for hours, pretending they were lost at sea on their turtle boat, with shovels as paddles.

Eleanor was getting hot and wanted back in the pool!

After a day at the pool, picking tropical flowers, going to kids club, and more swimming, the girls ate pizza in our room and watched a movie with the sweetest babysitter we hired from Maui Nannies. We put Eleanor down to bed first so that the sitter only had to handle the twins and Meredith, but she was such a pro, she would have been fine with all four. She brought her own crafts, stickers, and books for them to do and they were so engaged, they didn’t even say goodbye when we left to walk along the boardwalk past the Four Seasons and over to the Grand Wailea for dinner at Humuhumunukunukuapua’a (Humuhumu for short, apparently). We had a beautiful view and enjoyed our dinner out/walking in the cool Maui breeze. When we returned, our sitter reported that all the girls were great and while Meredith had gotten out of her bed a few times, she eventually conked out. We ended up getting a sitter two more times on our vacation so that we could have a relaxing adult meal!

Goodnight, Wailea.

Lots of love,

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Maui 2018: Wailea

We loved seeing the sights and staying in West Maui, but were excited to pack up from our Air Bnb and head down to Wailea for the remainder of our trip. With the Moana soundtrack on repeat (again), we enjoyed the cool breeze and lush scenery as we made the drive down to the south part of the island.

Wailea was much quieter and more exclusive than West Maui and was so beautiful. We loved seeing both parts of the island– Kaanapali/Lahaina in West Maui was more “real Hawaii,” with banana bread and coconut stands, cheap poke bowls and sushi, and undeveloped coastline, whereas Wailea was more manicured and resort-like. We loved both areas for different reasons!

The girls were psyched about their flower leis at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea.

Relaxing with fresh guava juice.

Eleanor relaxed on the lanai after a long day.

Aloha!

By the time we checked in, it was dinnertime, so we ate at the restaurant by the pool and took a walking tour of the resort to figure out where everything was for activities the next day. Eleanor and I watched the sun set while the girls ran around exploring.

We were treated to amazing sunsets every night from our room!

Our room was much smaller than the Air BNB we had during the first part of our trip, but it did have separate bedrooms and a huge bathroom. Eleanor slept in a pack n play with Jake and I in our room, and the twins slept on a queen bed together in the other room, with Meredith on a little rollaway bed. It sometimes took a few tries to get Meredith to stay in bed to nap, but once we told her she would have to go to bed early while the twins went swimming in the evening if she didn’t nap, she fell asleep every time. The twins were either out and about with Jake or on the lanai coloring or reading during Meredith and Eleanor’s nap time, so it all worked out. We also didn’t have a kitchen, but had a large closet to store food, a microwave and a fridge, so we made due splitting our meals between eating out and doing simple breakfasts and lunches with groceries.

We had never stayed at the Fairmont before, and I was nervous about not having the space and kitchen of an Air Bnb, but we ended up loving that it had everything under the sun and everyone was so helpful! Just one call and very tan valets would come pick us up in the golf cart to take us the beach, help us set up chairs and umbrellas, or take our beach gear back to our room. We could also call up their one of their Escalades to take us anywhere we wanted to go. We had a long list of hikes, aquariums, and other activities we had written down as options of things to do, but we ended up just staying at the resort the entire time. It was so relaxing and the kids had a blast, so we didn’t feel the need to go anywhere else. We just soaked up the sun, played in the water and enjoyed some uninterrupted family time.

Good morning, Wailea!

Jake was attending a law conference at the hotel in the mornings, so I flew solo with the girls. It wasn’t easy wrangling everyone at first, but after a few days, we got the hang of it and had a good schedule going. We interspersed pool days with beach days in the mornings and went out in the afternoons or stayed at the resort when Jake got back.

On our first pool morning flying solo, we rented a cabana so that Eleanor would have adequate shade while the girls swam in the pool. We had fresh fruit and cold drinks delivered to us all morning and ate lunch poolside. Eleanor took her morning nap in the cabana while I played with the girls in the pool and splash pad and when she woke up, we all played in the pool together.

The pool only rented out life jackets and puddle jumpers, and made you purchase floaties and pool toys, which was annoying, but well worth the money spent keeping the kids occupied for a few hours.

The resort catered to kids, so there were families with young kids everywhere and the girls loved splashing around with new friends. We were the largest family we saw there, until we instantly bonded with another family of four kids from San Diego. We would see them around the resort while we were there and give each other thumbs up and a look that said, “We totally understand what the chaos is like… you got this!”

Snack time in the cabana.

The hardest part was herding everyone over to the restroom constantly! Inevitably, someone had to go right when Eleanor had finally fallen asleep and even though the bathroom was just steps away, the girls insisted on stopping to pick EVERY. SINGLE. FLOWER. On the way back, they wanted to climb EVERY. SINGLE. STATUE. So each bathroom trip took about thirty minutes. The good news was that even without Jake, the morning flew by!

Eleanor was slobbering over the delicious fruit platter!

After a morning at the pool, we went back to our room for naps. The best part of the cabana was that it was rented for the entire day, so we could leave all the floaties, towels and pool gear there without having to lug it up to the hotel myself! After naps, Jake was back from his conference and the girls wanted to go back in the pool, stopping to climb approximately 11,000 statues on the way there.

The waterslide was small enough that the girls could do it themselves and it kept the girls occupied for hours.

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Meredith split her time between the big pool and the kiddie splash pad. I would look over to the splash pad and she’d be chatting it up with random babies and kids. She made lots of friends on our trip!

The pool rented out these cool water torpedoes, which the kids fought over constantly.

We went to a dinner party for families of the lawyers attending the conference and ate one last snacky dinner on our lanai before bedtime. After the kids were asleep, it was lovely watching the sunset and chilling outside on the lanai since the weather was so warm!

We though Meredith was asleep while we were out on the lanai, but went inside the find the closet light on. Sneaky Meredith was inside stuffing her face with cereal! She totally denied the whole thing when we caught her red-handed.

Lots of love,

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