We took an unexpected trip to Hawaii last week, and boy was it incredible! Joe qualified for it at work, so he earned an all-expense paid trip to the "Award of Excellence" conference at the Ritz Carlton in Maui. We thought about just the two of us going, but it was difficult to arrange for someone to stay home with the kids and get them to/from their activities, and we honestly wanted them to get to enjoy it too. At the last minute, we decided to bring them, extend the trip a couple of days, and make it a fun, family vacation. I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to do it, and nice for some of Joe's hard work to be recognized! The kids were excited, although a bit stressed about missing 4 days of school. Also, since we usually travel using our timeshare, where we have a kitchen and washer/dryer in our units, they couldn't understand how staying at a regular "hotel" would be good. They didn't understand that the Ritz is actually a step up!
Since I always do a photo book of our trips, I'll just do a few highlights here. There sure were a lot of them...it was amazing! We had an early morning direct flight out of San Diego.
After stopping for our first treat of the week, at Hula Cookies and Ice Cream, we headed to Kapalua. Our room wasn't quite ready when we got there so we explored the surrounding area which was absolutely gorgeous.
The view from our balcony...
Since we had the first few days on our own, without any work obligations, we spent our time exploring the island, eating our way through towns, and doing lots of swimming.
We watched our first sunrise on Napili Beach. There happened to be a ton of whale watching there too. We ate our breakfast over the ocean while watching the whales come up and down.
We explored the beautiful tidepools, and watched the sea turtles while walking along the rocky shore.
We headed to Nakalele Blowhole, which was truly awesome!
One our highlights was swimming in the Olivine Tidal Pools. Pictures just can't show how beautiful this area is. The tide was up, so the pools were pretty deep. It was a special time to be there and watch the waves crash up against the rocks surrounding us.
The coastline here is stunning, along with the countryside.
In case you didn't know, we found the best banana bread on the planet!
and the best Hula Pie at Kimo's!
We had some incredible snorkeling adventures at Ka'anapali Beach and Kapalua Beach. The fish were abundant and we saw some very large sea turtles!
We could get used to playing at the beach every day!
Nothing like heading to the beach early in the morning with a beautiful rainbow in front of you!
We had more delicious Hawaiian food and desserts!
I think we ate ice cream, gelato, shave ice, or chocolate covered macadamia nuts after every meal!
We headed up to the Haleakala Crater for sunset. It is a long, windy drive up. Part of it gets very foggy since you go through the clouds, up 10,000 feet. Once there though, the view of the crater is pretty cool. It is literally freezing up there, with temperatures in the 30's.
Being above the clouds and watching the sunset was spectacular.
By Thursday, it was time to attend some work functions. They provided some excellent meals, fun entertainment, some activities, and service projects, along with the awards.
Jim Belushi was there, along with his comedy group, for some fun entertainment!
Joe was recognized and was at the top of his group for sales and service.
Terminix chooses a service project to work on at each convention and this year the focus was on books for students at some of the schools in Hawaii. They asked each person attending to bring one or more books to donate. For the "teambuilding activities" they had each group build a bookcase for the books, which would be given to the schools. We also filled backpacks with school supplies, and painted small murals which would be assembled into one large one for one of the local elementary schools.
We got to attend a beautiful Luau on the beach at the Ritz. The food and dancers were excellent!
We were treated to breakfast each morning, and had a bit more beach time in between activities.
and took a few pictures around the resort...
We loved spending time in Lahaina, walking down Front Street, along the water, eating delicious food and treats, watching the boats come and go, and seeing Banyan Tree Park.
The company treated us to an excursion also. We were able to do the ocean kayaking and snorkel tour. It was incredible. I was only allowed to bring my cheap, disposable, waterproof camera, so
I didn't get any great shots, but at least it's documented!
We were able to kayak out to where the whales were swimming. It was quite a site to have them so close.
Unfortunately, the snorkeling wasn't that great where we were, but we had seen so many
incredible fish earlier in the week, it wasn't too disappointing!
On our last night, the company put on Gala dinner celebration. Zoe loves to dress up, and I couldn't believe how grown up she looked.
We were all pretty depressed when we woke up on our last morning in Maui. We were determined to hit the beach one more time, so we headed out before breakfast for one last snorkel and time to play in the sand.
We had a couple more hours before we had to be at the airport, so after checking out of our hotel, we went to the I'ao Valley. This gorgeous area in Central Maui was breathtaking.
The kids were disappointed that we didn't have time to break out our suits and swim in the stream, but they settled for putting their feet in.
It was hard to get on that plane to come home! We missed our dogs, friends, and the kids missed their sports, but sure wish we could've stayed a bit longer. I feel blessed that we were able to go and enjoy some family time in such a beautiful place though!
