We recently traveled to Maui for our friends' (Matt and Thom) wedding. Traveling with an almost six month old was a little bit of an ordeal. Sophia did fairly well on the flight out to Maui (luckily it was direct from Phoenix), since it was a daytime flight. The flight back was a different story, as it was a night flight, leaving at 10:30pm Maui-time and arriving into Phoenix at 7:30am. Sophia was overtired and fell asleep on my lap. However, whenever I moved more than a few inches, she would wake up crying... We were sitting next to the bathroom in seats that didn't recline also. Needless to say, we were all exhausted when we got home later that morning. Oh, and we forgot where we parked the car at Sky Harbor Airport so we ended up wandering around for about 45 minutes until we found it...
Anyway, now onto the trip itself. Maui was wonderful. We spent the first day (Thursday), getting settled at our villa, which was located on the Ritz Carlton property in Kapalua, just north of Lahaina. It was a great deal - we got a villa with two rooms, a kitchen, washer/dryer, living area and patio for a really good price (cheaper than some of the hotels we were looking at, and much more convenient with the amenities). Our villa overlooked the golf course, so we had a very peaceful view. It was only a 10 minute walk down to the beach, which we did quite a few times with Sophia.
On Friday, we went into Lahaina to wander around the shops, have lunch and then get some shaved ice (delicious!) In the evening, we had a quiet night with some takeout back at the villa. On Saturday, we visited a farmer's market and coffee plantation in the morning, then went for a hike in the Maunalei Arboretum in the early afternoon, followed by dinner at Hula Grill with Cathy, Amanda and Andria (my coworkers). Sunday was the day of the wedding, which was absolutely lovely. The ceremony took place at the Sheraton and overlooked the ocean. After the ceremony was a beautiful dinner cruise aboard the Pride of Maui. Monday brought some downtime, where I learned to paddle board and we had some beach time. In the evening, we went out to dinner in Lahaina. Tuesday was our last full day before our flight back to Phoenix, so we visited the Maui Aquarium and Sophia made a fish friend.
It was a wonderful trip and we packed in a lot more than we thought possible with a baby! A big thanks to Matt and Thom for inviting us to celebrate with them!!
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| "Oooh! Where are we going?" |
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| With Grandma on the patio of our villa |
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| View of the ocean, from Lahaina |
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| Sightseeing in Lahaina |
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| Out to lunch at Hamburger in Paradise, Lahaina |
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| View of the golf course from our villa |
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| Mum, Sophia and I on the patio |
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| Jeremy, Sophia and I |
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| On the beach our second evening in Maui |
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| Hiking at the Maunalei Arboretum |
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| Sophia catching a ride on our hike |
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| Sophia and Jeremy after our hike |
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| The Hillside crew on Saturday night |
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| Jeremy, Sophia and I at Matt and Thom's wedding |
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| Getting ready for the sunset dinner cruise aboard the Pride of Maui - congratulations Matt and Thom! |
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| The happy couple! |
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| Practicing our best Titanic pose |
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| A beautiful sunset |
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| Jeremy on the cruise |
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| Thom, Matt and Cathy |
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| Enjoying the beautiful sunset |
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| Jeremy and I |
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| Jeremy and Sophia playing in the waves on Monday morning |
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| Sophia loved the beach |
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| Exploring the northern part of Maui |
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| Sophia thinks she is ready to walk! |
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| My favourite photo by far! |
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| Mum at dinner our last night in Lahaina |
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| This little fish loved Sophia! I think he was trying to figure out what kind of fish she was, due to her green and white polka dotted dress :) |
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| At the Maui Aquarium |
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| Last day in Maui - enjoying some quiet time at the Westin at the poolside restaurant |
