Around 5 this morning, I heard someone coming down one of
the bunk ladders. It was Whitman and he was soon in bed with me. Now, all of
this amazed me since he fell asleep at supper and somehow woke up in the
pitch-dark room and was able to navigate his way down the ladder and into our
bed.
After tossing with Whitman for a bit, I finally got up
and climbed into the shower. I decided that I might as well take my time and
enjoy a warm shower. I did have a good laugh because I had told the boys that
they would be able to go to the bathroom, wash their hands and take a shower at
the same time. Surprisingly, the bathroom was a bit bigger than I had expected
and Graham had been disappointed that he couldn’t multitask.
Keaton, Whitman and I were all awake and dressed before
Robby was out of bed this morning. Whitman and Keaton were anxious to get to
the playroom for the pirate treasure hunt. They were a bit disappointed when I
explained that it was much later tonight. Soon though we were upstairs in the
buffet. The choices were plentiful and a bit overwhelming. It was packed but we
still found some food. Whitman picked a banana and yogurt and Keaton had eggs,
sausage and a cinnamon roll. I tried a few different things for my breakfast.
The boys showed up and we all grabbed a box of cereal for
our snack later. Before too long, Robby and Pops were heading to go and pick up
our cars for the day. They had a bit of a walk and opted for a number to take
them to the rental car place.
The rest of us left the boat and found a shady spot to
wait on the cars. Leaving the boat is a bit of an ordeal-two car seats, today
we had 7 National Park passport books, 6 Jr. Ranger books to turn in, Robby’s
bag and backpack (You may be on PDO but there is still work to be done), the
girls pineapple backpacks (I made those things so they are carrying them!),
8water bottles in an ice chest, some candy and probably a few other items. It
was enough that I was glad to sit my bags down! Soon they were back and we
hopped in the cars. From there, we headed upcountry to Helical National Park.
The drive was pretty and full of turns but not exactly what I would expect for
Maui to look like. Our trek tomorrow will take us to more Maui-is looking
sights.
We visited the first visitor center and then drove 10more
miles of hairpin curves to make it to the summit. It was a rocky, moon-like
place full of craters and a volcano that might be active again or so they say.
The visitor center at the top was closed so down we trekked to the lower
visitor center so the kids could get their Jr. Ranger badges. Poor Reagan never
seems to thrilled about becoming a Jr. Ranger anymore; I guess that shies
getting too old for it but as long as she is in the age range, she will still
be getting one.
After leaving the National Park, it was still a good
little jaunt to get back down the hill. We turned when we were almost to the
bottom of the hill to stop at a Lavender Farm. Soon we were on a steep uphill
windy road and Robby told me that we had .8 miles on it. Jason was driving the
other car so Pops was in ours and he shouted, “how many?” He had miss heard
Robby and thought that he said 28 more miles!
It wasn’t nearly that far and soon we were at the most
beautiful place. It was a lavender farm but they also had peaches, lemons and
all kinds of succulents growing. The farm was on the side of a hill and you
overlooked the ocean and mountains. I figured that Oprah must live somewhere
nearby because if I had all of the money in the world, I would certainly live
there too.
It was nearly 2 and we were getting hungry so Robby
bought 4 lavender scones for us to share along with some lavender lemonade.
Theocons were good and you couldn’t really
taste the lavender but the lemonade was a bit too
lavender for most of my kiddos. Either way, it did hit the spot-at least until
we could get back on the boat.
From there we headed back to the boat, I jumped in Pops
‘car and everyone else but Whitman climbed out. Whitman was sound asleep-bless
that poor little guy; traveling is tough on a 4-year-old. Robby had planned on
parking our cars at a nearby 24-hour grocery store but he was just a bit uneasy
about it so we sat in the car trying to find plan B. Thankfully, plan B was
cheap and semi nearby.
We drove both cars to the Maui Beach Hotel where we paid5
dollars to park each one. Then he dropped Whitman and me off at the boat and
went back to park his car. I joined
everyone else upstairs in the buffet. They were closing
it so there were few options but I do believe the kids found enough junk to
satisfy them until supper time.
Robby had to walk over a mile to get back to the boat-I
guess if he was counting his steps that would be a good thing. Speaking of
counting steps, Pops is counting his and has a fit bit but sometime this
morning he tried to burn the boat down with his. Somehow, he dropped some
change on the fit bit and charger and blew their circuits along with burned his
charger up. Everything is well now and hopefully Pops won’t start anymore
fires.
After the kids ate, we headed down to our rooms to put on
bathing suits. Keaton didn’t want to go swimming but she quickly decided that
she did once she saw everyone else wearing theirs. The kids had a blast in the
two different pools going back and forth to each one. I did leave their goggles
in the room which probably wasn’t the best of ideas since everyone’s eyes soon
looked a bit red.
Robby left in the middle of swimming to go and grab him a
bite of late lunch to eat. He went to one spot and ordered his food. I was
under the impression that he was coming back to join me but he didn’t come and
he didn’t come so finally I text. He said that it was a bit of a sit-down place
so he ate some there and tried to figure out how to bring me some.
He finally showed up with some brownie cheesecake for me
along with some loaded French fries. Soon the kids were finished swimming and
Graham was anxious to play a round of ping pong with someone. Robby went
upstairs with him to play and before I knew it, everyone was playing a game of
shuffleboard.
We headed back to our rooms for everyone to change into
their clothes. At one point Keaton, Whitman, Graham and Campbell were all in
our room and it was a bit crowded! Ha! That is an understatement-we were just
able to shuffle one way or shuffle another way.
When everyone was dressed again, we headed to the
Cadillac Diner. This is where Robby had grabbed his food from earlier in the
day and I don’t think that they recognized him. I offered for us to sit at
2tables for 4 but we ended up all together and outside. Being altogether was
fine and being outside was fine for the first few minutes but soon the sun went
down and it was chilly!
After everyone ate, we headed to the kid’s club to drop
everyone off for the Pirate Night. Whitman was beyond excited and could not
wait to show me the pirate decorations. There weren’t too many kiddos around so
I wasn’t too sure if my big ones would enjoy it or not. That is okay though
because I just want them to try out new things-including new foods. Reagan had
been doing awesome at that and is trying some new foods all the time. Graham
will eat most anything but everyone else, not so much!
The grownups ate supper at the other main dining room
tonight, Skyline. The food was good-I had minestrone soup, Szechwan chicken,
lava cake and pecan pie (which was just a nut pie really. They needed to add
some Karo.)
By the time that supper was over, it was nearly time
topic up the kids. Keaton and Whitman had the best time ever. They came out of
the room all talking at once about everything that they did. Campbell had
Justas much fun on the pirate treasure hunt as the littles. The boys enjoyed it
as well and when I asked Reagan if she wanted to go back, she said that it
depended on what they were doing in the kid’s area and on what we were doing.
Once we were back in our rooms, we washed the pirate
paint off Graham, Anderson and Keaton’s faces. Then it was time for bed-it is
just 10:20 and I am finished with the blog and about to lay down in bed. This
pretty much a record for me but it still will be a few hours before anything is
posted since we don’t have internet in our room.
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