East Coast Eason's: Hawaii

After TWO flights over 6 hours EACH we finally arrived in Maui, Hawaii on Saturday, July 27th for our most epic family vacation to date!

After picking up our 4-door hardtop Jeep Sahara, we arrived at our Airbnb condo in Kihei and unpacked. It was a great little 2-bedroom Condo with an amazing lanai facing the ocean! We settled in, then headed out for our 5:45 dinner reservations at Monkeypod in Wailea. Cute burger joint serving local fare, but we were exhausted from the flight - poor Kade was falling asleep in my lap. (5:45pm Hawaii time felt like 11:45pm Eastern time!)

Made a quick stop at the local Safeway to pick up groceries for breakfast and then it was off to bed for all of us before 9pm! .....because we were up BRIGHT and EARLY the following day!

I was initially worried as we didn't have anything specifically planned that Sunday, but we were so very glad that's how it worked out - we took our time getting up and Brent suggested a family workout - stretches, pushups and situps for all in the house.

And then closing it out with a nice run/walk!

This was our view from the corridor side of our condo when we headed out that morning. Haleakalā Crater is a dormant volcano, rising 10,023 feet above sea level - you cannot see it in the afternoon/evening as it is covered in clouds!

Kade started with the guys, but decided to stick to walking with me after just a short time. Brent and Brock ended up running over 2 miles along the beach!

Kade and I opted to walk and enjoy the view.

That boat in the distance happens to be the Hinatea! That's the boat that Brent and I went fishing 13 years prior when we were here for our wedding!!

The boys were so fascinated by all the wild chickens around! It was definitely a highlight when we'd spot some more - they were even in the Safeway parking lot!!

We stayed on the southwest side of Maui, but the way the island formed, you can see the northwest side of Maui and it looks like a different island! Those are wind turbines in a row up the side of the mountain!

This is looking South to a nearby island Kaho'olawe (an uninhabited island) and small Molokini Crater where we snorkeled on our last visit.

Haha and these were scattered around the island too - I asked Kade to tell me what he thought these were!

After our workout, we decided to treat ourselves to some local Shave Ice! This gem was only a block away!

Kade ordered the "Hawaiian Rainbow" - Strawberry, Pineapple, Blue Vanilla... and this was strange - Ice Cream under the shaved ice! Quite a big portion for my boy!

Brent ordered the amazingly tasty "Maui Gold" - Ice Cream and Maui Gold pineapple with pineapple juice! So good going down, but a little too much dairy for me. ;)

Brock and I went for smoothies - "Hana Sunrise" for me (Banana, papaya, & mango with pineapple juice) and "Kamaole Beaches" for Brock (Pineapple, mango & strawberries with guava juice).

Kamaole Beach is the name of the beach where we were - right in front of our Condo.

We enjoyed the scenic view from our lanai while eating hot dogs and sandwiches from a local deli! I also cut up the pineapple I purchased from Safeway the night before. I thought it so strange that a locally sourced fruit was MORE expensive than back home - and it was a weighed item, whereas back home it's unit priced! That one pineapple, albeit better tasting than any pineapple I could purchase in North Carolina, cost me $7.86!

The boys had been asking alllll day and finally it was time to head to the beach!

The waves were not as big as the ones we usually see at the Outer Banks, but these waves were STRONG. The water is really quite clear, but the waves are hitting the beach with such force, the first 8 feet from the shore looks all brown from the sand being churned up!