212/365

 We got up early today to meet our boat for the snorkeling tour. It took us to Molokini--a crescent-shaped crater which is supposedly one of the best places to snorkel. They had these Zayak's for the kids with a little window to see underwater. Unfortunately, Greyson was not much of a fan... the water was much colder than the beaches where we had been the last few days, & he did not like it. I snorkeled for a little bit before taking him back to the boat, while Darin stayed out with Gavin & Ellie. Pretty amazing. After that stop, they served lunch on the boat--bbq chicken or pork sandwiches, etc. Then the next stop was "Turtle Town" along Maui's south shore where there's supposed to be the largest concentration of Hawaiian green sea turtles. Only Darin & Gavin got out into the water here. Ellie, Greyson & I watched from the boat & Ellie spotted a turtle! Darin & Gavin only saw one too, but didn't get a picture in time. It was fun! We would definitely do it again, when the kids are older.

 We swam in the condo pool for awhile when we got back, then cleaned up & went to see Iao Valley Monument. Beautiful area--so lush. We had dinner at Coconuts--one of the only repeat meals we had on the whole trip--those fish tacos are the best! We walked along Kalama beach near our condo to see the sunset before heading back. Definitely tired at the end of these days, but loving it!

211/365

 Ellie found this dying fresh flower lei hanging in the stairwell, & was happy to claim it. We headed to the beach this morning to meet Sean (our timeshare presentation guy) who has lived & surfed in HI since he graduated from high school in the early 80's. He has taught surf lessons before & offered to give Gavin a lesson today! Such a nice guy. Gavin did well! It was about two hours total, & he got up several times.

After we cleaned up & had lunch, we drove to the summit of Haleakala--Maui's main volcano. Its peak is 10,023 feet high, so with 27 miles of switchbacks to reach the top, eventually we were higher than the clouds. Pretty amazing views... Next time we'll have to time it better to see the sunset. We were at the top around 6pm & didn't want to wait. Instead we watched it as we drove down, & had dinner at Maui Tacos.

The Haleakala Silversword--a rare plant that only grows up here!

210/365

 A few pics of the condo--it was a fun place in a complex across the street from the beach with a bedroom on the main level plus a loft with 2 double beds for the kids upstairs. We had a full kitchen, but only got a few groceries--cereal, peanut butter & jam & bread, etc. Every day of the trip we had breakfast on the balcony. We sometimes had peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, & usually tried a new place for dinner.

 We usually hit a beach in the morning (tried several different spots)

We'd heard about the pie at Leoda's Kitchen, which was on the way to Lahaina, so we stopped for dessert a few hours before the Luau. It was totally worth the stop!

 The Luau was fun--good entertainment & a big buffet, which was a good way to try a lot of different things... but glad we didn't pay for it--would've been around $300 for our family!