Eating, Eating, More Eating and some other memorable pics

There are so many awesome places to eat in Maui, it was hard to choose. We had smoothies and ice cream pretty much every day (that's the Smith kind of vacation)... Elise, Jessie, mom, and I went on long super speedy runs (along the beach) every morning trying to burn off all the calories we consumed on the trip.

Our first night we went to Longhi's in Lahaina for some delicious Italian food. Andrew just ate spoonful after spoonful of the marinara sauce


I rarely was able to get a pic of the whole group at dinner, but this was my beautiful view at dinnertime at Longhi's. Andrew and Maddie had fun yelling across the table to one another.


After this first night, Andrew either ate shirtless, or we brought a new shirt for after dinner. He is all boy and a big mess!


After dinner we headed to a longtime favorite spot- Banyon Tree Park in Lahaina. Scott morphed back into his childhood self and climbed up really high in the trees. He let Andrew hang out with him on some of the littler branches.


Each night a different family was in charge of dinner. Dan & Elise took us to Cheeseburger In Paradise on Monday. I thought I was in paradise with all the huge plates of french fries we ordered.


Andrew probably ate a whole bucket of fries on his own. Such a cute happy little dude.


After we wandered around (and chased Andrew... who has learned to completely ignore me and run at lightning speeds away from me)... we worked up an appetite for some Shave Ice. This place in downtown Lahaina had the absolute best tasting stuff... and ginormous servings.



Maddie had the best face after her first taste of shave ice... even though she loved it and kept getting mad at Dan if he'd ignore her for a sec and stop feeding her.


This little dude ate lots of popsicles during the week. I loved how huge this one was... but didn't love how we went to the beach afterwards and he was covered in sand and stickiness. If the beach could have a different sort of sand (that didn't stick to sticky little kids with a death grip)... I'd be a happier mom.


On Tuesday night Jessie was in charge of dinner. She prepared kabobs on the BBQ at the pool. Everything was delish. I loved all the potatoes, peppers, corn, and other veggies... and the chicken and steak looked amazing too.


Afterwards we went back to G&G Smith and Jessie's condo for hanging out and eating homemade chocolate chip cookie/ice cream sandwiches.


On Wednesday night (Don't you love how I have such a detailed memory of all the food we ate?), Cat & Scott made us Cat's mom's special chicken salad and we ate it with croissants, fruit, and chips. Everyone was really impressed. The seasoning and salad was sooo good.


Andrew & Maddie hung out a bit and chilled while we chatted. Occasionally Maddie would get a little too close to Andrew and he'd yell "MINE" as loud as he could. Fortunately, Maddie isn't a delicate little kid and could rival Andrew's yells with her own loud sounds. It was pretty awesome to see her stand up to him.


Vegging after the yummy chicken salad dinner.


After dinner, Jessie went over to babysit Maddie and my parents came over to our condo to babysit Andrew, and we had DATE NIGHT! Cat, Scott, Elise, Dan, Kevin, and I all piled into one minivan (what a date night!) and drove to Lahaina for dessert at Hard Rock Cafe.

Dan eating a gecko (or really mostly just freaking Elise and I out)

My brownie ice cream sundae at Hard Rock

The date night crew

Cat, Scott, Kevin, and I continued date night by heading back to our condo to play some Ticket to Ride into the wee hours of the morning. Cat won... which made me very happy. :)

When we weren't eating, we also played some tennis. Cat showed us her mad skills. She used to teach tennis and is really good.


Poor mom took a bad fall when she was playing and bruised her shoulder, hip, and skinned her knee really really bad (the kind of bad that makes it so you can't sleep).

Andrew hunted for ants.

After mom's fall, Kevin took over her spot for a bit. Such a handsome tennis player! :)


I loved this pic so I had to throw it in. Andrew barely had any toys in Hawaii, so he was very creative with what he played with.


On Thursday night we went to the Drums of the Pacific Luau at the Hyatt. It was awesome. Especially the fire throwing guy. I have never seen Andrew sit that still ever.



The fruit punch was amazing. We drank it like we had an IV... esp since it was a little sunny when the luau started.



This was our one family picture from the whole trip. That is my one regret. The one they took of us at the luau by the professionals look awful (Andrew was screaming), so this will have to do. :)


While we pigged out on luau food and waited for the show, we took some pics.



Jessie was a good sport and took Andrew up to learn the hula. Once he got up there he was more interested in trying to touch the blazing hot stage lights... or just looking around.


I brought a boat load of stuff for him to do, so he actually was fine for almost the entire luau (3 hours... which is more than I can say for our red-eye home :)). He only had to leave once to go run around. I knew when they gave him that necklace that this would be it's fate in not too long... it was broken before we got home.


Our last night in Lahaina, Kevin and I took everyone to the Lahaina Pizza Company for dinner. The pizza was like the thick crusty stuff from B.J.'s. So yummy! The food took way too long to arrive, but the dinner music was a lot of fun.


and we practically consumed every piece of pizza.


Andrew had a klutzy evening and fell off a chair at dinner and then skinned his knee on the way to get shave ice and ice cream (after dinner)... and hit his head later in the night. He and Grandma had matching boo boos and band aids. Andrew spent the rest of the trip very concerned about Grandma's knee and wanted to see it every time he saw her.


We also got this darling picture of Maddie & Grandma while we were waiting for our shave ice.


Our last day was filled with fun in the sun... so we stopped for McDonalds (not my favorite at the beach... although Andrew didn't mind the extra crunchy sand pieces coating his nuggets)... and Cat, Jess & I all stopped at Yogurtland. I had never been before... but now am definitely a fan.


So sad to be home and away from the yummy food, family, and the beautiful island of Maui! Hopefully we will go back again soon!