Vacations Blog

When in Hawaii do as the Hawaiians do. In this case that means charge a bunch of tourists a hefty sum and then dump them in the ocean.  It was worth it.

This photo is from a snorkeling expedition off the coast of Maui.  That’s a sea turtle.

“Dude? Dude? Focus dude… Dude?”

See?

“Saw the whole thing, dude. First you were all like “whoa”, and we were like “whoa”, and you were like “whoa…”"

And that’s how it happened.  No Snorks were harmed in the writing of this post.

“RIGHTEOUS. RIGHTEOUS.”

Photo by Whit Honea

For more family-friendly travel photos visit DeliciousBaby’s Photo Fridays.

Quotes courtesy of Crush

Mother and son on the beach in Maui, HI.

Photo by Whit Honea

Even before we had kids, my husband and I agreed that water and sun vacations were our preference. Both of us are swimmers, he was a college water polo player, and we love spending time at the beach and in the water. Therefore, when our son (also our firstborn) was old enough to let us know that he hated the water, we were shocked. What was this going to do to our beach vacations?

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For my birthday this year, I received a Garmin eTrex Legend personal navigator, better known as a GPS device. I asked this for this little wonder, so our family could engage in something called GeoCaching. After a few test runs around our neighborhood, we were ready to take it on vacation, and what better place than the beautiful island of Maui!

Our family loves to travel, but with two kids age 5 and 7, spending long days looking at tourist spots is not going to cut it. And in Maui, too much time on the beach turns us all into lobsters. A mid-day treasure hunt would allow us to learn more about a locale, at the same time providing my kids an outlet for their boundless energy.

Consulting Geocaching.com, an online repository for hidden caches, I downloaded a plan to find a cache in downtown Lahaina. This was not far from where we were staying in Kaanapali, and a quick ride on the West Maui Shopping shuttle put us right behind the movie theater on Front Street, a good starting point for our search.

I already knew from reading the other reports about the cache, that it was hidden close to the Banyan Tree on Front Street. That tree alone is worth a trip to Lahaina – the tree was planted in 1873 and is currently 60 feet high and takes up about 2/3 of a acre at Banyan Tree Park. After snapping the required photo of kids next to one of the huge trunks, we moved away from under the tree (the signal was not able to make it through the canopy) and got a line on our treasure.

We were after a virtual cache, which meant there was no hidden treasure to find, but there was a plaque for us to locate with some significant historical information. We were to find the plaque and email the answer to the question to the cache owner. From Front Street, we headed towards the water, around the side of Banyan Park. On the way, we went past local musicians playing ukuleles, and many island crafters with their wares set up on blankets in the park. As we got closer to the water, we could see the cruise ships out at sea. Our GPS device was telling us we were very close, so we started to look for a plaque. The only one we could find nearby was in front of the lighthouse. And reading the plaque indicated we had found the right place! Our job was to find out how much the Hawaiian caretaker was paid – $20 a year! In addition, we learned that the Lahaina Lighthouse was constructed in 1840 to help navigate the tricky waters through the narrow coral reef. At this point, my kids lost interest and spent the rest of the time climbing on the posts around the lighthouse. However, we decided that all in all, the adventure was pretty successful. The husband and I learned more about our destination and our family had a fun puzzle to solve. As soon as we found it, the kids were asking what our next cache was going to be!

We’re starting to investigate family friendly beach resorts as a potential destination for the time between Christmas and New Years. On Kango, we compiled some of our ideas for family friendly resorts in California, Florida, and Hawaii.

“On Maui, the Grand Wailea Resort and Spa is a combination between a huge water park and an impressive art museum. The multi-level pool has waterfalls, caves, a rope swing and slides for kids to explore and play on. Masterpieces by Picasso and Warhol provide exciting learning opportunities for adults and kids. On Oahu, the kid-friendly beach resort called Sheraton Princess Kaiulani will make your kids feel like royalty. Programs for kids 5-12 include snorkeling, boogie boarding and star gazing. Kids even get a throw-away camera to capture all of their adventures. A great kid-friendly beach resort on The Big Island is the Hilton Waikoloa Village. A lagoon with dolphins and Disney-themed attractions ensure that your kids will never be bored, and kids can explore the island’s volcanic past and present on supervised fieldtrips.” Here’s more on Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Our last family reunion, we stayed at the Kea Lani Maui and my brother stayed at the Grand Wailea Resort , both in South Maui (Wailea area). If you are focused on kids activities, a great toddler pool with sand at the bottom, fun waterslides and a river current, I recommend the Grand Wailea. The pool area was very satisfying for our kids (and us!). The beach is also highly convenient, just right next to the toddler pool area. The pool facilities at the Kea Lani paled in comparison. However, we had a suite (the Fairmont Kea Lani is an all suites hotel) so we were able to sleep better than if we were all in one room. The downside on the Grand Wailea is the cost…we rented a poolside cabana for $150 per day! The Four Seasons Maui, located right between the Kea Lani and the Grand Wailea is extremely civilized, and provides poolside cabana and Kids Club for no extra charge, according to a friend who recently stayed there. So be sure to calculate kids’ club and cabana costs into your cost equation when you book.

Anyway, we’ll be looking at Hawaii family friendly resorts and probably Mexico family friendly resorts as well. Any advice to us? We’ll be traveling with 2 grandparents, 4 kids (6, 5, 2, 1), and 4 exhausted parents of young kids and toddlers ready for a break!