Maui - September 2012.

We planned a trip to Maui (it is our "go-to" spot, it seems) to celebrate my graduation as well as the end of the tour season. We decided it would be wise to take a vacation before I started working a grown-up job and had to use PTO. I agreed to start work on October 1st, so my ocean-loving-fish-out-of-water husband booked our tickets for September 15th through September 30th.

We had been brainstorming people who might be able to join us in Hawaii...the more the merrier, right? We have lucked out on cheap(er than anywhere around, yet still nice) apartments and have been fortunate enough to have very flexible jobs which have allowed us the time and money to travel. Most of our friends lead what I like to call real lives. You know, solid jobs, a house, kids, etc. I'm certainly not saying the grass is greener on one side or the other, I'm just comparing. That being said, it has proved difficult to find friends who can travel with us on short notice.

Enter our good friends, Chris and Tiffany Hebb. They experienced a horrible tragedy this year (you may read about it on their blog) and we both had the feeling we should invite them. We met them while driving/touring up here and visited them when they lived on the Big Island. They have since moved back to the mainland and live in Oregon. We feel so blessed that we were able to meet their little Ollie just two weeks before he left this Earth to return to live with our Heavenly Father. Things came together just perfectly and they flew to Maui with their baby, Poppy, the day after us and were able to stay for a week and a half.

Most of my recent posts have not included pictures, so I'm making up for it now. They are in no particular order, but they are there!

Costco pizza for lunch after loading up on a ton of groceries (as seen in our cart).

They were harvesting sugar cane while we were there. This process was impressive and unbelievably fast.

We successfully made it to the Haleakala Visitor Center without anyone throwing up. Poor Poppy and Tiff were carsick. And of course it was completely socked in!

 She sure loves her tongue!

We heard about a big street party that happens on the third Friday of each month in an upcountry town called Makawao. We ate our way through - delicious watermelon for $1/slice, yummy wood-fired/brick oven pizza, macadamia nut brownies, BBQ chicken, Indian food...okay, so we were little piggies!

 Makawao is a real cowboy town. Sorry for the blurry pic, took way too many pictures to go back through and find a clear one...you get the idea, just some guy on a horse.

 There was live music...

 A blooming Haleakala silversword.

 Christopher's specialty chicken wings (and snossages). 

He truly is a gourmet chef (we really want him to open his own restaurant!) He cooked excellent food for us every single day. Nothing like a personal chef on vacation, eh?

 We ate better on this trip than we do at home...

The weather this time of year was very different than what we usually experience in December. I felt it was more windy? Anyway, we had one major downpour while there, it was awesome!

 Should totally be an advertisement for this t-shirt company, yeah?

 We explored a new beach on the Road to Hana. Suuuuuper pretty.

 Makawao street party.

 Told ya it was a cowboy town!

 More live music...

 Can't beat a beautiful sunset!

 One of my favorite pictures of the trip.

 Check out this crazy tourist haha! Surprise! Jeffrey surprised Andy and came to Maui for a few days! I alllllmost blew the surprise at the last second, but had a good cover. He was able to come and stay on our Murphy bed and work from the condo each day! We definitely missed Kath. :/

 Last night at the beach.

 Saying goodbye at the airport (cool hairdo, Bri).

 Yummmmmmmmy salad at Flatbread in Paia!

 We actually flew into and out of Honolulu and then island hopped to and from Maui. We were able to meet up with Andy's college friend, Logan, and his girlfriend, Susan (should soon be fiance!). They are going to BYU-Hawaii and both graduate this December. They came down and picked us up and spent the day with us! Okay, okay, so they actually chauffered us everywhere I wanted to go, like Nordstrom Rack and the mall. Soooo very nice of them! For lunch they took us to a Korean BBQ place. It was so cool! The only thing I disliked was how smoky it got, there was poor ventilation. But what a neat experience!

Another one of my favorite pictures.

Can't beat it!

This is how we took Chris and Tiff to the airport so that Jeffrey could come as well...shhhh. 

Flatbread with Jeffrey, Jen, and Ryan (not pictured). Jen went to PA school with me and happened to be visiting Maui at the same time!

I got my hairs did because I had some major roots going on. We were flying home on a Sunday and I was starting work the next day. Most likely no one would have noticed, but I wanted them to take me seriously! Not be the new girl with grown out hair haha.

Jeffrey and I have the same camera with different lenses, so it was fun to compare pictures.

This was taken on my phone. Hands down my favorite sunset that I've ever seen in Hawaii!

Until next time...