The Dumps

Bird of Paradise flowers - love them!

Centipede on a stick (look close, it's right under Keaton's mouth):

of all the lizard pictures we were taking, we never expected to see one nor were we waiting for it to puff out its throat, but it was cool:

Jonathan caught a baby lizard - it was really cute:

then it jumped into the swimming pool and was just floating upside down so Jonathan had to jump in to save it - LoL
crab:

Found a better place to snorkel today!  =)

Here are Jonathan and the boys snorkeling:

Can barely make their heads and snorkel out here - showing how we had the whole beach to ourselves:

Wide angle - they are still out there as little dots - just showing that there really were no other people on this beach with us.  Probably because it was rocky - no one could lay out?  A real gem =)

We saw a lot of the same fish that we saw at the aquarium!

School of Yellow Tangs - which do bite:

Watch out for those teeth:

Can you tell who had the camera:

 Amazing tropical fish everywhere:

a bit blurry, but neat design:

A really big rainbow colored one:

A lot of the fish stayed in pairs or schools:

Jonathan holding a pencil urchin:

We found an eel:

Keaton under water:

Brady Journal:
Today we visited a plethora of shops alongside the beach, which was awesome. There were so many different kinds of people that it reminded me of Seattle. As we were walking towards Cheeseburger in Paradise to eat some dinner, this random kid fast-walked across the street towards us and as he swept passed us he said, "You guys wanna buy some weed?" And just as fast as he appeared, he disappeared. It was the most random thing ever and made me and Keaton laugh. But Cheeseburger in Paradise was a good place to eat; it was delish!
See you at the next post!

Museum & Aquarium

Sugar canes look like zebra decor, I like sugar even more now ;)

Keaton Journal:
We went to a really cool aquarium, it was small but had a lot of sweet tanks. We stayed for the shark feeding as well which wasn't what i was expecting but was still neat. We also went to the "sweetest museum" in Hawaii. It was more like the most boring museum in the world, our whole family can attest to this. It was a sugar cane museum that filled up 3 rooms. It was very dull. Later we went out to eat, I ate calamari and it was delicious.
Red Ginger plant are everywhere - so neat and vibrant:

Would you rather see a smoke stack like this:

Or this:

haha
Brady being crushed by a gear:

 Keaton hanging with the palms:

Brady:

at the aquarium:

Brady Journal:

Yesterday we went to an aquarium, which was really awesome! There were lots of cool fish and other sea creatures to observe in awe. My two favorite parts were the octopus and this huge tank filled with sharks, groupers, and sting rays. The octopus was sweet because at one point it changed color sporadically to blend in with some coral behind it. In the huge shark tank, we saw hammerheads, black-tips, and even a tiger shark, which was my favorite because of its blue stripes. There was also a man cleaning the inside of the tank! I don't know how comfortable I would feel swimming around a bunch of huge sting rays and sharks, but he seemed pretty dang comfortable.

So many fish, wish the water was this clear where we snorkeled ;)

 Picking the shark's nose:

Cooler starfish pattern than we have in the Pacific NW:

Scared of the stuffed seals on display:

 Very cute and tiny fish:

 Posin:

no adventure is without amusement!

Jonathan journal:  

We went to the Maui Ocean Center and got excited it was Sea Turtle month just to find out they had released all of their turtles the day before and were preparing the exhibit for new turtles to come in on Friday =(  Oh well we'll get to see some turtles on one of our snorkeling adventures =)  It is cool how they only keep most of their animals for short periods of time and then release them back to the wild.  We stayed for the shark feeding which was pretty cool.

We went to the Sugar Museum, but it was not as 'sweet' as they say it was =)
We then went in to Lahaina for dinner and some shopping.  My favorite part was going to the Ono Gelato Company for some gelato.  I had Tiramisu, Gianduia, and Cioccolato Sorbetto.......MMmmmmmmm.
We found some fun souvenirs and had a great day!

The Claw

Me: let's take a picture with that claw.

Keaton:

Brady:

Me: How about a regular pose?

Brady:

Keaton:

What is so interesting that the boys would get out of the car for and take pictures of?

Cats. Maui has a lot of wild cats it seems:

These trees have so much color:

And these Egret white birds are very common too:

We went snorkeling, but the water was a bit murky - here's some pics anyway:

Keaton's journal:
I feel like I'm back at the Green Dragon, after a hard days work...well sorta. It's nice to relax for a bit and do what you want to when you want to. However I do not live in the Shire and have never been to the Green Dragon. There's a few things I have learned since being here. First, sunscreen still doesn't work. Second, if you want to sleep in, bring earplugs because the birds will wake you up. And third, there's a lot better snorkeling here than there is in Oahu.

On Vacation . . . in Maui

At the Maui airport, even their toilet (TOILETS are how bathrooms/restrooms are marked) signs are fashionable:

 Lots of lizards, cute but speedy:

Birds of Paradise:

and their very own chickens - they were everywhere:

Sunsets at night are beautiful

Brady's journal:
We checked out a beach while the sun was setting and it was awesome! The sky was an orangey-red, showing off the silhouettes of clouds. I was surprised by the power of the waves that were rolling in and smacking against the rocks. Water was shooting everywhere and some even sprayed me and Jonathan while we were walking across the rocky terrain. As we were walking, however, we noticed that there was a lot of quick movement on the ground below us. When we looked down they seemed to be frogs. But that didn't make sense, since it was the ocean. A closer look revealed that they were actually crabs that were lightning fast! It was a pretty cool area to check out.

and a rainbow:

We are staying at my cousin's house and it's an awesome view from the bedroom we're sleeping in:

 Tropical plants, tress and flowers - ahhhh, so nice!

Cutest little birds (finches?) are frequent visitors throughout the day

a bush full of plumeria's

and hibiscus flowers:

Loving waking up here!