Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say....

.......On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,

That's the island greeting that we send to you

From the land where palm trees sway,

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright,

The sun to shine by day and all the stars at night,

Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way To say "Merry Christmas to you."

It was interesting to be in Hawaii during Christmas time. It's kinda funny to see Christmas decorations in a place that is so tropical. We heard Mele Kalikimaka quite a bit & loved it every time (often singing along). Although, I must admit, it still reminds me of that goofy scene in Christmas Vacation.

Anywho, as I said before, we had a great time, but things didn't go quite as planned. The first half of our vacation was in the midst of one of Maui's worst storms in many years. Thankfully we weren't on the side of the island (the east side which is the rainy side) that experienced mud slides and major power outages. We didn't lose power & filled our time shopping, eating, shopping some more, eating some more, etc. :) On the last rainy day, we spent time in the Maui Aquarium. THEN....FINALLY....The sun came. awwww. The beautiful Maui sun and beaches. There is nothing like it. We stayed in Ka'anapali at Maui's "most Hawaiian hotel" which is on a beautiful stretch of beach. In fact, Ka'anapali beach is known as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I recommend that if any of you ever head to Maui, stay in Ka'anapali to experience the beautiful beach. There are many hotels and condos to chose from. We are partial to KBH, although not 4 or 5 stars or fancy schmancy by any means, b/c it is so Hawaiian, staff is great, free nightly hula/music show, and has one of the best stretches of beach! They also have great vacation packages, have a beautiful goodbye ceremony for EACH guest, and have great packages for return guests. Because we were return guests and were celebrating, we got a free room upgrade, great deal on the room, breakfast every morning, & rental car. We arrived to champagne in our room & half way through our stay they gave us a little gift basket with plumeria bath & body products. Turn down service every night with yummy macadamia cookies. The ocean (from partial to full) & courtyard views are beautiful!

OK, back to what we did. So, like I said, the sun finally came out & we got our beach on! Lots of laying on the beach. A snorkeling trip to the Molokini crater & Turtle town were we saw a lot of pretty fishies & sea turtles & we saw some whales in the distance. That was probably one of my favorite part of the trip. We also went on an evening cocktail whale watch cruise, however, it is the very beginning of whale season in Hawaii, so we only saw a few in the distance. We saw SO MANY back in the 2005 wedding trip (one even breached RIGHT NEXT TO OUR BOAT, remember that, ETK??? AWESOME!!!) Also, lots of great foods & fruity drinks & DEE-LICIOUS pineapple. MMM! I swear, the pineapple in Hawaii is amazing! Oh, and more shopping (we shopped WAY to much. I think hubby & I have a T-shirt addiction.) And hubby surprised me with another graduation gift that I have been wanting & is great for traveling & casual days.

Unfortunately, on our last full evening in Maui, I became HORRIBLY ill. I am assuming I had food poisoning & won't go into the details, but I really thought I was dying. It was awful. I have never been in so much pain, seriously. I almost had hubby take me to the hospital. It. was. that. bad. Anyway, I got some OTC meds & gatorade in me and improved by the next morining. THANKFULLY. We spent our last morning resting in the sun & then took an over night flight home. Again, thankfully I was feeling better. I ate very little that day as to have no issues on the plane. It wasn't the best way to end a trip. Oh well. For the most part, despite the rain, not getting to do several things we wanted to do, & my short-almost-dying illness, we really did have a good time. We were sad to leave, but I must admit, it is good to be home again. We'll just have to go back again sometime....perhaps not in December, though. ;)

Now I just have to graduate tonight & get back into SERIOUS study mode for my PA board exam. Back to life. Back to reality.

But I can still dream of Maui.

More pics here.