Noelle and her partner Berkley took 1st place at the NRG AAU National Qualifier sand volleyball tournament on June 16, 2012 in the 12U division. With this win they won a bid to the AAU Beach Volleyball Championships in Hermosa Beach, California on July 28 - 29. They beat a very good team of Kylie and Emily in the championship match. Both of these teams play for a beach organization called NRG Beach.
Berkley and Noelle with their AAU National bid certificates
We took the trip with some very dear friends - the Ford Family.
Pat and Gay Lynn Ford
Megan, Ryan, Emily and Evan Ford
Once upon a time, Pat was Shawn Jr.'s baseball coach. Shawn Jr. and Evan played baseball together and became very good friends. Evan is often over at our house (which we love). Over the years, we have become very close with the entire Ford family. Pat and Gay Lynn are two of our closest friends in the world and everyone in our family loves the Ford children. They are a special family and we feel lucky to have them in our life.
At the 11th hour - Brittany's friend Maddie Mishler also elected to join us. We had been trying to persuade her to come for months and were very excited to have her along on the trip. Maddie in a great girl and one of Brittany's best friends. Maddie is charming, caring, smart, and always has a great attitude. She was a delight to have on the trip.
Maddie and Brittany
The entire crew
When we were talking about taking a vacation, Pat mentioned Maui. I thought that sounded like a great idea so we decided to take the trip together. Because the Ford's have 4 children and we have 6, after you add in the adults - that is 14 people. Add in Maddie - and that is 15! Therefore, lodging was going to be a challenge. After several days of exploring different options on the internet, Pat came across this incredible house near Lahaina.
After only a little reservation, we ended up renting the house - and boy was it nice! Seven bedrooms, over 5000 square feet, on 11 acres of immaculate and beautifully landscaped land, top notch furniture and appliances with all the amenities that a family could ask for in a vacation home. In fact, the house was so nice it was once featured on HGTV - House Hunters on Vacation.
Below are a few pictures of the house, yard and pool.
This is the driveway leading up to the house
A view from the pool
A view from the back
The pool view
A view of the yard at night
A view of the grilling/sitting area at night
The pool at night
This was the bedroom that Misty and I stayed in downstairs. One of 3 bedrooms downstairs.
Pool area
The backyard.
A view from the balcony upstairs
Another view from the balcony upstairs
While it is hard to see - those stairs lead to a "guest house" that is really more of just an apartment area that is connected to the house via the garage.
View of the pool during the day from the balcony
View at sunset
The waterfall in the pool
The gas powered tiki torches in the yard.
Great palm trees in the backyard
A view of the ocean from the backyard
The pool
The front driveway
Another sunset view
As you can see, the house was crazy nice. We could have spent the entire vacation at the house - but we didn't. Before I get into the activities we did and incredible sites we saw in Maui - I would be remiss if I did not note the number one way the kids passed time in Maui . . .
Playstation! Yeah that's right - we are in paradise and all the kids are holed up in one dark room of this palatial mansion playing a video game. Crazy. They could have been doing that in Rockwall or even Detroit. Oh well.
They also played baseball in the yard - which Josh loved. At least that was outside.
We also spent some good time at the beach.
Josh at the beach
Skylin and Triniti at the beach
Josh and Emily building sand castles
Burying Evan
Beach at sunset
Another sunset picture
Emily in the sand
Unfortunately, the beach also gave us our first bad incident of the trip. About 93 seconds after Brittany got into the water on the first day at the beach, she stepped on a sea urchin. These are small animals that look a lot like a pin cushion. Brittany stepped on one and got 30+ needles in her foot. Very painful.
Brittany's toes after the needles were out.
With this view you can see she also had a few in the very bottom of her foot.
We had to rush her to the Minute Clinic where they promptly treated the her foot by soaking it in vinegar. The doctor also prescribed her with some pain killers and an antibiotic. Apparently that part of the ocean can carry a certain type of staff infection. She took the drugs, soaked her foot in vinegar for the next 3 days and was fine. The (not so) funny part is that we are told that the sea urchin spines act just like a tattoo, a needle injecting black ink. Therefore, Brittany will never get rid of all the black marks on her foot. A life long reminder of the Maui trip of 2012, I guess.
Brittany's meds
After the sea urchin incident, the others kids elected to not stay at the beach.
The next day we went on a little hike to track down a blow hole. Below are some pictures from the hike.
We spotted a sea turtle in the ocean below
Some great tide pools
As you can see, the sea spray is just eating away the lava rock.
Shawn Jr. all alone
Brittany posing with the huge rocks
Triniti doing the same
Shawn and Evan exploring
Below is a heart formation in one of the rocks. There is some debate if the heart formation is natural, but it sure looks like it is.
We finally reached the blow hole.
Here is Shawn Jr. recklessly getting too close to the blow hole. About 1/2 second later I am yelling at him to get back.
Water coming out of the blow hole.
The crew by the blow hole
This is a video the Shawn Jr. captured. This was the biggest eruption we saw all day - just dumb luck that Jr. got it captured on video - but glad he did.
The island has some really diverse landscape and vegetation - like the trees that look like they belong in Colorado.
When Misty and I went to Maui 12 years ago, we had a incrediable milkshare called a Blue Hawaiian at a small hole in the wall diner called Peggy Sue's. I loved that shake so I had to make the drive back to Peggy Sue's to get one on this trip.
The Blue Hawaiian milkshake
The menu
One night all the kids got temporary tattoos - called Henna tattoos. They go on with ink that is then washed off after 3 or 4 hours. Within a few hours after that, the skin starts to darken again. These last for a couple of weeks.
Maddie in the chair
Noelle getting hers
They turned out very cool
Later in the week the entire crew (except for me) decided to brave the road to Hana. If you know about Maui, you know that Hana is this remote town on the far East side of the island. To get there you are required to navigate this crazy winding, very narrow road that is often times dangerous. But, the sites along the way are incredible. Beautiful waterfalls, pools, flowers, ocean views, etc. Below is a list of sites, organized by mile markers that the crew stopped at.
The list of stops
Part of the first hike
Rainbow on the road to Hana
Great views
The Helms kids were surprised that Maui has cows. Given Pat's experience at Dean Foods - the Ford kids were not.
Maui has its fair share of tropical critters.
Tons of lizards
Poisonous centipedes
More lizards.
On the second to last day we took a boat trip to the island of Lania. Once on Lania, we spent about 4 hours on an incredible beach next to the Four Seasons (the only hotel on the entire island) snorkeling and hanging out in the water. We then went out to a snorkel spot in the middle of the ocean. When we were snorkeling in the ocean, we had viability underwater of about 130 feet. It was really great.
Our house was at the blue dot, on Maui. Lanai is the island to the left.
The boat ride over
a distant picture of the beach and the Four Seasons
The kids on the boat.
Unfortunatly, while on Lania, we had our second injury incident. Maddie came back from the beach and picked up her Coke which had been sitting on the table. She took a big drink, only to feel a bee sting the roof of her mouth. A bee had flown into her Coke! She quickly spit out the bee, but the stinger remained stuck in the roof of her mouth. She eventually got it out, but it really hurt. Despite the obvious pain, Maddie handled it very well. She was smiling again within the hour! She is a tough girl.
On the last night, the crew went to do some shopping and see some hula dancers.
Below are some other random pictures from the trip.
Sky, Emily and Josh
Shawn and Misty in front of the house
Maddie and Brit
Josh at Bubba Gump
Helms Family pic
The kids going through the drive through at Burger King - without a car!
