After leaving the Fijis on Sunday afternoon we flew from Nadi to Oahu with Fiji Air, we passed the international date line and therefore arrived late at night on Saturday (we had the whole Sunday again, how cool is that!) but since we didn’t want to spent time on Oahu we had booked the first flight leaving to Maui in the morning. So we arrived on Maui at 6 am early morning, picked up our rental car from Hertz – we always hire from Hertz, their gold services is just the best, and then drove to Lahaina to check in to our hotel. We have been to Maui 5 years ago to celebrate our wedding there with our family and friends and this time we were coming back to get our vows renewed on the same beach, with the same minister, the same photographer and celebrate in the same restaurant. But this time the girls would not be in my tummy like last time, they would be there to witness the ceremony. So we had also booked the same hotel as last time: the Outrigger Aina Nalu in Lahaina. It’s an apartment complex with 2 pools, bbqs and our apartment was equipt with a kitchen, 2 bedrooms, a living room and a bathroom with washing machine and dryer which was just perfect for us since we had brought some laundry from the Fijis. All the amneties are complimentary like washing detergent, kitchen supplies and shampoo etc. It’s really convenient and its in walking distance to Front street in Lahaina and to a lot of shops and restaurants. Since we had a lot of beach time the past weeks we didn’t mind not to be at the beach, with the car we went to different  beaches on the island anyway.

Maui Fun with kids


We like the vibes of Lahaina, it hasn’t changed that much the past 5 years, they added a Outlet Center which was not too bad and they have a great variety of different restaurant and it’s just nice to walk the streets in the evening. We spent the first days by the pool and around Lahaina, bought lots of fresh fruits, which I missed so much after the Fijis and ate yummy food. We went to Kanaapali Beach, the Whaler Village and to Kapalua Bay (our wedding beach).

Maui Fun with kids

On Wednesday we went to drive the Road to Hana, we had done this before and had planned to drive all the way to black sand beach, but since our girls get sick in the car easily and we were checking more on them on the backseat then looking at the scenic route, we decided not to go all the way. We just went half way, stopped at some points and beaches and then went back to Paia. But if you and your kids are fine in the car then it’s really worth going all the way to Hana, just remember it’s a 3 hour drive and you have to go all the way back. Paia is a nice little town on the way to Hana with some Hippie vibes – exactly what I like and Daddy Frei  doesn’t :-). Tried to lure him into a vegan restaurant but had no success, but we found another nice place which suited both of us and had some delicious lunch.

Thursday was the day of our vow renewal – our 5th wedding anniversary! I thought we would not be so nervous since it is ” just” a renewal and not like our wedding – only to find myself super nervous that morning. We spent the morning at the pool, and then had someone coming to the room to do my hair and make-up and the hair for the girls. When everyone was ready we drove to the beach, we here the minister, our coordinator and the photographer awaited us. It was lovely to see all those familiar faces and the ceremony at the beach was just perfect, intimate and a bit tearful a well. We took pictures and then had dinner at Merrimans, where we held our wedding reception 5 years ago. We can really recommend it, if you are looking for a place for a special dinner, the food is super good and the view is amazing.

For Friday we had booked a snorkeling and dolphin watching trip by boat to Lanai. We had booked it through the concierge at the Outrigger and hadn’t looked into the details too closely. The trip was organized by “Pacific Whale Foundation”, but we hadn’t realized  how big the boat was, so we found ourselves with more then 100 people on board. They served breakfast and we headed into Lanai,  due to the wind we had to go to another snorkeling spot then usual around the corner of the island. The snorkeling was okay, but we have seen better places and we hadn’t seen any dolphins which was a bit dissapointing especially for the girls. Last time we had been on a smaller boat snorkeling to Monokini, where we had seen lots of turtles.

Maui Fun with kids

The next morning we want to have breakfast at “Slappy Cakes” in Kapalua, a pancake restaurant, where you have your own griddle at each table, you can order batter and toppings and make your own pancakes at your table. This was fun for the girls, but for us parents as well. We went snorkeling again at a beach north from Kapalua, where you can swim to a snorkeling spot from the beach, and there are often turtles around there.

Maui Fun with kids

Maui Fun with kids

We went to Wailea and Kihei just one afternoon, strolled around the Shops at Wailea and had dinner in Kihei, there is for sure much more to explore, but we spent more time around Lahaina and the northern beaches.

Our week on Maui was filled with love, making new memories and remembering old memories of the time we spent here with our friends and families. I like visiting a place a second time, to experience the changes, visit familiar places and to feel the freedom not having to do everything for the first time.

Maui Fun with kids

Another week passed and our next destination is waiting for us: Los Angeles, where we will spent some time with friends who live there – we are really looking forward to it!

Aloha

The Freis

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