Maui Day 7 -- Tattoos and Windsurfers

We woke up in the morning sad to leave Maui.  We packed up all of our bags and left the hotel early in the morning.  The Powells and Perkins' went to the Maui Ocean Center.  Chris and I headed across the island to Paia where we had an appointment to get our tattoos.  We drove all over the island looking at tattoo parlors and were most impressed with Paia Tattoo.  It was super clean, the people were really friendly, and their prices weren't sky high.  Justin immediately got started on Chris' tattoo, the Aztec gold medallion from Pirates of the Caribbean.  The design is very intricate and without the detail, we knew it wouldn't look very good.  But Justin did a great job of reassuring us that it would look awesome -- and he was RIGHT.  Tania and I got started about an hour after Chris did.  She decided it would be easiest to hand draw the design on my foot to be sure that it would cover-up my previous tattoo.  She did a good job of putting my words into the exact design I wanted!  My tattoo took about an hour to do and was the most painful tattoo I've ever had -- partially because of the size and location of the tattoo, but also because my feet had gotten so beat up while searching for sea glass earlier in the week!  I am very happy with the outcome -- can't wait for it to heal up completely though.

We all ate pizza at Flatbread Pizza company in Paia for lunch.  It's a cool little restaurant where everything on their menu is organic and local.  Very cool.  Afterwards, we were looking to waste a few hours before heading to the airport.  We didn't want to get dirty, wet, or hot since we no longer had access to a hotel to clean up before making the trip home -- this severely limited our options on the island.  Our waitress recommended that we go to Ho'okipa beach to watch the windsurfers.  It was a perfect idea!  There were about 50 windsurfers in one small little area, and they put on quite a show.  It was really a great way to end our vacation.

So after a quickie dinner, we grudgingly went back to Kahului airport to begin our cross-country trek.  The Powells headed off to Kauai where they will be spending another 5 days.  This was such an awesome vacation.  We hated to leave.... but were a little anxious to get home to see our little boy, who turns 15-MONTHS OLD TODAY!! :)

Maui Day 6 -- Beach, Luau

As our last full day on Maui, the Powell's decided to go travelling the island to do some serious bead shopping to feed Millie's jewelry habit.  We decided to stay close to home and take in a little beach and relaxation time.  We started by looking for sea glass, but it was too close to high tide to have much luck finding anything good.  So instead, the boys decided to try boogie boarding.  While we were gathering our things to move to a more appropriate boogie boarding location, a huge wave came all the way to the top of the beach and washed all of our belongings into the ocean.  I grabbed my purse (containing camera, phone, and wallet) and Chris grabbed whatever was closest to him, but we ended up fishing some bathmats and a stray shoe out of the surf.  Unfortunately, the brand new, unused snorkel and mask we brought with us from home was swept away and so were my sunglasses.  A small sacrifice to the sea gods.  The boys tried, unsuccessfully, to boogie board for about 15 minutes.  When they couldn't figure it out, we decided to just head home.  Beach time was a bit of a bust.

We decided to do a bit of shopping in Lahaina before lunch.  We discovered the Maui Built brand that is only sold IN Maui -- not by phone or internet.  Of course the boys both were wanting some unique Maui Built gear, so we hit that store for more "souvenirs".  As we were leaving Lahaina, rock-n-roll legend CARLOS SANTANA crossed the road in front of our car!!!  We stared at him for a few minutes trying to decide if it was really him.  We decided to flip the car around and go back to find him.  We spotted him outside an art museum and sent Emily to track him down with her camera.  As you can see below... she found him.

We ate lunch at Maui Tacos riding the high of spotting a Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer.  After lunch, we drove back through Lahaina a couple of times, just hoping to spot him again... but no luck. :)  We went back to the condo to prepare for our evening entertainment, the Old Lahaina Luau.  It is consistently listed as the best luau on Maui, so we were looking forward to it.  Pre-meal, there are arts and crafts demos and the unveiling of the pig that had been buried in the sand.  Drinks were free and very strong.  We were the last table to get through the buffet, but there was plenty of hot food.  Foods franged from traditional favorites like Kalua pork and poi, exotic foods like octopus and crazy clear long rice, and plain foods like glazed chicken and steak.  The food was good, although we mainly stuck to the "plain" stuff.  When the show started, it was more like a history lesson set to music.  It was educational and entertaining -- of course the hot guys in loin cloths and the scantily clad women shaking their hips were a crowd favorite! :)  Overall, I think the luau was outstanding and I'm glad we chose this one to attend as a family.

Maui Day 5 -- Ziplining, Parasailing, and Sunset Photography

The Powells and Perkins' scheduled the Ka'anapali ziplining adventure for their 5th day on the island.  Since Chris and I ziplined on our last visit, we chose not to do it again (for budgetary reasons).  Instead, Chris scheduled an "early bird" parasail trip.  Neither one of us could agree on his designated "flight" time, so we called in the morning to confirm.  When we called at 8:15 a.m., they told us that his "flight" was at 9 a.m. and he was supposed to check-in by 8:30!  Yikes!  We quickly got ourselves put together and hurried to the beach.  Chris barely made it on time.  I had to park in a parking garage way up the beach and speed-walk to the launching site.  I arrived just before Chris got on the boat to go out.  I wanted to ride with him, but the company charges $30 just to ride in the boat... so I stayed ashore.

During the hour Chris was gone, I hunted for sea glass on the beach.  I thought that I would be lucky to just find one piece, but I actually found quite a stash -- including one white piece that is about half the size of a playing card!  Finding sea glass is like finding a little treasure.  I had to wade into the ocean at the areas where the water was washing up medium to large sized rocks and search on the ground between waves to retrieve the pieces.  It's a challenge, but I really enjoyed my "treasure hunt"!

After Chris got off the boat, I met him on the beach excited to show him my sea glass treasures.  He was even more excited because he met a celebrity on his parasailing boat.  Patrick Warburton, who played "Putty" on Seinfeld, sat next to Chris on his boat and talked to him the entire time!!  We are big Seinfeld fans, so this was BIG news.  He also does a lot of voice work, including Kronk from Emperor's New Groove and is currently starring in the TV series called Rules of Engagement with David Spade.  If you still don't know who I'm talking about, check him out at Wikipedia.

While we were parasailing, hunting for sea glass, and meeting celebrities... the zipliners were having a grand ol' time.  I'm not going to post much about it so that Emily can blog all about it on her site: http://perksspot.blogspot.com/.  Suffice it to say that there is a video of Josh and a video of Dad that kept us all laughing for about half an hour. :)

That evening, we decided to eat dinner on the beach at Leilani's.  As the sun was setting, we went out to the beach and took pictures of each couple using the perfect sunset lighting.  I think the photographs turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. :)  And it saved us $100 on having a professional do the same thing!  I tried to get a little artsy with some of the photos, and then I even had us and the Perkins' do a High School Musical-style jump.