Maui Vacation 4

And now, how about some sun sets.

Maui Vacation 3

One of our favorite things about Hawaii is the snorkeling. It's incredible. We tried to take a Boat ride out to Molokini for snorkeling. It was too windy, but they don't tell you that before you get on the boat. They wait until your under way to tell you they can't make it, but they have some other places they're going to take you. The other places happened to be just off shore from the road about 5 miles from our condo. I was not happy. But I was in Hawaii and not at work. So, I was happy again. The water here is about 20 ft deep according to the crew. It looked about 50! This is Chase, he swam down a few feet so I could take the picture.

As the water was so deep, you couldn't get very close to the fish, so I didn't take many pictures. I saw two sea turtles swim by and got this video of one of them.

So when I get back to better (and a heck of a lot cheaper) snorkeling, I snap a picture of this guy. What a great picture! I've taken a lot of underwater shots before, but I don't think I've seen this fish before. It's called a trunkfish.

From the same shallow (cheap) water, a needlefish.

This is a unicorn fish. It swam right up to my mask. I believe he thought I was going to feed him. When I didn't, he didn't get quite that close anymore. But he did get within arms length several times.

And finally, this is a Moorish Idol. He has such a long banner, I had to check my dive chart to make sure he wasn't a Pennant Butterflyfish. And this sadly is one of my last pictures I got to take, my underwater camera didn't live up to it's name and crapped out on me not long after this shot. I was elated my pictures came out as well as they did.

Maui Vacation 2

Digging a hole, digging a hole. Still cloudy. Yes I burned my dome.

So many flowers!

Me and my lovely bride. It's finally starting to clear up. You can still see clouds on the mountain behind us. But they stayed there, so it's okay.

And then the sun goes down and Justice becomes the center of attention with his pretzel tricks.

Maui Vacation 1

We took a family trip to Hawaii this year. This time we tried the island of Maui. We invited my mom to come along this time. It was supposed to be a secret but a slip up by a friend let that cat out of the bag and Chase and Meg claimed to know she was going to be there. Our first two days were overcast and rain. We stopped here once on the way back to town to watch whales. We saw lots! The volcano in the background is 10,000 ft high Haleakala. Sounds like it's spelled:-) If you could see the coast across the water you'd see Kihei.

If you know anything about my kids, you know the local wildlife aren't safe from being harassed. This is the smallest gecko I've ever seen.

Specimen number 2. (I said number 2)

When the sun went down, we relaxed some nights with a game of Scrabble.

The grounds of the condo were incredible. This is just one example of the many Travelers Palms.

Mom, Justice and Meg by a hibiscus. I can't explaine Justice's facial expression.

Everyday life stuff

I call this one "Cheeko". He was watching Kung Fu Panda. I'm not sure where the mexican gangster influence came from. He folded it himself and tied it around his head.

This is Chase's Eagle Scout project in use.

Meg made the 4.0 list again. The school hosts a breakfast for them and parents.

New Year's Day Snowshoe Hunt

This was a huge day for Colt. He's been chomping at the bit to go hunting. The snow was not quite deep enough to give him very many shot opportunities. He had one chance and didn't connect. He did great in the snow though, it's very challenging to walk in snow shoes. He kept a good attitude and didn't give up. It was a beautiful day.

Chase did manage to harvest one of the 4 he shot at. I don't know what the story is on that. We had a good time and ate quite well.

Chase Without Wisdom...Teeth That Is.

But he sure has plenty of cheeks! Colt looked at him and told he had chubby cheeks like him now. Justice came up with his own way of having chubby cheeks.