I’ve gotten so many questions about our vacation to Hawaii was so I wanted to blog with all of our favorite memories from the trip!

A little backstory; …Hawaii has always been on our bucket list, so when we were planning our next vacation and considering the fact that this would be our last vacation before the boys are 2 and qualify for a mandatory plane tickets, we decided to go somewhere we wouldn’t go again until the boys are much older and can remember the trip…HELLO HAWAII!

Debating on which island to visit was a task, but after much research, we decided on Maui! First because winter time is Hawaiis rain season and Maui has the least average rainfall during their rain season. Second, we kept hearing that Maui is your beautiful, relaxation island! We were tempted to do some island hoping, but with two, under two year olds, that just didn’t sound like a good idea haha!

Before we hop in, I have gotten lots of questions about plane tickets; I found Google Flights to be the best place for searching and I also found it true that Tuesdays were the best prices on flights! About 6 months out, I ended up finding round trip flights through SouthWest on a random Tuesday for $387 round flight!! With fee’s and taxes it came to $500 per ticket, but I was still super surprised we were able to find them that cheap!

So without further ado! Let’s hop in!!

First things first, if you are hungry coming or going from the airport, be sure to stop at Tin Roof! Tin Roof is a casual lunch shop by Chef Sheldon Simeon from the show, Top Chef! You order from a window so don’t expect a sit down restaurant, but mannnn is it good!! So filling and SO much flavor!

Next, one of the most useful tips deserves a shout out to one of my past brides, Samantha, for telling me about the Shaka App!! This is a tour guide app that allows you to use your own car for different tours around the island! It talks throughout the whole trip letting you know where to look, history, pull off stops, names of scenic places, and more! I highly suggest it!

Our personal favorite tour was the “West Coast Maui” tour! If you don’t have time for the entire trip, I highly suggest making these four stops: Kapalua Bay Beach, Honolua Bay, Punalau Beach, Nakalele Blowhole! Just be ready for some crazy curvy roads!!

If you go during whale season, keep an eye out while you’re on the shore line and you’ll be sure to see TONS of whales!! We saw so many whales breaching out of the water, slapping their fins, and blows!! Its the coolest thing!! Ray and I also did a whale watching tour, and WOW!! It was absolutely amazzzinnnnggg!! We had a whale stick his head out of the water and stare at us from just 8 yards away!! It was incredible!

We stayed in Lahaina and it was perfect!! I’m sure there isn’t a bad place to stay, but we had Front Street 2 blocks from our condo and the best food trucks right around the corner!! Front Street has tons of cute little shops and restaurants. The perfect place to walk in the evenings! Lahaina pizza was KILLER! And stopping at Baya bowls food truck is a MUST! The Acai bowls are soo good!! And lastly, right next to Baya Bowls food truck is a Mexican food truck, Las Islitas Tacos Y Mariscos. Get the Quesataco (with any of the meats! They are all great!) and ask for the dip! Don’t ask me what it is, just do it! 😀

Every Saturday there is a HUGE trade show down by the college. TONS of tents with really reasonable prices!! Great for souvenirs and gifts to bring back home!! Sunday there is another trade show, just much smaller in the Lahaina Gateway that was fun to walk around as well!

We were told to go to S-turns Beach for a good chance of seeing sea turtles in the evening, and sure enough, they were there! They blend in with the rocks so you have to keep your eyes peeled! You wouldn’t think they would be hard to spot with how large they are, but it is!! The first picture of the palm tree, I didn’t even know they were in the photo!! Ask around and you’ll be able to find lots of recommendations from locals or frequent visitors on where to go close to you to find them! There are rules about staying so far away from them, so just don’t get too close!

Baby Beach is a great one for the kids!! Nice and calm water, and of course, lots of kids to play with!

Papalaua State Wayside Park was a super chill beach! Not a lot of people crowding the beach, which was nice for a change! We stopped at Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop because we heard it was a must…I’m not sure if it was the flavors we got or what, but I was not overly impressed with the pies. Call me crazy but I wouldn’t have to go back again.

Haleakala Summit is a must during sunset! Seeing the sun go down as you are above the clouds is just breathtaking!! And then to top it off with seeing the starts at such high elevation is just amazing!!

If your looking for a secret place to find some great beach glass – hop over the deck next to Lahaina Sunglass Co. 😉 But only do so if you have muscles to get yourself back up, or someone else’s muscles to help you get back up!! HA! But there are huggee pieces down there in the rocks!!

The main thing we did on the Road to Hana was the Black Sand Beach! Which was soo cool! Make sure you make reservations in advance! You can’t make them the day of and you can’t get in if you don’t make them! The actual drive wasn’t as pretty as the West Coast Tour but if you like hiking, I think this would have been awesome. It was just hard for us to do too much hiking with the boys. So for us personally, the West Coast Tour was better as far as being able to see a lot with a quick pull off.

I definitely got car sick, so I grabbed a Hana Tonic shots with ginger and it really seemed to help!!

Photos!! I had my dad (my personal photographer) 🙂 do family photos for us. We have made it a goal to get family photos done on each family vacation to have as our most valuable souvenir!

And last but not least, a huge THANK YOU to my parents for coming along on the trip to help with the boys while making so many great memories together!!

The trip as a whole blew us out of the water!! It was absolutely gorgeous and we definitely want to go back again when the boys are older to make some more family memories together!!