Maui Week 2: Friday and Saturday, Dec. 26-27

JD wanted to be sure and catch the last run together on Friday, especially when I mentioned we should take a break at the beach Starbucks that we ran by so many times!

Of course, we had to stop and view the beautiful koi again for the last time.

We counted ourselves fortunate that the line at Starbucks got super long after we were through it.

We walked on the beach as we finished our drinks and practiced taking selfies. Love this boy!

Naptime was necessary for some of our party!

We went back to DT Fleming beach and Galen and I did a little hiking on a trail there.

Just gorgeous.

I think I'm getting better at selfies. (What a thing to aspire to! I feel slightly ashamed.) (And what kind of grammar is that?!)

Now this girl takes amazing selfies! They make me laugh every time. It's pretty fun getting random snapchats from a really cool niece back in Oregon when you're far across the ocean. (I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog so I should be safe from being killed or even worse.)

So beautiful. I think I took about a million pictures. Ok, maybe half a million.

Definitely another gorgeous day on the beach. There goes JD again.

Late afternoon, we returned and headed down to Whaler's Village for a little shopping and sunset viewing with Galen and Carol.

Galen and Carol

Things got a little wild at the house that night. There was whipped cream that needed to be used, and Rachelle thought Will deserved some. He didn't really think so.

He ended up with a white mustache instead of a mouthful. 

It was funny. You had to be there.

Whipped cream was used liberally. You can't let this stuff go to waste. JD wouldn't mind getting used to this!

Things started winding down about 10 p.m., but Steve thought we should have a final game of Scrabble. Galen, Carol and I were once again trounced by him. I used to think I was a decent Scrabble player. I need more practice.

On our last morning, Steve and I got up a little extra early for a last run. Steve wanted to go a little over 3 miles to reach his goal of 50 miles during the vacation, so off we went. Sadly for me, I didn't notice a speed bump as we cut through a parking lot to get to the beach. My usual windmilling stagger did not keep me upright as so frequently does after a trip, and despite my greatest efforts, I crashed to the asphalt. I left a little skin from my left hand and knee there, but I bounced back up, ok, I managed to drag myself up, and continued on. I was holding my phone in my right hand because I was tracking with Runkeeper. I am so thankful for Will's insistence on buying me a Lifeproof Case. There is quite a scratch across it, and I fear without the case it would not have survived the crash. Oh well. 

We had to be out of the house by 10, so after we finished packing (with a little stress about how much stuff I bought that added weight to our bags), we headed out to a whale watching lookout for our parting.

JD was hot and succeeded in finding some shade!

I love all these people so much! How does two weeks go so fast?!  I am so grateful that I am so blessed and privileged to be an aunt/great-aunt/sister etc. to so many wonderful people on this earth, and I am up for vacationing with any of my family and extended family, anywhere,  any time I can manage to do it!

We made it safely home, though I feared for awhile that Will wasn't going to make it out of Honolulu as I watched while he was thoroughly searched by a tiny little Hawaiian agent, but fortunately he and his backpack finally were approved to pass through! It's always good to be home, and someday if my memories start to go, I can read these blog entries, look at the pictures, and remember all the fun, love and beauty that we shared!