Helicopter - Jake

   Seeing places where no human has stepped is amazing.  In a helicopter, we traveled to an almost barren island and got close to huge waterfalls.  At one point Lindy thought she saw an animal and got all excited until the tour guide informed us it was a rock.  Definitely an unforgettable experience.

Aulani - Jake

   You can never go wrong with Disney.  As expected, we ended on a high note with a huge room and water slides a couple floors down.  I spent most of the time with my brother not fighting and having fun in the lazy river or on the slides.  I highly recommend the breakfast it was definitely a stomach filler and it made a 8 hour plane ride home go on without hunger.  Hawaii was beautiful and when Luke makes millions, he will take me back there sometime.  Comic Sans is awesome.

Plane Rides Back - Luke

The plane ride to Chicago was the worst plane ride ever. We got to test new features. They were considering to give every United plane these features. THEY WERE HORRIBLE! This was an 8 hour flight by the way. So one of the new features was the light and call flight attendant buttons. Instead of being on the top, they were on your armrest. This originally seemed cool until you fell asleep, and you accidentally turned on your light. Or when you were reading and you heard all the flight attendant button noises going off. There was one more new, main feature. On our way from DC to Hawaii, we had a TV screen in front of us with so many great things. For this flight, you needed to download the United app. You would then place a phone or tablet on the phone/tablet holder in front of you. You would connect to wifi inflight, and it would play. Now that seemed like a pretty good idea, but some people didn't have the United app downloaded because it didn't say that we wouldn't have the screens. We all assumed we would because it was an 8 hour flight, and it said we would have United Private Screening. That apparently means both screens and the app. It also had less than half of the entertainment on the DC to HI flight. On top of that all, the movies buffered, and we could only get one device to work well. After landing in Chicago, we got some bagels for breakfast and Garrett Popcorn for the plane. The Chicago to Philly flight went by fast, and we were home before we knew it (12:00).

Aulani - Luke

3 days ago, we landed in O'ahu and went to Aulani. Aulani is a great resort. It is made by Disney. When our shuttle arrived, the workers gave stone necklaces to the boys and leis to the girls. We looked out the balcony to see the back of the resort as my dad checked in. We learned that we would get our names on our room cards, and our parents' credit cards would be hooked up with our room key. We were also told that every single day, we would have to get a new wristband that said we were part of the resort. Next, the lady said our room wouldn't be ready until about 4:00. We decided to get changed into our bathing suits and go to the pools. There were many pools and water activities in the back. This is what the back looks like...

We first tried the infinity pool. This pool overlooks the ocean. It isn't that deep, and part of it is in a cave. It looks like this...

We then went to the normal, big pool. Part of it goes into the cave, which the exit for one of the water slides. It looks like this...

There were also 2 water slides. For one, you sat on the tube. For the other, you went down without a tube. We did both these slides later in the day. For the tube one, there are a lot of sharp turns, and you make a big splash at the end. When it ends, you can go right into the lazy river. For the other one, you couldn't see anything until the end. You splahed right into a cave at the end. They looked like this...

 There is also a lazy river. This lazy river is long, and it has many rapids. There were many places where you would be shot by water. It looked like this in the day...

and this in the night...

There was also a "rainbow reef." The rainbow reef is a salt-water pool that has fish in it. You can use snorkeling supplies to see the fish. We never did this. It looks like this...

There is also a window that you can see the fish and the snorkelers from. It looks like this...

At 4, we were able to get into our room. We went in, and we saw that it was a 3 bedroom villa. We were supposed to have a 2 bedroom villa. We think the check-in lady upgraded us for free because it would have been tight if we had the original 2 bedroom villa. The floor plan looks like this...

This place was huge. It was awesome! There were 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a full-sized kitchen, a living room, and, for some reason, an empty hallway. This hallway was all to ourselves. It was another way to get into our villa, but our key cards didn't work there. Before going to bed, all the kids watched the beginning of The Truman Show. The next morning, I got towels and my wristband nice and early. We then finished The Truman Show. Later, we went on the slides and into the pools. We also played Boggle. Then, Jake and I went to do a photo scavenger hunt at 6:30. The workers gave us a tablet. After giving an introduction, it told us to find a specific statue. It also said to press ok. We pressed ok, and it took us to the next item. So, we learned it took your word for it. Whenever we had been looking for a long time, we would just press ok. Eventually, we learned that we were setting things off when we pressed ok, like shooting water at people in the pool or lighting something up. We then saw people runnong around taking photos with a sheet of paper. We then figured out that we were given the wrong scavenger hunt. We were bored with the tablet by now, and I didn't even think we were half way done, so we gave the tablet back and went to go get ice cream with our parents. However, I didn't feel well, so I didn't get ice cream. I later got a fever, and I threw up 2 times early yesterday. After packing up, we went to a character breakfast (I was feeling a lot better). We got pictures with many characters. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Stitch. When we got to Stitch, he tried to pick my nose. All of the characters did the hang loose sign for the pictures. We then payed and went into the store. I got a shirt and a pin. Next, we got picked up by the shuttle and left for the airport.

Day #11 - Jake

    We drove 34 miles to go pee. There was a perfectly working crapper in our condo, three even, and heck there was a woods 500 feet away from our front door.  I just showed the first two sentences to my mother and she loved my sarcasm. By the way, that was sarcasm.  I had a lot of fun on the ride there. We swam in a waterfall which I've been wanting to do for the whole trip, and went to a black sand beach where I totally ignored the black sand and climbed rocks with my family.  Many things have happened on this trip, but I've noticed how much I love being around my family.  Just playing games with them makes me laugh and makes my life enjoyable.  Also, Comic Sans IS awesome.

Day #10 - Jake

      I look like a person who can drive air vehicles, apparently.  Last trip, I was the only one who was allowed to be put in charge of a hang glider, and I was the only one who drove the paraglider.  I never said I drove it well, but I am still living and that's all that matters. For the thousandth time my family got this shave ice stuff. It's not that good, in my opinion, but to everyone else, this stuff is holy. I've sat through at least 10 trips so far to get shave ice and I've gotten an assortment of treats every time from the closest place I can find with snacks.  I need to eat healthier when I get home after all this crap I've been eating. I won't. Comic Sans is awesome.

Day #9 - Jake

    I can surf. Who knew! Lindy was officially the first one to stand up on the surfboard, but everyone stood on their first try. For me, it went downhill from there as I fell off time and time again. The last try was my best as I made it all the way to shore, riding over a full sized turtle along the way.  I'm not talking about a Medford Lakes mini turtle, I'm talking about one you see in the zoo that you are ten feet away from.  Later that night we partied at a luau. At the luau, I recognized a man and through a little stalking I learned he was my next year public speaking teacher.  Being the public speaker that I am I was too wimpy to go up to him and made our waiter do so for me.  I think I'll have a good year next year. Oh, Comic Sans is awesome.

Day #8 - Biking - Jake

     I bike almost every day of my life. I've never gone quite as fast as I did today. Biking 23 miles downhill I can say I surpassed a couple cars in speed.  That's fast. Prior to the bike one of my contacts fell out and for anyone with contacts, you have to know how disorienting that is.  With the rain flying in my face from the steady downpour I can say that it was work to keep my one good eye open. The worst part of my day was the ten foot uphill portion.  Comic Sans is awesome.

Day #14 - Aulani - MJ

What a great way to end an amazing vacation!

The resort is fabulous - it's a Disney resort - what would you expect?  Lara and I did a morning bootcamp workout which was challenging since you work out on sand.  Soon everyone was outside - in the pool, on the beach, getting food.  The kids really had their freedom since their cards were attached to our credit card.  They could get food whenever they wanted.   Our kids were very nonplussed about that.  They did get lunch, but did not stock up on tons of snacks.

We would meet up, go our separate ways, and then meet up again.  At one point all four of us met up and played Boggle in the shade.  I love these snipets of time - just having fun time together.  It's the "good stuff."

The beach at Aulani

 The Infinity Pool

The rest of the Infinity Pool

Day 13 - Traveling Back to O'ahu - MJ

Leaving Maui was bittersweet - we all pretty much agreed that we like Maui better than O'ahu, but we were looking forward to Aulani.  Luke has been looking forward to Aulani for over a year.

I was nervous about Aulani because of the great deal Lara and I got on the BJ's website which gave us a 60% discount over the Disney website price.  Literally.  I was afraid something was not going to go through and we would have to fight our way to a room.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Those Disney people know what they are doing.  One cast member swept up our luggage and took it away.  We were given leis/necklaces and chilled water before we even entered the resort.  Our BJ's reservation was completely fine.  Scott joked with the woman about getting a bigger villa, but she laughed him off.  Soon we had room keys attached to our credit card, a character breakfast reservation, and wristbands to use the amenities in the resort.

After making many poor inconsequential decisions, Jake and Scott decided to roam the grounds, the other kids decided to go swimming, and Lara and I sat down.  We were soon sent the text that our room was ready about 30 minutes early.  Jake and Scott beat us there.  Jake texted me....

"We got a nicer room than expected.  We think they accidentally made a mistake."

Then Jake immediately called me to tell me about the toilet in the master bedroom that had a heated seat, bidet, and deodorizer.  We opened the door to the place and could not believe our eyes.  This place was huge - three bedrooms (sleeps 12), three full bathrooms, and one amazing kitchen.  This place is much fancier than our house.  Everyone fell in love with it and lamented the fact that we would only be here for two nights.  Oh well.  O'ahu is looking up!  I guess the woman listened to Scott and gave us the bigger room!

Woo hoo!                                                          

Our balcony is the whole thing.  There are five                                                                                         double sliding doors that exit to the balcony.

Enjoying the robes                                         

Day #14 - Aulani - Dad

After running around and having some excursion each and every day, today was truly a day of rest.  I woke up and took my morning run.  On my run, I found the ideal place to go cliff diving, which is my last item on my Hawaii bucket list.  There was no one nearby and I have no clue how deep the water is, but it looked picturesque.  When I think about cliff diving, this is what I picture.  Before anyone gets too worried, I am not going to do it - today.

When I returned, the kids were heading down to the pools.  MJ and I made our way down soon after.  I opened the Shave Ice place by the pool.  The condensed milk on top was great, but the shave ice itself was too solid.  I have become a shave ice snob.  MJ and I went down to the beach to hang out, but we have a beach at our house, so there was nothing too special about it - other than the huge seal that was beached.  We returned to the pool to hang out.  We relaxed by the pool and called the kids down.  We played Boggle with the family and just enjoyed hanging out together.  It truly doesn't matter where I am, when i am with these three people, I am complete and happy.  I enjoyed hanging out with them.

We returned upstairs.  MJ got ready while I pointed out that this was a last opportunity to go down the slides.  The boys and I went down and slid on the two slides then rode the lazy river.  Jake was a great sport and we had a good time hanging out.  We returned upstairs and got ready for dinner.  The boys went on a scavenger hunt, they thought.  MJ and I went out for tacos.  Tacos in Hawaii - life is good.  We met up with the family and shopped.  The day wrapped up with both families watching the Olympics together.

Nothing too exciting, but just a day of relaxation before a 13 hour trip back to NJ.

Day #13 - Travel Day to a new location - Dad

Luke has been looking forward to going to Aulani for months.  Personally, I enjoyed being coped up with my family and having excursions every day.  The rest of the vacation is planned for Aulani where we will simply chill for the next two days before heading home.

In the morning, we packed up - again.  I dislike packing immensely and I was packing to simply go to another location.  If we were packing to go home then I could just shove everything into a bag and not care but I had to make sure that everything was accessible and could be reused.  We made our way to the airport.  My highlight for the day was at the TSA agent.  First, when the lady took my passport, she doubted that it was me until my bride pointed out that I had lost weight.  I am officially unrecognizable.  Second, I was the fortunate one who got a pat down after the scan.

The flight was easy and again gave me a chance to sleep.

We made it to Aulani and we were too early.  The kids got their swimsuits and hung out at the pool while MJ made me carry 8 towels for three people.  The pool was super crowded and the place was very confusing which made me think that it was going to not go well.  In addition to that, we reserved a two bedroom villa suite.  We have 8 people and the reservation says 6.  I had to explain to the lady at check in that we actually had 8 people and she said it would not be a problem - she was nice - very nice.

When we received the text that our room was ready, Jake and I went up first.  We walked through the entire room and were in awe.  It was a three bedroom and huge and overlooking the ocean and pool.  It was absolutely amazing.  All negative feelings were wiped away and I now thought that we were going to relax and truly enjoy the end of our amazing vacation.

The one toilet has a heated seat, deoderizer, and automatic bottom washer and dryer.  It is definitely different and some people cannot get used to it, but I am looking into how much it costs.

We unpacked and wanted to eat in to enjoy the huge room.  Pizza for everyone.  Then we went swimming.  Some pools closed at 8:00 so we stayed to close some pools.  Disney makes dreams come true and that is so true.  Free upgrades make the vacation even better.  Thanks to Disney for hooking us up with an amazing room.  It is going to be difficult to leave.

Day #12 - Road to Hana - MJ

An early day today as we were out by 8:00 A.M. to start our journey.  So many of the activities we have done are so scheduled and precise.  This activity was kind of "mushy."  As we began the journey - where should we stop?  where do we park? where do we go? - so many questions.  We knew we wanted to stop somewhere that we could see water falls and go swimming.  The best shot of that was 20+ miles into the trip.  Yikes.  The water hole turned out to be very cold and busy, but everyone had a good time.  About 12 miles later we visited the black sand beach.  That was really interesting.  The blackness mostly came from rocks, but there was some black sand as well.  The beach was surprisingly uncomfortable to walk on with bare feet, but the sound the rocks made as they went in and out with the waves was really neat.

I think the kids were surprised how Hana was anticlimactic.  We stopped there for a bathroom and really nothing else.  Then we started the 30+mile journey up the winding, skinny road.  With the beautiful scenery, interesting stops, and lunch/snack stops, I would say the day was a success.  Different from other days, but a success.

Kaumahina State Wayside

Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Park

Waianapanapa State Park

Day #11 - Helicopter - MJ

My big safety worry the whole trip was the paragliding.   I had not really given the helicopter ride a second thought.  Holy crap.  To start with - Jake and Lindy were with another family since the helicopter could only hold six people.  A month ago we decided to do 6 and 2 so that Jake and Lindy could have the front seat of their helicopter and then Devon and Luke could have the front seat of ours.  We told the fifteen year-olds that if our helicopter goes down, then the two of them would be rich.  They were intrigued.  Anyway...

Jake and Lindy lifted off and then we were ushered onto our helicopter.  Troy, the pilot, put on music and away we went.  I had never been on a helicopter, and it feels less secure than I would have thought.  I definitely felt the up and down.  And turns.  We went to the next island over - Molokai.  The helicopter took us to hidden nooks and waterfalls.  The music was dramatic and pumping, and we were super close to the sides of the mountain - very intense.  We saw some beautiful sights and made some interesting turns.  All in all, it was an amazing experience - one of my favorite activities of the trip.

And we capped off the day with shave ice.  Big surprise.

#1 Surfer in Maui & the Motorcycle Crash - Luke

A couple of days ago, we met the #1 surfer in Maui. We were sitting down, and a car stopped at a stop sign. They guy said, "are you enjoying yourself in Maui?" We told him yes, and he said, "have you surfed yet?" We told him yes (we had surfed that morning). He said, "well, I'm the best surfer in Maui." He then left. That was it. On the 7th, we saw a motorcycle crash at dinner. We were eating outside, and suddenly we heard scratching, and we saw sparks, a lot of sparks. Then, we saw a man flying down the road, with a motorcycle making all the sparks in front of him. Someone called 9-11, and eventually, 3 police cars, 1 fire truck, and an ambulance were there. He eventually was able to ride off, but he did get a ticket. We think it was for speading, but we don't know for certain. That was our evening.

Road to Hana - Luke

Today, we went on the Road to Hana. This is a road that leads to Hana, but on the way you see many amazing views like waterfalls, beaches, and valleys. It takes 3 hours to get to Hana. We, surprisingly, made it the whole way. We had a CD telling us many things aong the way. On ofe the first things it said was, "locals like to call this the drive to Hana." We were laughing very hard at that. Later on it said, "the Polynesians got here by flying, just kidding." During our drive , we stopped to swim at a waterfall and to swim at a black sand beach. It was cool.

Day #12 - Road to Hana - Dad

It is not the destination it is the journey.  The Road to Hana is 36 miles long.  It is a beautiful drive, but most of it is 20 miles per hour and people are encouraged to get out and enjoy the various sites.  In essence, lock your family in the car until someone complains enough to stop.

We started the journey early in the morning - 8:00am.  We reached the beginning of the journey at 8:30 am.  The kids did not understand that we were traveling to Hana for the trip and not to necessarily spend time in Hana.  There are many stops in the first 20 miles that I wanted to stop at that were ether restricted or difficult to get to.  I was getting frustrated because I just wanted to stop and enjoy.  People picked up on my frustration and were very quiet.  A decision was made to go to an area around mile 23.  We got out and found a swimming hole that was fed by a waterfall.  The water was extremely cold.  However, it was an awesome experience and in the end, I am glad that we found the location to swim in a waterfall.  The boys and I jumped in and out of the waterfall.  It was a great experience while MJ took pictures from the side.  In her defense, it was extremely cold water - not her thing.

The second stop that was chosen was the black sands beach.  It is exactly as it sounds.  The beach is covered with black sand and rocks.  While it is truly not different from many other beaches, it is a cool experience to be on a black sand beach.  Jake and I immediately started climbing rocks.  Luke loved to just ride the waves in the ocean.  It was a great sight and I was so happy to be surrounded by my family to experience something so visually different.  At the same location there were caves.  We walked to the cave and we saw a small pond feeding into the cave which looked really cool.  I was ready to jump in and swim around in it.  However, there was a topless family.  Dad, mom and baby daughter all topless, so we just kind of were in awe and decided to move on instead of hanging out with them.

We reached Hana, used the bathroom and turned around to do the 36 miles back.  We stopped at the halfway point for a snack.  It is a crazy drive with many one way bridges and rides high along the coast.  It was quite a sight and after 8.5 hours in the car, we all survived.  Quite a great day.

Day #11 - Helicopter and Hurting - Dad

What day could possibly be bad when it starts with Krispie Kreme Donuts.  I took the boys out to pick up a dozen donuts that were devoured rather quickly.  The Webbs went out surfing, while we had full run of the house.  The boys continued to play "Horse Raquetball".  They would make up challenges for each other and see who could get the raquetball into the cup.  I am pretty sure that we ended up putting a crack in the owner's utensil holder.

MJ and I went out shopping (and on a top secret shave ice mission).  We spent money on sweatshirts, shots glass, golf ball and cards.  We even got a free fan from the owner.  Free stuff is always my favorite.

The group went on a helicopter ride.  It was supposed to be a highlight of the trip.  It was beautiful.  We enjoyed it too much.  It was so relaxing that some of us almost (or did) drift off to sleep in the helicopter.  We toured Maui and Moliki.  The helicopter was able to visit many places that no one else had touched.  The people of Moliki often shoed away visitors by blocking ships with surfboards and shooting at people visiting their island.  However, in the air, we had a beautiful view of the island.  Music played for dramatic effect throughout the trip.  The pilot told us all about the island and the history as we zoomed by it all.  It was very cool.

We returned to play more games at home.  Next we went out to dinner and ate outside.  We were treated to an unscheduled show during dinner.  A motorcyclist fell off his bike and skid along the asphalt for a while, sending sparks across the road.  Three police, one firetruck and an ambulance came and in the end the guy was able to get up and ride off on his own.  It was rather exciting.  

We finished the night watching the Olympics, watching Match Game and playing Exploding Kittens.  It was fun just just to hang out with family and friends.  Good times.  

Helicopter Ride - Luke

Today, we went on a helicopter ride. We got to the hangar, and quickly went onto the helicopter. We were greeted by the pilot. After take off, we went to another island called Molokai. This island has not a lot of people on it. There is no electricity there. They HATE tourists. Our server from the luau said that one time he was snorkeling with his friends near Molokai, and the people on the island started shooting at them. We had to fly away from them. We saw many waterfalls. We went through a valley and saw a huge waterfall. it was so cool! We then flew back to the airport, and that was it for our helicopter rides. There will be photos and videos from the helicopter ride on the Videos and Photos Page.

Day #10 - Paragliding and Shave Ice - MJ

MJ - just after take off

  Can you see Luke?

Luke landing

Luke, the student pilot

Scott, the student pilot

Jake's descent

Sticking the landing

Jake, the pilot

There is nothing like handing your children over to strangers, having them hook the boys up to flying things, and then running off a mountain.  When I saw Luke run and then get lifted up by the paraglider, I definitely had a moment of - what did I do?  Then I was next.  You walk fast and then RUN.  When your feet are off the ground, you still RUN until you are told to stop.  At this point you can sit back in the "chair" that is attached to you.

I was surprised how steady and secure you feel as you are descending from 6500 feet.  The paraglider flies straight unless the driver (not me) pulls on a side.  We did some spiral turns that felt roller coaster-like.   But, all in all, the ride was calm and steady.

Scott, Luke, and I went up first followed by Jake, Lindy, and Devon.  Lara and Kevin went last since they had done this may times before.  We had a great morning, catching an aerial view of Maui!

Afterwards we decided to get shave ice from a new place down the street from our condo.  The amount of time the people take to put together each shave ice is unbelievable.  I ordered my usual - strawberry with a snow cap (condensed milk on top) over ice cream.  The texture was very smooth, and they had packed it with loads of syrup.  Of all of the places we have gone, a bunch of us liked this one the best.  If we go there again, I will have to try a new flavor..........hmmm, what will it be?

Day #9 - Old Lahaina Luau - MJ

Everyone was dressed up and ready to go to the luau.   After shopping Front Street in Lahaina for a little while, we made our way to the address, not really knowing what to expect from the luau.  Well, we were greeted with a choice of a fruit punch or a Mai Tai and were given a fresh flower lei.  Finally!  A lei - a real one!  We were shown to our "seats" - a bunch of pillows around a table.  Yes, we were sitting on the ground - traditional style.  Scott got totally comfy and took off his shoes.  We had the opportunity to try Hawaiian activities, enjoy the sunset, take pictures - mulling around for a little while before dinner started.

Everyone was so excited for the open bar.  The kids could go up to the bar, order any drink without alcohol, and they would not have to pay.  Open bar was in our ticket price.  We all took this as an opportunity to try various drinks.  There were about 10 drinks offered, and I can honestly say, someone from our table tried each one - with or without alcohol.  And when a new drink was brought back with no alcohol, everyone tried it to compare it to others.  I tried a Honey Girl (with alcohol) and thought it was so-so.  I then tried a Lava Flow - a beautiful drink with a coconut smoothie-like consistency and strawberry something around the bottom that looked like lava.  (No alcohol since alcohol really ruins some pretty good drinks for me.)  Delicious.

Then we met Randy our server for the evening.  He was a boisterous and friendly guy who was easy to talk to, very easy-going, and very accommodating.   He put up with our requests and shenanigans.

Everyone found something they could eat which was a win for the night.  The clear buffet favorite was banana bread.   Figures.  After dinner came dessert  -  small tray of delicacies.  We tried everything and discussed our findings.   And then came the show.  We enjoyed the dancing and music and were totally intrigued by the costumes - loincloths on the men and coconut bras on the women.

All in all, it was a wonderful night.  Everything was outside, and the temperature was perfect - no sweater for me!  The place was lovely and everyone was so helpful and friendly.  What a wonderful night.