Day 2

We got to meet my step brother's new little baby, Tela! They also have the rough life of living on Maui :) She's a cutie!

On this day we took a ride over to Lahaina to see a huge banyan tree and go whale watching (that's "whale washing" for you Modern Family fans! ;) ) But first we ate a delicious meal at a restaurant named Cool Cats.

Here we are on the boat looking for "sprays" so we could rush out to catch some whale sightings. . . .

. . . . .and here is one of many shots of a real life whale!! There were 5 whales swimming in a pod and we followed them around watching them spray, flip, and jump! It was CRAZY COOL!! What was NOT crazy cool was the little girl that threw up all over Rich's mom from sea sickness! Of course, then, she in turn, threw up 6 TIMES! But at least she made it to the bathroom. Poor Barbara, this whale watching was memorable for all sorts of reasons.

Day 1 in Paradise

We got up early on Saturday (there is a 5 hour time difference for us, so it wasn't hard!) and went to a little farmer's market just across the street from my mom's neighborhood in Pukalani. Rich is enjoying coconut water from the real deal, just chopped open. As you can imagine, they have tons of yummy fresh fruits and veggies.

After that, we went to another market place in Kahului that sold t-shirts and such and delicious Italian Ice. Anyone who knows our family, knows we can't pass up a food opportunity :)

Next, was our tour of the set of "Lost" well, not really, but it did look an awful lot like it! This is the Iao Needle and we took a little walk/hike to check it out. Just BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

This is Baldwin Beach where we spent the rest of our afternoon. It was VERY windy, but nice to finally enjoy the waves and some time in the sun.

Hello Maui!

So I guess I said I had a lot of catching up to do on the blog so I would do a little everyday. Obviously, I haven't, but school is out and I'm ready to relive our family vacation to Maui over Easter Break! First, I have to add that Hunter had some other great news that got a little overshadowed by the mission call- He was accepted into BYU's Film Program!! YAY Hunter!!! They will put that on hold until he gets back from Africa but then he can start taking classes for his major. So this picture is after all the good news and off to Maui! We all met up in LAX (Rich's mom, Barbara and the 5 of us) for our LONG plane ride to Hawaii.

We got in on Good Friday evening and were met with these beautiful leis from a couple of Hawaiians (My mom and Wayne :))

This is the inside of my mom's house and her funny shoes you can wear inside to keep her floors clean. Nobody wears their shoes inside in Maui. I like that since I'm a barefoot kind of gal.

Rich is sitting on the back balony and you can see the view they have (sort of).

Elder Stewart?

So life has been pretty eventful for The Stewart family the last several weeks! So much has been going on and I'm so far behind in blogging that I will have to do a little every day to catch up. First of all- Hunter put his papers in for his mission while he was still at BYU finishing up the semester. His mission call was suppose to arrive the day before we were all meeting in Hawaii (more on that trip to come). So he had it sent to Jennifer's (Rich's sister) house in case it didn't make it before he had to leave. Well, it came so she and her kids drove it down to his dorm so he could open it before he left. (She is so AWESOME!)

He has it in his hands. . . . .

He called us on skype and had a dorm room full of friends and family (Bree was there, too) . . . .

He is reading it . . . . .

. . . and he is called to serve in the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission!! (That's in Africa, in case you are like me and had to look it up) He is to report to the MTC (missionary training center) in Ghana on August 6th, 2011! I think he was pretty freaked out at first, but probably not any more freaked out than his Mom :)!

We are all getting used to the idea now and so, so, so PROUD of Hunter and his decision to serve a mission for our church! We will miss him, but we know that's where the Lord wants him to be and he will be an awesome missionary. His second mother (Jennifer) brought him this Oreo cake (his favorite :)) for the big day- thanks Jen, did I mention how great you are?!