So this year I was a very spoiled girl and got to visit Hawaii twice! in less than 6 months- so i went to oahu with my friend for spring break in march, and this past week I went to maui with my mom and my sister- we haven’t really taken a vacation together in what seems forever, and since i just graduated we thought it would be the perfect excuse to have a little getaway. 

it was a pretty short trip- a perfect amount of time in my opinion..we were there for 4 nights and there was not one day where we were bored or had to think of something to do. I know a lot of people go for like a week or 10 days and that seems amazing to be away for that long, but as crazy as it sounds i think we would have gotten bored or ran out of things we wanted to do if we were there that long…and we already started missing our dogs after 4 days, haha. 

luckily i had a friend who is from maui, and the guild producer kim lent me a book about things to do in maui, so i felt well informed. We stayed at the marriott in wailea, and we absolutely loved it. it was pretty affordable, and unlike the grand wailea thats often talked about as the best hotel in wailea, it was quiet, and relaxing. it looked like it was newly remodeled, and we got a complimentary upgrade to an ocean view junior suite when we got there which was a pleasant surprise! we actually had our spa done at the spa in the grand wailea hotel and there were kids running around and it almost felt like a disneyland on a beach, which was NOT what we were looking for so i was glad to know we made a good choice with the hotel :)

so we got there, checked in to our upgraded room, and had lunch by the pool, and of course went straight to the wailea shops just down the parking lot from our hotel. (if you know anything about me and my family, we LOVE TO SHOP)..haha. we spent a lot of time at that mall so it was SO nice that it was so close to the hotel. after shopping it was like 6 oclock and it was still warm enough to go to the beach (crazy awesome!) we walked down to ulua beach which is one of the beaches the resorts sits in between (the other is wailea beach). we swam around and watched the sunset on the beach before we went to our official new favorite restaurant on maui, Kai :). its a sushi place in the mall, and although it didnt have great reviews on yelp, it was TO DIE FOR. i usually never eat fish when i have sushi (i usually do a vegetarian roll), but i had the seared tuna roll and it was sooo good and not fishy at all. if tuna in california tasted that good, i would eat them every day! so after some shopping, sunset on the beach, and great sushi, i would say it was a successful first day in paradise. 

the second day was a busy one. woke up at 7am, went for a run with my sister, and it was off to lahaina for a day of snorkeling, shopping, and a luau! we went to kaanapali beach, which was probably the prettiest beach i have ever seen in my life. the water was so clear and it was literally perfection. we snorkeled around black rock, and since i was too much of a coward to swim too far, we didn’t see anything exciting but it was still pretty fun, since i have never swam in an ocean so clear and beautiful. after we were done at the beach we went shopping at whalers village in lahaina, and then went over to front street- front street was so cute. just a street with little shops, galleries and markets. I went there to look for this bikini shop called san lorenzo, and once i got there i found out it wasnt there anymore..i was quite dissapointed but found this other shop called pakaloha which was really similar to san lorenzo- and bought 2 super cute suits there :) then it was off to the luau- my first luau ever! we went to the old lahaina luau cause we heard it was the best, and it definitely did not disappoint. everyone was friendly, the food was great, and the show was super super entertaining! my first luau was definitely a success :) 

the third day we still had our rental car so we drove a couple minutes down to big beach which was also a very pretty beach, and pretty entertaining. when we got there my mom was pretty stoked there was a life guard since they save us from sharks, lol. we walked up to the beach with our bright colored floaties and boogie board, and as soon as we got settled, we hear the lifeguard on his megaphone “the waves are very dangerous today near the shore, floaties, noodles, boogieboards, and blow up beds are a very bad idea since the waves will just swallow you up. WOOPS. apparently he was speaking directly to us. so we gave up on that, but my mom and sister still wanted to go feel the water. as they got closer and closer to the water, the lifeguard started yelling in his megaphone AGAIN “careful near the water, life changing spinal injuries happen here for beginner swimmers who dont know what they are doing” he continued to judge our every move, and it was pretty freaking hilarious, but we decided this was not the beach for us…haha..so we went back to Ulua, spent a couple hours happily boogie boarding and using our fun bright floaties without judgement, and then went into town to Kihei to have some local hawaiian food. My friend told us to check out Da Kitchen, so we did, and the food was awesome! i had the kalbi ribs(i love my meat) and it was soo soo good. my mom and sister shared the kalua pork, which was also good. we all shared two plates and the crazy hawaiian portions were plenty for us. 

our last full day in maui was the most relaxing. we walked next door to wailea beach, got an umbrella and chairs and literally laid around the beach all day until our spa treatment at 4 oclock. we had to return our umbrellas at 3, so after that we went over to the grand wailea pool to have a snack and pina coladas. then it was off to the spa! the spa grande at the grande wailea was amazing- they have these mineral baths representing each island that has crazy awesome smelling stuff to make ur skin feel better..hahaha..we all had the Pohake massage, which is the Hawaiian lomi lomi (similar to a swedish) with hot lava stones. ive had hot stone massages before, but this was definitely not disappointing. it was the best way to end our trip- a day of pampering! after the spa we went back to Kai to have more sushi! we just had to have it one more time before leaving! 

me my mom and my sister had such a great time and im so glad that we can all still have so much fun together! some families cant stand being on vacation together or being together for an extended amount of time but i am so glad we are not one of those. we are already trying to figure out when we can go back- i am officially OBSESSED with this tropical paradise!

enjoy some of the pics!