August 31

Today was my first day of work for the Fall 2010 semester at CSULB.  This is my 12th semeseter her at CSULB and I LOVE IT!!!!  I thank Andy Vaca for getting me my wonderful job.  This semester I am teaching Danc 115- Beginning Jazz and I have 39 students.

Today after work I went and bought me a new bag so that I did not have to carry all of my stuff on my shoulder.  It is getting heavier and heavier these days to carry it.  I choose the black one, even though the teal was pretty, black doesn't show dirt. 

August 30

We are home!!!!  When she woke up she looked at me and said "We not in Maui anymore" 

We arrived safely back in California.  When Wendy came got in my car to come pick us up it would not start.  Jesse and her had to take the car seat out of Matt's Scion and then she came and got us while Jesse went to Walmart and bought jumper cables.  Once we got home we got settled a little bit and then Mikaela went to the babysitter because I needed to go into work.  Matt went with me and we went to Sam's Club to buy a new battery for my car.  Once home I got us all unpacked and finally sat down to relax a little.  We are so glad to be home.

August 29

Day 13

Today is our departure date.  We spent the morning at the pool and then check-out and drove around shopping and getting things to bring home to family and friends.  We had quite an adventure at the airport.  We got there early thinking we would just eat dinner since the car needed to be returned.  Bad choice, when we got there the agricultural inspector told us that we could not check in because no one was at the Delta counter.  When asked what time they got there we were told 7pm.  It was 4:30pm.  So we sat and waited.  Mikaela watched her DVD player and Matt and I tried to stay busy and entertain each other.  Finally someone arrived at the Delta counter at 6:15pm and we were all checked in.  We ate dinner and got Pinkberry for dessert then waited for our plane to board.  We were the first ones on the plane and got Mikaela into her pajamas and all settled since we had a Red Eye flight.  She did great and slept the whole flight.  Matt and I on the other hand didn't sleep too well, in fact Matt didn't sleep at all. 

Waiting, waiting and more waiting

First ones on the plane

August 28

Day 12

Today we got up early, went to breakfast and headed to Hana again.  One the way there we say a fire, it was an interesting sight.  This time we drove straight to 'Ohe'o Gulch, 7 Sacred Pools.  Mikaela once again was wonderful on our drive up there and enjoyed watching her DVD player.  Once at the Pools she wanted to get in and swim around.   She hiked all the way to them and back and was sad to leave. 

Her sad face

The coast on our trip around the island

The Pokowai Sea Arch

The goat on the side of the road

Back around and heading back to the hotel

August 27

Day 11

We finally left the hotel today and headed down to Black Rock so Matt could go snorkeling and Mikaela could play in the sand and ocean.  I am 26 weeks pregnant today and loving that I am in Maui.  We searched around for dinner tonight somewhere new and Mikaela spotted Panda Express and insisted that we eat Chinese for dinner. 

I love this Matt at Whalers Village of my favorite island.

Watching the sunset

We stopped at a new spot to watch the sunset tonight, Matt knows how much I love sunsets on Maui.

August 26

Day 10

This morning Mikaela learned how to make leis.  We spent a little time at the pool and rested up before we headed to the Drums of Paradise Luau.   Mikaela got up on stage with me and did the Hookie Lau like she had learned at her hula class.  She loved the dancers during the luau, it was her favorite part.

The first rainbow we had seen on our trip

Family photo taking before the Luau

August 25

Day 9

After spending some time at the pool in the morning, Mikaela took hula lessons.  This was offered through the hotel.  She learned the Hookie Lau and did so well, and I think her favorite part was when they talked about the "all the humhum, coming swimming to me"

After hula lessons we went and got a chocolate smoothie from the bar next to the pool, delicious!!!!

We were the first ones at the pool this morning

Once again dinner at Hula Grill at Sunset

August 24

Day 8

We spent the day at the pool.  Mikaela went down the kids water slide all by herself today.  What a big girl.  We went to Longboards for dinner tonight. 

August 23

Day 7

We changed hotels today from Lahaina to Ka'anapali.  We are now at the Maui Hyatt Regency.  This is such a beautiful hotel with an amazing pool for Mikaela to play in.  We booked our trip through Costco and go an amazing package.  We are going to love it here.  For dinner we walked to our favorite restaurant, Hula Grill at the Whalers Village. 

Play time at the pool

Dinner at Hula Grill

August 22

Day 6

I can't say that I actually took this first picture because Mikaela did.  She did such a good job.  It is a GREAT shot of Matt and I with a beautiful background.  She is a natural.

We spent the morning going to the Maui Ocean Center then we stopped off to show Mikaela where we got married and then we walked into Lahaina for dinner and to watch the sunset one last time before changing hotels. 

Kiss to our little girl.  Love her bangs in this picture

August 21

Day 5

We took the Road To Hana today.  It was a wonderful drive and Mikaela loved it.  We stopped at our favorite hiking place first and hiked to 2 waterfalls.  We then drove stopped at the Halfway to Hana store and got once again more banana bread.  We continued our drive and stopped next at Pau'a ka'a State Park and saw another waterfall and played in the pool of water.  We then got back in the car and went all the way to the Black Sand Beach at Wai'anapanapa Park.  Once we were there we drove back home.  On our way back down the Road to Hana we stopped at a waterfall called Upper Waikani Falls, also known as Three Bears Falls.  Once back in the car Mikaela feel asleep.  We had a wonderful drive to Hana and back. 

Looking at the Road to Hana

She loves the waterfalls

Hiking through the bamboo

Hiking with my little girl down to the Black Sand Beach

August 20

Day 4

We spent the afternoon driving to the central part of Maui to see the 'Iao Needle.  We had never done this before so it was neat to see something new.  Once again Mikaela loved hiking.  Matt even let her stick her feet into the water of a waterfall.  We went to the pool again this afternoon so Mikaela could splash around and use her new swimmy.  We went to dinner at Kimo's (this is where we had our Welcome Dinner for the wedding) and then watched the sunset in our now "normal" spot, on the beach in front of Cheeseburger in Paradise. 

26 week pregnant in Maui!!! 

Kisses to her daddy at sunset

Our family in Maui

One of my FAVORITE pictures from the whole trip