Constant Chatter: Can we go back?

Dear Addison and Tegan:

It has been almost two weeks since we got back from Maui and I still can't stop thinking about it. Dad and I had the most amazing time with you guys! It was almost like we went with friends instead of our children. At first I felt a little bit bad about not taking Myka and Danica with us, but it was really nice to spend some one on one time with you. Sometimes I don't realize how fast you are growing and changing, it was so nice to just slow down and "get to know" you more.

I'm sure that you will remember parts of this trip forever...daddy went when he was about your age and still remembers it. In case you forget some though, i'll tell you what some of my favourite parts were!

First, I loved just hanging out on the beach. Between wave jumping, paddle boarding, snorkelling, and playing in the sand, you two were never bored! On our first day there, a local man even caught a few octopuses (octopi?) and let you hold them. You weren't sure you wanted to at first, but both of you took a turn and loved it :) I never did get brave enough to hold it...it was super slimy when I touched it, ew!

Every morning, Dad would get up with you two and head down to the beach to look through all the tide pools for new critters, then Aunty, Uncle, Emett and I would come down to the beach around 9. Almost every day we ended up just playing at the beach for hours. And by lunchtime, we were all ready for a little nap.

There were a few days that we did things other than play on the beach. One day, Daddy and I took you two on a drive around the island. We didn't make it very far though because we kept stopping to hike around the rocks. You girls were so fascinated with the fact that they were once molten lava...it was so fun to explore them together! One day we even picked a remote spot near the ocean to have a picnic. One of the jeeps got stuck in some mud and while daddy and Uncle Will got it out, us girls ate our sandwiches on a cliff overlooking a beautiful rock beach and the ocean :) It was a wonderful day...and thankfully the men got the jeep unstuck! LOL

We also explored under the Banyan tree in Lahaina. Do you remember how huge the tree was? It covered almost an entire city block worth of land, and had so many roots that held it up. On the Saturday that we were there, they had a market under the tree where local photographers and crafters sold things. We bought a photo of a wave for our new house. I can't wait to put it up!

I think that other than the beach, my favourite thing to do was whale watching. We chose a small boat to go on, and the couple that led the tour was awesome! They loved having you two aboard and told you all about the whales. The girl, Noni, even got you to help her call the whales! Do you remember the time that the whale heard you calling and turned towards our boat? It was so cool! Do you also remember naming the baby whale? Noni said that she suspected the baby was only a few days old and probably didn't have a name yet, so you two named her Mya. She showed you how much she loved it later by jumping out of the water many times...it was so fun to watch! Even when the whales stayed under the water where we couldn't see them, I loved cruising around in the boat and chatting with all the new people we met!

There is so much more I could write about, but those were my absolute favourite things about our trip.

And now our tans are fading (too fast), but we will always have the pictures and the memories to hold on to!

It is good to be back with Myka and Danica too. I hope that one day we can take all of you girls to Maui. Seeing how happy you were the whole time made the trip so incredibly special for me...I would love to share that with our whole family!