Maui Ocean Center! - Part 2

We decided to stay on our time zone for eating and sleeping so at Hawaii 10am we put a pause on the aquarium and went in search of lunch. We found this little general store nearby with a counter where you could order food. 

 

They were just changing over from breakfast to lunch so we let the youngest three get pancakes. They were huge!

The place was right across from the Coast Guard station. T's grandpa was stationed in Hawaii just after Pearl Harbor. He served on Oahu but we wondered if maybe he had visited Maui during his tour.

 

 

After lunch we went back to see the rest of the buildings and displays.

 

 

 

The bright colors of the fish were so pretty!

 

 

This cracked me up because just a few days before at Thanksgiving we had been doing a puzzle that Auntie Nae brought and were talking about this fish. I was saying it looked like two fish had been put together and we assumed it was just something the artist took liberty with, but then I rounded a corner and saw the exact fish! God is so creative.

 

 

There was a worker in this tank cleaning it which the girls thought was neat.

 

 

Ta da!

 

 

 

Another funny fish. He looked like he was walking on his fins. 

 

 And another! A happy guy...maybe named Pinocchio. :)

 

 

And this was a picture of a pretty fish! And a pretty girl. :)

 

 

The flowers everywhere were so gorgeous!

 

 

The girls really liked this little pool where you could touch all the starfish, anemones, urchins, ect. 

 

 

 

 I made them get this picture. :P

 

 

The turtles were so cool!

 

 

 

We finished up with the aquarium and headed back toward Kihei where we were staying. Noni snapped this picture of everyone in the convertible with their hands in the air...including T. Haha.

 

 

 

 More pictures tomorrow!

Maui Ocean Center! - Part 1

 Our first night there it poured but by morning it was just a mild rain. We kept getting flash flood alerts on our phones and they actually closed the Hana road (on the other side of the island). 

We decided to spend the day at the aquarium to avoid the rain which worked out pretty well. Some of it was outside but the rain was off an on so we tried to stay in the buildings during the worst of the cloudbursts. 

 

 

It seemed so funny to see Christmas decorations but feel hot and humid and wearing shorts! 

 

 

The first thing we saw was the "nursery" where they had baby sharks including a baby black tip and a hammerhead which they said is very rare for them to have. 

 

They had a little playground. :)

 

 

They had TONS of fish! Someone said this place is the largest aquarium in the western hemisphere. So many of the fish looked almost human in their faces. The flat guys with the pointy noses cracked me up.

 

 

This shark looked like it had an underbite. Haha.

 

 

This stingray was huge and awesome! He kept floating right over the top of the glass walkway.

 

 

Here's a video.

 

 

They had some pretty big sharks in this tank!

 

 

This was an actual research submarine. I wonder how many people they would send down in it!?

 

 

This was really cool...they had a box of sand with a topographical projector so whenever they would mound up the sand they could make island!

 

 

 

 

 

When they would push the buttons on this display it would light up a certain area of the island.

 

 

I am so thankful this was the only day we saw sharks. Haha.

 

 

This was a humpback whale display. I learned that they can be heard underwater from up to 5 miles away!

 

 

They had a huge sphere where they showed an IMAX type movie of the humpback whales in 3D. It was a little eerie to have the huge creatures floating in 3D above our heads!

 

 Okay this is getting long so the rest of the pictures tomorrow!

The Beach!

 As soon as we got all our groceries and luggage into the condo and sorted out the girls changed into swimsuits and we ran down to the beach to catch the sunset. It was cloudy and a little rainy that day but it was still really pretty! Our condo was right across the street from the beach!

 

 

There was a big open grassy area where people come down every night with lawn chairs to watch the sun set.

 

 

We found some tide pools right away in the old lava rocks.

 

 

 

 

So happy to be in HAWAII!!! 

 

 

 

 

F is so easy going and fit in like one of the family the whole time we were there. He is pretty quiet, but also super funny so when he could get a word in edgewise with all our little chatter-bugs he was making us laugh. :) 

 

 

Bug found this.

 

 

We had seen these flowers at home made out of foam and thought they looked so fake. We were so surprised that those foam ones look exactly like the real flowers that were growing in the trees all around the condo! They would fall every day so they were always sprinkled around the sidewalks and hedges. I guess they are plumeria! So pretty!

 

 

Of course we had to get a bunch of pictures with the pretty sunset. :)

 

 

Boo wanted to do her handstands. 

 

 

After the sun set we headed back and let the kids swim in the pool before going to bed. LOTS more pictures to come!