day 8

our last day in hawai'i... i wanted to be sad, but considering the wonderful, amazing, fantastic time we had, i just couldn't be. our vacation went by not too fast and not too slow, and we couldn't have been happier about that. we all know how they can just fly by and that makes it even harder to go home. i think we (ben and i) were ready to get back to normal a.k.a. sleep in our own bed.

the morning started off just as early as the rest. jack had been up early to use the potty and wasn't too keen on getting back to sleep. dilly woke shortly after, so we played quietly on the air mattress until mr. ben couldn't sleep any more. dylan was quite taken with the gloworm. she was given this as a present shortly after she was born, but somehow or rather someone decided he could put it to better use. i just love the focus on her face.

our flight didn't depart until after 4 pm, so we had another full morning and part of the afternoon to explore more of maui. we met up with cousin brackston once again, and he took us upcountry (us alaskans would call it the hillside), off the hana highway, across haliimaile (pronounce highly-miley) and up through the quaint town of makawao. always up for a hike, he took us back to twin falls. this was the perfect esacpe before our daunting 6+ hour flight home. jack ran through the mud, batted at large palms and even stopped to rest in the crunchy grass. we had a such a nice time, and sure would have liked to spend more time with him. how convenient to have our own tour guide.

"please respect the land, leave only foot prints"

and finally, at the airport, homeward bound. in summary: we tanned, we buried babes in the sand, consumed 3 pineapples (that's a pineapple a person!), got daily naps, and daily frozen yogurt, watched sunsets and sunrises, i kissed my two boy's salty lips, saw dolphins, we shopped, rode in a helicopter... the list of fun times drags on! and the best part about it: ben loved it as much as me, maybe more.