The Tuft Tales: Christmas in Hawaii -- pt. 1

Hi everyone!
We've been very MIA this past month. Between end-of-year projects, papers, finals, packing and vacationing... there was just no time to post! But here we are again :)
For Christmas this year my parents got to cross off something on their bucket list... we went to Hawaii! They've been wanting to do this for a long time and this year the stars aligned. We stayed on Maui, which was actually really nice because it's a lot more laid back than Oahu or the Big Island.

SO if you're going to Maui anytime soon, here's what we'd recommend:

snorkeling - seriously, do it. There are a TON of beaches (obviously) and most of them are good for snorkeling. Our favorites included Kamole III and Ulua, although we saw a lot of things at various other beaches too.
scuba diving - Kyle and I got scuba certified before we went, so we got to dive with my dad three times. We really wanted to dive at the 5 tombs, but the water was pretty choppy and it was a rocky entrance, so we played it safe and didn't do that. However, the three beaches we did go to were amazing. Diving is just unreal in general; so peaceful and quite, not to mention beautiful.
Molikini Crater - About a mile out from Maui there's a crater that's really popular for snorkeling. We took a boat out there to see it all, and we also went to "Turtle Town" - just an area that had a lot of turtles. I didn't end up snorkeling very long at Molikini because I got too cold, but what I did see was amazing. (Honestly though, you can see most of the same fish just by snorkeling at other beaches... so you don't HAVE to go to Molikini...)
Maui Tacos - it isn't a true vacation unless we find a good restaurant. We ended up going here twice for their fish tacos (amazing!)
Cafe O'Lei - again more food. This is where Kyle and I spent our anniversary dinner. Since everything in Hawaii is more expensive than the mainland, we were pretty impressed for the amount of food that we got for $65. Salad, crab cakes, a sushi roll, and two AMAZING entrees. Plus our server, Tim, was awesome.
Historic district in Lahaina - very cool old shops, a lot to see (aka spend money on) but the history of the place was very fascinating too.
Just up north of Lahaina there's a golf course with access to a crazy place called Dragon's Tooth - When the island was forming, the lava hit the ocean and solidified into teeth-like looking rocks. We visited this place for our anniversary too.
Grand Wailea Luau - We did this for Christmas Eve and it was a blast! They go through the history of Hawaii through dance. The dancers were incredible (they had some Cirque de Soliel performers!) and the food was amazing.
Road to Hana - Also known as road to hell (or as my sister quoted, "Highway to Hell"). It was NOT as bad as people made it out to be. I loved it. The town of Hana is the most remote town in all of Hawaii but the point of driving to it is to enjoy the journey there. Along the way there are TONS of waterfalls, beaches (black and red), and other stops. We spent a good portion of our drive hiking along waterfalls and just taking pictures. The majority of the road is through the lush, tropical forest. Seeing this was awesome; HUGE forests of bamboo, rainbow eucalyptus and kukui trees... unbelievable.
Kahekili Highway - This was WAY worse than the Road to Hana. This "highway" is a single lane that takes you around the north ear of Maui. Sheer cliff faces, and spectacular views, what's more to want? This highway took us to Kahakuloa, the oldest village in Maui. It hasn't changed AT ALL in over a hundred years, except for a new building they've been working on in the last decade. Here we met Lorraine who showed us her backyard of wonders and sold us her homemade passion fruit jelly. It was amazing. Kyle sampled one of her chilies- her HOT HAWAIIAN CHILIES- and started crying. This highway also took us to a cool blow hole that you could hike to. It's a pretty easy hike, but the blow hole can be dangerous as it's right by the ocean. Apparently there have been cases of people getting too close to it, and being sucked in by the pressure of it (we didn't get THAT close...)
Maui Ocean Aquarium - To get our fill of ALL the animals we couldn't see snorkeling/scuba diving, we went to the Aquarium on Christmas day. Here we were finally able to see some sharks and sting rays! They had a cool tube you could walk through that had all the sharks and rays swimming above, below and around you.

We did a ton of other things too, but these were some of the highlights. It was really nice to just spend time together as a family. Even without the snow and cold, Christmas tree and lights we still had a blast! Best. Christmas. Ever.