**Wowie Maui** More Out & About

Over time, we have come up with a little rule on our vacations. This little rule helps things go smoothly. And this is what it is. "Each day, we each get to pick one thing for us to do. We all do it and there is absolutely no complaining." It has worked well for us. Generally, Max choses his thing first and then Keith and I will supplement the day accordingly. As it turned out this time around, my wish each day was usually for beach time. Which we did in the morning. And then in the afternoon we would do Max and Keith's things.

One particular day, Max's "thing" he chose to do was ride the trolley. We jumped on at our hotel and headed over to Whalers Village. Whalers Village is a cute little collection of shops, restaurants, a museum and they have daily activities (lei making, hula dancing, etc.) you can particpate in.

Whalers Village has a giant skeleton of a giant sperm whale...

We toured the Whaling Museum...

The ABC Stores...They are the BEST!! I think we were able to pick up just about anything and everything we needed while we were there...food, drinks, souvenirs, snorkle gear, beach towels, sunscreen. They have everything and they are everywhere!

We played quite a few rounds of mini-golf (another popular "thing" that the Maxter liked to choose). Everything from indoor glow-ball to outdoor courses.

One of our most favourite activies was to explore the rocky beaches about 10 minutes away from where we were staying.  It all started when we had  to stop at this little roadside park for an emergency washroom break. Keith and Max happened to see some big black crabs scuttling about on the big black rocks. Their interest was piqued. We ended up coming back and spending lots of time exploring the rocks and tidepools below. Max was in his own little world here. If he could have, he would have spent all day, every day here. Exploring. Throwing rocks. Checking out tidepools. Inspecting. Discovering. It was like he was back in Vancouver again at Cates Park or Tofino. These next photos ended up being my very favourite ones of the whole trip. They aren't your typical "Hawaiian/tropical" photos. I know that. It's what the photos are showing me...my boys doing what they love to do. Exploring. For hours on end. I so love that we were able to find a place to do that while we were there...

The sun was pretty intense in the afternoon. There was a little sand beach just down from the rocks...a great way to cool off after exploring. Max loved using the boogie board... 

It would appear that we have our own personal family shark now...