Maui - Finale!

Monday

Today we enjoyed our last day by the pool & took Madison Claire to the pirate ship for the last time. She still liked the slide but lost all of that bravery in the water. She did not want to leave Ryan's side and was pretty much climbing up him to be out of the water. She wouldn't even take a bath because she was scared of the water so I had to get in with her. Poor little thing! For dinner we headed to Sansei with the family for our last meal...as usual, it was FANTASTIC!!! We headed home and started packing up a little bit to prepare for checking out on Tuesday. Here are some pics:

Not wanting to leave Daddy

Only felt secure by this pole...hopefully she isn't a pole dancer in her future!

In the bathtub with mommy

Mommy is so OVER this

Perfecting the stink-eye again :)

Happy girl!

The best aunts ever!!

MC loved the noodles at Sansei - seriously ate almost the whole bowl

Concentrating very hard on Papa Steve

Mom & Dad

Chilling on the bed with the girls

Tuesday

Today was such an eventful day. Everyone but me, Madison Claire and mom got up early to go to the Gazebo. I didn't want to have to wake Madison Claire up early since we were on the red-eye that night, so I stayed with her and didn't mind the extra sleep. They brought us back a pancake...yummy! Once they got back, we woke up Madison Claire from her little sleeping room in the bathroom and started packing. Madison Claire was able to take a morning nap from about 10:30 - 11:45 while Dad, Patrick, Ryan & Ryan packed up the car. I should mention that we had one Chevy Traverse and one Nissan Versa (a very small car). We had to get 8 adults, 1 baby, all of our luggage, 3 golf clubs, and 1 stroller in those 2 cars. Ryan McSwain at one point said there is NO WAY we are going to get it all in there. Dad & Patrick also realized that their travel bags for their golf clubs were missing. They had left them in the room we were in from Sunday - Sunday up in the closet on the top shelf! Unfortunately, the hotel wouldn't go into the rooms to check for them because the rooms were now occupied by someone else. We decided we would try to call the room again after lunch so they continued trying to pack the car. They somehow finally got it packed and we left the cars at the hotel and took the shuttle off to lunch.

We enjoyed the fish tacos from Leilanis so much on Sunday that we headed back today for lunch. We had a great lunch and shopped around Whalers Village. Our flight didn't leave until 9:51pm and it normally takes about 45-minutes to get from Lahiana over to the airport so we were planning to leave the hotel around 2:30 and drive over to that side of the island to spend the rest of the afternoon shopping and eating dinner out that way before heading to the airport. When we got back to the hotel to have them try calling about the golf bags, we were informed by a lady who was working at a kiosk at the hotel that the road to the airport was closed because of a huge brush fire on the mountain that had crossed the road. She gave us a phone number to call that provided updates on the road but said that there was pretty much no way that we would make it.

We knew that if we left the hotel at 2:30, we would just be stuck on the road for who knows how long and the road runs along the coast so there aren't really any places to turn around. I wasn't panicking at this point - I thought, hey, it wouldn't be too bad to be stuck in Maui for a few days. We decided to kill some more time in Lahiana and keep checking on the road. We drove into town to look for new golf bags for dad & Patrick and to pick up our pictures from the Luau. When we got to the picture place, there was no one there but the door was open, so dad just went in and looked through the pile for our pictures and took them! We had already paid for them, but it was pretty funny! (Even funnier is that somehow the pictures got lost so we don't have them anymore).

On the way back to the hotel, I called Delta to see when we would be able to get out if we weren't able to make our flight. The good news was that they would be able to get us out the next day...the bad news was, it was going to cost us $150 per ticket plus the difference in miles since we were all on frequent flyer seats. We asked several other locals when they thought the road would open up based on past experiences of fires, and they all said that there wouldn't be any chance of us making the flight. At about 4:30pm, we decided to bite the bullet and book 2 rooms at the Westin Villas for Tuesday night so we at least had a place to stay if the road didn't open up. We checked into our new rooms, let Madison Claire take a nap, and unloaded the car that had taken so long to pack that morning because we needed things for the evening. We watched the news where they talked about how horrible the fire was, how they had opened up shelters on the island for people who were displaced, and how they were calling in the National Guard for help. At this point, we knew we weren't going to make it out so decided to go into town for dinner. We dropped Patrick off at the pizza place and then went to park. Meredith decided to call the hotline one more time as we were getting out of the car at 6:40pm and low and behold, they said they had opened one lane on the road!

We decided in the parking lot that we would rush to make the flight. Mom, Dad, Sarah & Ryan Fetz were in the Versa and they left to rush back to the hotel to start re-packing the car. Luckily, they remembered they needed to buy some golf bags so they dropped Dad off at the golf store and went on to the hotel. Me, Ryan, Meredith & Madison Claire jumped in the car and had to circle around to pick Patrick up from the pizza place. We then had to stop at the market to get some milk for Madison Claire and then stop and pick up dad at the golf store (he made it there with 3 minutes before they closed)! We pulled into the hotel around 7:00pm and literally ran around like total and complete chaos to repack all of those bags into the Versa. No joke - we pulled out of the hotel at 7:15pm! Unbelievable!!!

We started the drive to the airport. Dad & Patrick were in the Versa with all of the luggage. Me, Ryan, Ryan, Sarah, Madison Claire, Mom & Meredith were in the Traverse. We had to stop to get gas in the Traverse and hadn't eaten dinner so Ryan Fetz bought some Munchies and candy at the gas station for dinner. We breezed through Lahiana but started seeing smoke and then fire on both sides of the road - as Ryan called it "the land of ash & fire". We first got in the traffic at 7:45pm and didn't get through it until a little after 9pm. Madison Claire was screaming the whole time - I got her out of the carseat when we were stuck in traffic and not moving (breaking the law, I know, I know) and fed her about 10 fruit bars because it was the only thing that would calm her down. Once we got through the traffic I put her back in her car seat and she started screaming - inconsolably crying. It was HORRIBLE but there wasn't anything we could do.

I wanted to start crying once we got through the traffic because we saw all of the traffic that was trying to go the way we were coming from. The road had been closed since about noon, so everyone who had flown into the island was stuck and trying to get to where we had been. I'm not joking when I say there were miles and miles of parked cars waiting. We knew then that if we missed our flight, we were going to be totally screwed because there was no way we were going to sit in that traffic to head back to our hotel rooms - it would have taken probably 6 hours, if not more to get back. Not happening. I should also mention here that Ryan McSwain is at his breaking point at about this time. The rush, the fire, the smoke, Madison Claire screaming, the tension in our car was SO heavy!

We made it to the airport around 9:15pm (remember, our flight was at 9:51pm) and still had to return the rental cars. Of course I had booked the rental cars from the cheapest place so it wasn't even on the airport grounds! We dropped off everyone and all of the bags and dad & I rushed to return the rental cars while they checked us in. We somehow made it back to the airport, through security, and onto that plane. I'm still not sure how it happened because they didn't hold the plane at all - we pulled away from the gate at 9:53pm. Let's just say - it was a miracle we made that flight. Thank you, Lord!!!

Madison Claire slept on both flights - even through the landings so that was a nice relief compared to our flights out there. Once we landed in Atlanta, we headed back to my parents house so we could get our car. Ryan needed to be back in Nashville on Thursday morning for work, so we ended up driving from Atlanta to Nashville that evening and making it back here around 11:45pm. We figured out at that point we had been awake for 33 hours. Needless to say - we were exhausted!!

Madison Claire's crib in the bathroom

Eating breakfast in bed with Mommy

Getting ready to leave - sad day!

On the shuttle to lunch

Shoulder ride from Uncle Patrick

This was the fire that closed the road - everything you see that is orange is actually fire burning - not city lights

At the airport in LA

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a great trip! The flights out there were rough with Madison Claire and the first few days in the hotel were tough with her sleeping. Once we moved to the villas and had more space, she was great which meant we were able to relax a little more! Being there for 2 weeks was the BEST! It was so nice because we didn't feel rushed, were able to enjoy each and every day a little more than usual, and just felt more relaxed when we left. I wish we could vacation for 2 weeks everytime...wouldn't that be nice!

We had such a great time with my family - I'm so thankful for my parents and siblings and that we are so close! It wouldn't have been the same without each of them there. We also had a lot of alone time just the 2 of us and savored each and every moment. I have the best husband ever - he is smart, funny, strong, loving, and not to mention HOT! I love that we both love Maui and that it will be our getaway trip in the years to come. We look forward to going back with Madison Claire when she is older and can enjoy it a little bit more!

If you are still reading this, thanks for bearing with me through all of these details. When we look back at this 20 years from now, I'm hoping the details and pictures will bring the trip to life for us! In closing, here are a few of our favorite little videos from the week...enjoy!

Madison Claire's first time on the beach - she LOVED it!

Madison Claire running on the lawn by the pool

Madison Claire searching for Diet Cokes - priceless!

On the slide...

Eating her ice by the pool