Traveling To Maui, Hawaii Alongside A Toddler

Since we took waaaaaaay too many pictures of our six night stay in Maui, we did our best to go through them all and majorly pare them down – but it still adds up to two posts (you know we like to over-share). We wish we could have taken you all with us in our suitcase, so I guess the next best thing is posting all about it. In this one, we will cover:

• where we stayed
• where we ate
• our “neighborhood”
• how we saved money

And in the next post we will detail:

• all of the activities/adventures that we tackled while we were there (with a toddler in tow)
• the home-related purchase we made to remember the trip
• our vacation “tradition” that we continued in Hawaii

Oh and over on the house Life we simply posted all about flying with a toddler and how we helped her adjust to the time difference.

So without further ado: where we stayed. We found our little condo at a resort called Aina Nalu in Lahaina (a lively walkable area on the West Coast of Maui) through HomeAway.com. This is certainly under the “how we saved money category too” since booking a room at the same resort through a travel agent or their main site could have cost a lot more (they are billing a comparable room at $185/night right now, which adds up to $126 more over six nights), but we got it for less by going through HomeAway and working directly with the owner (who was so helpful to email directly with any questions we had)! Here in Richmond some basic hotel rooms are $150- $175 a night, so we figure that rate in paradise (for a two bedroom condo with two bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a washer & dryer, no less) is a fairly strong deal. And did we mention the beach was walkable along with tons of shops and restaurants? We truly enjoyed the area and the condo itself.

One of the coolest things about the condo owners was that they made the place fully kid-friendly. They even provided a pack n play, stroller, tons of beach toys that Clara adored, and safety features like outlet covers and cabinet door latches in the kitchen and bathroom. Some research about the location (we googled around for an area of HI that was ranked high for being child-friendly) and the five star ratings on the HomeAway site certainly helped us pull the trigger – and we were quite glad with our accommodations. Here is the lobby of the Aina Nalu resort. Pleasant, huh?

And here is the main bedroom and en-suite shower (we booked a two-bedroom over a one-bedroom because Clara sleeps much better without sharing a room with us, so it was certainly worth it to us).

Many of the rooms in the resort were treated like hotel rooms (so guests went in and out with a hotel key and there was housekeeping, etc) but ours was a residence, so we did not have housekeeping and used a regular key to get in and out. We are a little crazy, but we in fact liked feeling like it was our little private condo instead of a hotel room that would get regular visits from folks making the bed and refreshing the towels. There were certainly sufficient towels to keep us glad for the duration, and there was even a washer and dryer in our unit, so we did a load of laundry half-way through the trip, which was excellent for all of Clara’s ice-cream-and-sand-covered items.

Here is a shot of Clara in front of our door (so you can kind of see how the grounds were laid out with pathways to distinct rooms/buildings…

… and there were also pathways to other areas like the lobby and the two pools on the premises.

Some days it got fairly busy (so we’d head off the to the beach, drive around the island, go out for food, look for whales, embark on some other adventure that we will share next week), but other days we had the whole pool to ourselves, so we’d go for a dip.

It was fairly sweet.

Not only were there plenty of seats for sunning, there were also these shaded little cabanas that we enjoyed. They were like king sized beds twenty feet from the pool.

Here are two more random “accommodation” shots for ya. You can see the second pool in the left one below, and the view back at the rooms in the one on the right.

This is simply a cute pic of my girl. Is she cute, or what? We each got one item of clothing to remember the trip, so John got the blue HI shirt that he’s wearing and I got a especially soft t-shirt that says Maui and Clara got pink Crocs. She calls them her “rocks” and loves them. And they were certainly handy to have in all that sand and surf (waterproof + sandproof shoes = yay).

Now for more on Lahaina. It is a strong little area on the West Coast of Maui with sweet shops and restaurants that we could walk to from our condo.

There were even a few nearby beaches that were also walkable from our resort (do not mind the rocks on this one, there were sandy ones too)…

We especially enjoyed one called “Baby Beach” thanks to the fact that coral reefs blocked any waves, creating a shallow little kid-friendly spot for splashing around. Sure there were some rocky coral spots, but kids could easily avoid them by staying closer to the ocean’s edge (Clara did not try to go beyond the boundaries we set for her, especially with all the lively beach toys that we brought to keep her entertained).

Sometimes she sat about waist-high in the water and splashed around or poured buckets of water on her head (after counting to three as if to warn herself it was coming). But other times she simply sat where the water met the sand and played for hours.

Of course we loaded our pasty selves up with SPF, but other than that we had no responsibilities. Cell phones were off, we only checked the journal for about 30 minutes a day, I did not wear makeup all week, it was glorious.

When we got hot we all took a dip.

And watched the water (beyond the reef that kept the waves out) for whales. We never saw any at this spot, but we saw a ton of them on some other beaches (more on that soon).

Since this whole beach up to that area waaaaay in the background (where you see one wave breaking) was essentially a large sandbar, you could walk all the way out and it was only about waist deep. The view back at Lahaina – and of the island beyond – was excellent from way out there.

By comparison, Clara’s go-to view was likely this kayak that randomly floated by. She stared at it, fully speechless until it passed, and then shouted “little girl and doggy on on on on on a boat! Hi doggy! Hi little girl! Hi boat! Hi man!” She only repeats words when she’s especially excited. Haha.

Other than keeping an eye out for the dog kayak, Clara had a good time covering herself with wet sand. You think I am joking.

So now that we have covered the accommodations and the neighborhood beaches, we’d be remiss not to mention all the remarkable grub that we enjoyed. I mean look at it. It is like a rainbow of deliciousness.

The top left photo is the fried rice breakfast from Lahaina Coolers (we enjoyed sitting outside and watching people and dogs go by – oh and splitting entrees when we could, since HI food can be fairly pricey). The top right photo is Loco Moco (John got a hamburger on top and I got an egg on top) from Aloha Mixed Plate (so reasonable and such a strong view if you get lucky and snag a table by the beach). The bottom left are burgers from Cool Cat Cafe, which was rated the best burger in Maui (so good!), and the bottom right is a giant slice of Hula Pie from Kimo’s (another strong beachfront restaurant that we enjoyed). Oh and for those with children, Lahaina Coolers and Kimo’s have crayons, which consistently earns a little extra credit with folks like us who are desperate to keep the bean glad while we chow down (although she had her fair share of the Hula Pie to keep her glad!).

This is Lahaina Pizza Company. They had strong pizza and an excellent view from their upstairs balcony (not only of the folks walking by on the street below, but of the ocean and all the cruise ships and whale watching boats that jet in and out). That look in John’s eyes is bliss, btw. Oh and I had a cold angel hair pasta salad and it was excellent.

This is a funny story. We took Clara to hibachi and only realized once the first giant fireball blazed that she was terrified. She literally screamed and then kept repeating “fire is hot!!!” while bawling. Poor girl! Apparently when kids are younger they do not get it and when they are older they can rationalize that it is safe and ok, but around two seems to be the sweet spot to be terrified. We felt awful, so I stood outside with Clara (who muttered “it is ok Clara, it is ok” to calm herself) while John waited inside for them to make our whole meal so we could get it to go. Then we ended up chowing down on one of the cabanas near the pool back at our resort. It was kind of disastrous and hilarious all at the same time. Certainly one of those things we will remember for years to come when we think back on our big Hawaii trip.

Thankfully Clara was strong when it came to all of the other places that we ate. If they did not involve flames shooting up to the ceiling, she was a-ok. Here she is with John at The Mixed Plate (which we mentioned in that food mash-up photo above).

She enjoyed a lot of the local fare (especially snow cones, ice cream, bagels, and french fries, haha) but sometimes she was not into whatever we ordered so we kept a steady stock of crackers, fruit, veggies and other snacks on hand to keep her smiling. Oh and see that “Aloha” sign behind us? Clara has been learning her letters so she was saying “Das a A, das a L, das a O, das a H, das a A” and one of the waitresses was so impressed that she gave her a flower. So cute. Clara was so proud she kept sticking it against her nose and mouth and exhaling (she thinks that is how you stop and smell the flowers, by heavy breathing on them). Wish we had a picture of that.

Oh and we mentioned that we saw some whales at a few other beaches, so here is one diving right out of the water while we ate at Aloha Mixed Plate. Is that a sight to see, or what?

The way you notice whales at first is typically by catching a big white splash like this out of the corner of your eye. Then you hold your breath, clutch your camera with a death grip, and hope that he or she comes diving back out (which is when we got the shot above). It truly is remarkable to see, and even after spying a bunch of them it never got old. The fifteenth whale spotting is simply as exciting as the first one.

As for other places that we ate but did not snap any photos, here is that list:

• Take Home Maui (a yummy deli with delicious fresh pineapple)
• Sunrise Cafe (a truly reasonable breakfast joint that locals recommended)
• Bradda Hutts (an amaaaazing BBQ stand outside of Hana – simply split a chicken platter and bask in the glory)
• Auntie Sandy’s (this was a stand that we stopped at at the Ke’anae Peninsula for fresh baked banana bread)
• Sure Thing Burgers (a lively local/organic burger stand in Lahaina)
• Moose Mcgillycuddy’s (a sports-bar-ish place that we were lukewarm about)
• Cheeseburger in Paradise (not associated with the Jimmy Buffet restaurants – it was right on the water and excellent)
• Fred’s (a lively Mexican restaurant in Kihei that ended up being strong – we had in fact tried to go to 808 Deli but it was closed)

Ok, and John would kill me if I did not mention Ululani’s. He visited another part of Hawaii about 7 years ago (Oahu) which is where he learned from a friend-turned-Hawaii-native that there is “generic” shave ice (which is made with truly course chipped ice, like you’d find here in the lower 48 states) but there is also Hawaiian shave ice that is especially especially fine. Literally, it is like snow. And that is the good stuff. It is like butter. But sweet and soft and divine. Yes, I simply said divine. It is official, I am turning into my mother. Oh and here is a swift pointer about Ululani’s – they’ll add more syrup to your shave ice if you are halfway through it and it is tasting more icey than favorful. They are cool like that.

Oh and although we already touched on a few ways that we saved money, here is the whole list for ya:

• Our last big trip was five years ago (our Honeymoon to Alaska) so we had a pleasant long time to save up.
• We learned that flights are typically most pricey if you book them on a weekend and least pricey when you book them on a Tues night/Wed morning (we certainly noticed it was true for HI tickets). They can also get especially pricey if you wait too long (about 2.5 – 3 months out seemed to be the sweet spot for us, but it likely depends on the destination).
• We used HomeAway.com to find a two bedroom, two bathroom condo with a washer & dryer and a full kitchen for $164 a night. And it was an remarkable place with two pools that was walking distance from the beach (fully equipped with and a pack and play and stroller for Clara, so we did not have to bring them).
• We carried on our luggage instead of checking it (we packed light knowing we’d have access to a washer & dryer in our room and saved any worries of lost luggage while dodging bag checking fees).
• We picked up some basic groceries like cereal and snacks for Clara to supplement eating every meal out (because when a plain bagel is five bucks at a restaurant, you do what you can to avoid that). We also cooked a few low key meals in our condo since we had a full kitchen to offset the costs of eating out.
• We split meals a bunch of times. Instant fifty percent off. Haha. And nearly every restaurant served giant portions so we did not go hungry. We did occasionally splurge for two entrees, but frequently were so full that we carried half of them home in a bag (which meant free lunch the next day).
• We booked excursions/adventures online or through special vendors (there was an Expedia agent with a booth at our resort who offered a lot of discounted rates on things like whale watching tours – and the aquarium that we visited offered 10% off for booking online).

So that is Part 1 of our little Hawaiian adventure. We will be back with the second half of the goods next week sometime (where we will detail all the adventures/excursions/activities we enjoyed, the house-related purchase we made, and the vacay tradition that we carried on in HI). Until then, feel free to chime in on this post with go-to restaurants, activities, and other things to do while in Maui or simply HI in general. We’d enjoy for it to become a strong resource for anyone else who is traveling out that way!