My wife used the morning to catch up on some rest and the boys joined in. They weren’t up until after 9 am. Being the first morning of the trip without a hotel breakfast, we had to go out on our own to find something. Luckily the Shops at Wailea, where we had eaten the previous night, was only a short walk away.

We ended up at Cheeseburger Grill which had a $10 breakfast special which was reasonable for the area. The hotel buffet was $35 per person so that wasn’t really an option for us. The Cheeseburger Grill was fine and only cost a little more than what it would have been for just one person at the hotel.

Beach Morning

Back at the hotel, the boys were eager to get out their boogie boards again and go to the beach for some more fun in the waves. The whole family went this time. We went to the same beach we went to the previous day so there was a 10-minute walk to get there from our room.

Once on the beach, the kids went directly for the water. My wife found one of the beach attendants for our hotel and they set us up with two complementary chairs and an umbrella. They are provided as part of the mandatory daily resort fee. It was nice to have a little shade to retreat to and have the mandatory resort fee go towards something that we actually used.

This part of the beach is shared between the Wailea Beach Marriott, the Marriott vacation club properties which are attached to the Wailea Beach Marriott, the Grand Wailea, The Four Seasons, and the Fairmont. Each hotel has different colored chairs and towels to keep things separate. It’s not nearly as chaotic as it sounds.

The waves weren’t as big as the previous day. In the mornings the winds are usually pretty calm and the waves are small. In the afternoon the trade winds start and the waves tend to build up more. There were still some big ones in the morning, but not as frequent or as big as the previous afternoon. They were still big enough to have fun with.

The beach we were on is shared with the Grand Wailea, the Four Seasons, and the Fairmont and there were a lot of people there. I could see how it would get very crowded in the afternoon. There were also a lot of people rending stand up paddleboards, kayaks, and other water toys. There were also several groups of scuba divers and snorkelers just off the rocks in from of our hotel. Several people commented that they saw some sea turtles and lots of tropical fish around there.

My wife grabbed one of the snorkel sets we had gotten at the Salvation Army store the previous day and went out hoping to spot some fish. Since she didn’t have flippers she didn’t go out too far and didn’t see much. The waves were a bit dicey if you didn’t have flippers. People that went further out said they saw quite a few fish and some sea turtles.

Closing in on noon we decided to head back to the room before deciding on lunch.

Lunch and Library

We drove into Kihei to find something for lunch. There are a ton of restaurants along the main road. We didn’t have a final destination and ended up at a place called Coconuts which specializes in fish tacos. It seemed like everyone in the place was ordering them so my wife got them. Tomatico got some fried shrimp.

While we waited we watched the TVs which had surfing highlights to go along with the surf theme of the restaurant. The tables were made to look like surfboards after all.

After lunch, we decided to get some shave ice. Shave ice (not shaved ice) is essentially snow with some liquid sugar in it. Think of a high-end snow cone. The best place on Maui to get it is Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice where they take things seriously. It’s my wife’s favorite and it’s incredibly popular. There is a location in Lahaina where we were staying earlier, but every time we went by there were dozens of people in line. There is also a location in Kihei so we decided to check it out.

The parking lot was mostly full, but there were “only” 7 or 8 groups in line when we got there. My wife quickly got in line with my youngest. For some reason, Tomatico didn’t want any so he made me go next door to get an ice cream bar in the convenience store.

By the time we had eaten that, my wife was almost ready to order. The line moved slowly and was growing quickly behind her so we timed it well. Once she got her order back to the table we all dug in. Tomatico, of course, decided he also wanted to share what everyone had so he ended up with two desserts. Sneaky!

My wife got several interesting flavors on hers including mango, lychee, coconut and something red she couldn’t remember. Our youngest got strawberry which I helped him with. It was really good and worth the trip to get.

After our snack, we headed to the Kihei public library for an hour of reading and relaxing inside. The boys really do enjoy going to the library and it’s not uncommon to visit libraries on our trips. It was a welcome respite from the sun and heat.

Back at the hotel, the boys wanted to go to the game room so we figured they had earned it and let them go for about an hour until dinner time. My wife and I relaxed in the room in peace and quiet.

Dinner and a Movie

When dinner time rolled around we grabbed the boys from the game room and walked up to the general store for dinner. We each chose something different than the night before and had another decent meal on the (relative) cheap.

Walking back to our room we saw a group taking a private sunset yoga class on the lawn near our room. We could see it from the balcony in our room and the boys quietly snuck out to sit and watch. They were fascinated by it and thankfully respectfully quiet.

We relaxed for a little bit longer until around 7:00 when there was a movie starting in the “Movie House”. There’s a free movie every night with free popcorn and drinks. The movie of the night was Moana (because of course, it was!) and the kids were very amped up to see it. I took them over and got them settled before heading back to the room.

There was an amazing sunset happening so I rushed to get my wife before it was gone. There was a brilliant orange color to it that was changing by the minute. We got some decent shots though the photos don’t do the colors justice.

We ended up walking along the shore in the opposite direction from the previous evening and explored the grounds of the Andaz Maui property next door. It appears to live up to the reviews I’ve seen from several travel bloggers, though we still prefer the views and grounds of the property we’re staying at.

We then walked up to the lawn by the lobby area of our hotel and checked out the seating and swing features. We sat on the swing together for a few minutes. It was relaxing and peaceful.

The movie was about to end so I headed over to the movie house to get the kids. There was still 15 minutes left in the movie, which I’ve never seen all of. The ending didn’t make much sense no having seen most of the movie, but the kids loved it!

The movie house itself is pretty neat. It’s a large room with dozens of large bean bag chairs on the floor. They have a projection screen and a decent sound system to really bring the movie to life. They have the week’s movie schedule on display and it’s not only Disney movies on the playlist, but all were either G or PG movies aimed at kids and tweens.

Tomorrow we’d be going on a pineapple tour and hopefully moving to our upgraded room!