Friday TJ and Jessica had their surf lessons. Both of them got up and got to ride a couple of waves. They had fun and TJ is looking forward to the next time he can get out on the water again. He wishes he would have just rented a board rather than take a lesson because he didn't get a whole lot of ride time in. Atleast now we know better for next time.

 

 

Saturday we were up bright and early to check in for snorkeling at 7:30 AM.  We took a short walk from our Condo to Ma'alaea harbor and boarded the Pride of Maui.  It was about a thirty minute boat ride to Molokini island where we took our plunge into the ocean for our first try at snorkeling.  The water was clear with visibility at 150 feet.  We were told Molokini island is one of the clearest snorkeling locations in the world.  After our body temperature warmed to a comfortable level, we began to explore the island of Molokini.  We saw all sorts of colorful fish.  It was an awesome experience swimming in the middle of a school of fish.  It definitely gave us a new appreciation for ocean life.  After about an hour of snorkeling at Molokini, we boarded the Pride of Maui, took a warm fresh water shower and waited for our fresh barbecue lunch.  We began our short boat ride to "Turtle Town" which is just off the shoreline of Wailea.  The visibility was not as clear as Molokini island, however, the experience was just as exciting.  We saw plenty of new colorful fish in our search for the green sea turtle.  One of the divers from the Pride of Maui dove down and pried an octopus from the reef.  We got a chance to hold the octopus before releasing it back to the ocean where it will spend the rest of its life defending itself against ocean predators.  We never saw any Green Sea Turtles, however, some of the others in our snorkeling expedition did.  Eventually our snorkeling experience had to come to an end.  We boarded the Pride of Maui and handed in our snorkeling gear.  We took full advantage of the open bar for the ride back to Ma'alaea Harbor and had a couple Mai Tai's.  The crew also handed out some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for us to enjoy.  Here are several pictures of our day.

 

 

 

 

 

After our 6 hour snorkeling experience, we decided to grab some lunch at Seascape restaurant in Ma'alaea harbor.  After lunch we decided to go to Makena Surf beach for Jessica to take some sunset pictures in our wedding attire.  The handfull of pictures which we have seen, were nothing short of amazing.  We are waiting in anticipation to see all of the pictures.  After pictures we decided to head back to The Shops at Wailea for some shopping and dinner.  We found ourselves sitting at Tommy Bahama restaurant yet again for dinner.  After a long, exciting day, and a great meal, we headed back to the condo for some relaxation.

Today, Sunday, we have really kicked back. TJ and I set out for the mall this morning and got ourselves some new clothes and other miscellanious items. We scored on some good sales and are now back at the condo to do some laundry and prepare for our dinner cruise. I'm looking forward to some more yummy island food.

Mahalo!
TJ and Ashley (yes TJ blogged all but the first and last paragraph!) xoxo!

Mr. & Mrs. Shively

Yesterday we officially tied the knot. I don't think we could have asked for a more beautiful day. The water was a bright shade of blue and the clouds in the sky were perfect. Here are a couple cell phone pictures to share for now until the professional ones are ready for posting.

 

After the ceremony we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant in the "Shops at Wailea" and decided to not get couples massages. Instead we headed back to the condo and down to the beach to catch a couple of rays. I was joking with TJ telling him that if I returned without a tan or burn of some sort nobody would ever believe I was here. I'm hoping to be bronze for the holidays...wish me luck. LOL!

Last night we went to a luau called the "Feast at Lele", It was highly recommended by several people we have run into. It was right on the beach offering a beautiful sunset and the food that I could eat was really good. It's a 5 course + dessert luau and the waiters/waitress' serve you all of your food. They also offer a pretty large varity of an open bar. After each course, they have performers on stage performing traditions from the country that the food you are eating is from (ie. Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti). The experience as a whole was very worth it. They also served TJ and I dessert specially decorated with two artistic fish (made out of strawberry and mango sauces) facing eachother with a heart in the middle (It was all sugary not real fish). The plate also had "congratulations" written at the top in chocolate. It was incredibly cute. I couldn't get a picture of it with my phone but Jessica did get a picture with the camera. Here are a couple cell phone pics from the luau.

After the luau we came back to the condo and pretty much crashed out. It was a very long day so we were pretty tired. Today we are going to get some breakfast and then we will be heading out for TJ and Jessica's surf lessons. I will be on the beach relaxing, taking pictures and catching up on my texting and phone calls. :]

Ashley

Day Two and Three of Maui

Day Two:

Sorry for not posting yesterday. It was a long long day as you will very soon find out.

My day started at 6am, don't judge me ;] I am an early riser to begin with and being that I am still on pre-daylight savings California time it doesn't help me too much(that means my mind is three hours too earlier than Maui time. It worked to my benefit because I got to watch the beautiful view of the sun rising over the harbor. TJ woke up not too much later and sat out on the lanai with me. Here are a couple shots (again most of these are with my phone).

After everyone was up and ready for the day we headed out to Lahaina to do some shopping and ended up in a 90 minute timeshare pitch to get discounts on all of the activities that we want to do (horseback riding, luau, surfing lessons, dinner cruise, snorkeling/snuba and ziplining). Boy was that interesting. The sales guy was pretty cocky but I suppose that is pretty normal for people in the sales industry. We got out of there just in time for our marriage license appointment down in Kihei. We paid our fees and signed away...here is the proof...in less than 12 hours it will be finalized.

 

 

 After that was said and done we headed back up to Lahaina and walked down Front Street. Lots of little shops with a whole varity of odds and ends. We purchased some things. Our favorite being our newest friend Tuli. Tuli was hand carved by a man named Tuli, who is a Hawaiian native. He is absolutely incredible and if funds would have permitted we would probably be returning home with a 5' tall - $4,000+ carving. Meet Tuli; he stands about 24" tall and is absolutely amazing. He is also personalized for us.

Day Three:

Today we woke up early to go horseback riding at Mendes Ranch. It was a lot of fun and the scenery and views were nothing short of amazing. It was a 2.5 hour trail ride up to a very neat lookout where there are two waterfalls and then down to an ocean front view of a cave where sharks migrate to (atleast that is what the wrangler said...I sure wasn't willing to dive in to check it out). Here are some pictures from our adventure.

 

  

Regular everyday Maui spider

 

After horseback riding TJ and Matt went golfing and Jessica and I went and got manicures and pedicures. It was definitely relaxing following the long trail ride. 

We also picked up my flower bouquet for tomorrow which I really love. Here is a sneak peek for those of you following me. :]

Here is our schedule:

Tomorrow 11/5 - Getting Married, couples cabana massages and Luau

Friday 11/6 - TJ and Jessica are taking surfing lessons. I am sunbathing and Matt is taking pictures, lol!

Saturday 11/7 -  Snorkel / Snuba adventure

Sunday 11/8 - Dinner Cruise out of Ma'alaea Harbor

Monday 11/9 - Ziplining

Tuesday 11/10 - Flying home, driving to Sacramento to get our boys

Wednesday 11/11 - Relax in Sacramento and hang out with our puppys.

Thursday 11/12 - Back to work for me

Phew! I better hit the pillow because 5:30 am (it's 11pm right now) is going to get here very very quickly.

Until next time...Mahalo!

Ash

Day One of Maui

I apologize in advance if this post doesn't make too much sense or if it is short. The past couple days have been so long and hectic so I'm running on extremely low on fumes.

This morning, around 5am, Jessica & Matt showed up at our apartment ready to start our 9 day Maui adventure and after a long 7+ hours of traveling we are here in Maui. YAY! It hadn't really hit TJ or I that we would be here and we really weren't sure what to expect and to be honest it really hasn't even sunk in for me.

We arrived at our condo around 3:30-4 and it by far exceeds my expectations. The view from the lanai (patio) is absolutely amazing. The palm trees, open water and view in the distance of Kihei/Wailea is just beautiful. This picture is from my phone and was taken from the lanai.

After taking in the views we turned in to the bedrooms to get our personal belongings situated and to get ready for a trip to Wailea for dinner. I took this picture, again with my cell phone, of our master bedroom that overlooks the ocean as well. I think we will sleep with the windows open so we can take in the sounds of Maui, mostly the waves crashing into the shoreline.

Before dinner we headed down to find the beach that we chose for our ceremony. It took a couple trial and error turn offs but we definitely located the right turn off. It was sprinkling outside but it definitely didn't take away from the beauty of the beach. I, yet again, snapped a photo with my phone so I could share.

After we stopped there we headed back up to Wailea to get dinner at Tommy Bahama and do a little shopping. Dinner was really good. We shared a basket of fries (yes, slightly out of my diet ;] ), TJ had something fish, I had a goat cheese quesadilla, Jessica had some spaghetti and Matt had a goat cheese quesadilla as well. We were all quite impressed with the food and I wouldn't be surprised if we go there again.

Tomorrow we don't really have anything planned. We have an appointment at 2:30 to get our marriage license but that is all that we have on our schedule. I think we will enjoy the beach and relax for a day because after today we are all pretty beat.

I will try my hardest to update again tomorrow sometime.
xoxo
Ashley