We loved seeing the sights and staying in West Maui, but were excited to pack up from our Air Bnb and head down to Wailea for the remainder of our trip. With the Moana soundtrack on repeat (again), we enjoyed the cool breeze and lush scenery as we made the drive down to the south part of the island.
Wailea was much quieter and more exclusive than West Maui and was so beautiful. We loved seeing both parts of the island– Kaanapali/Lahaina in West Maui was more “real Hawaii,” with banana bread and coconut stands, cheap poke bowls and sushi, and undeveloped coastline, whereas Wailea was more manicured and resort-like. We loved both areas for different reasons!
The girls were psyched about their flower leis at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea.
Relaxing with fresh guava juice.
Eleanor relaxed on the lanai after a long day.
Aloha!
By the time we checked in, it was dinnertime, so we ate at the restaurant by the pool and took a walking tour of the resort to figure out where everything was for activities the next day. Eleanor and I watched the sun set while the girls ran around exploring.
We were treated to amazing sunsets every night from our room!
Our room was much smaller than the Air BNB we had during the first part of our trip, but it did have separate bedrooms and a huge bathroom. Eleanor slept in a pack n play with Jake and I in our room, and the twins slept on a queen bed together in the other room, with Meredith on a little rollaway bed. It sometimes took a few tries to get Meredith to stay in bed to nap, but once we told her she would have to go to bed early while the twins went swimming in the evening if she didn’t nap, she fell asleep every time. The twins were either out and about with Jake or on the lanai coloring or reading during Meredith and Eleanor’s nap time, so it all worked out. We also didn’t have a kitchen, but had a large closet to store food, a microwave and a fridge, so we made due splitting our meals between eating out and doing simple breakfasts and lunches with groceries.
We had never stayed at the Fairmont before, and I was nervous about not having the space and kitchen of an Air Bnb, but we ended up loving that it had everything under the sun and everyone was so helpful! Just one call and very tan valets would come pick us up in the golf cart to take us the beach, help us set up chairs and umbrellas, or take our beach gear back to our room. We could also call up their one of their Escalades to take us anywhere we wanted to go. We had a long list of hikes, aquariums, and other activities we had written down as options of things to do, but we ended up just staying at the resort the entire time. It was so relaxing and the kids had a blast, so we didn’t feel the need to go anywhere else. We just soaked up the sun, played in the water and enjoyed some uninterrupted family time.
Good morning, Wailea!
Jake was attending a law conference at the hotel in the mornings, so I flew solo with the girls. It wasn’t easy wrangling everyone at first, but after a few days, we got the hang of it and had a good schedule going. We interspersed pool days with beach days in the mornings and went out in the afternoons or stayed at the resort when Jake got back.
On our first pool morning flying solo, we rented a cabana so that Eleanor would have adequate shade while the girls swam in the pool. We had fresh fruit and cold drinks delivered to us all morning and ate lunch poolside. Eleanor took her morning nap in the cabana while I played with the girls in the pool and splash pad and when she woke up, we all played in the pool together.
The pool only rented out life jackets and puddle jumpers, and made you purchase floaties and pool toys, which was annoying, but well worth the money spent keeping the kids occupied for a few hours.
The resort catered to kids, so there were families with young kids everywhere and the girls loved splashing around with new friends. We were the largest family we saw there, until we instantly bonded with another family of four kids from San Diego. We would see them around the resort while we were there and give each other thumbs up and a look that said, “We totally understand what the chaos is like… you got this!”
Snack time in the cabana.
The hardest part was herding everyone over to the restroom constantly! Inevitably, someone had to go right when Eleanor had finally fallen asleep and even though the bathroom was just steps away, the girls insisted on stopping to pick EVERY. SINGLE. FLOWER. On the way back, they wanted to climb EVERY. SINGLE. STATUE. So each bathroom trip took about thirty minutes. The good news was that even without Jake, the morning flew by!
Eleanor was slobbering over the delicious fruit platter!
After a morning at the pool, we went back to our room for naps. The best part of the cabana was that it was rented for the entire day, so we could leave all the floaties, towels and pool gear there without having to lug it up to the hotel myself! After naps, Jake was back from his conference and the girls wanted to go back in the pool, stopping to climb approximately 11,000 statues on the way there.
The waterslide was small enough that the girls could do it themselves and it kept the girls occupied for hours.
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Meredith split her time between the big pool and the kiddie splash pad. I would look over to the splash pad and she’d be chatting it up with random babies and kids. She made lots of friends on our trip!
The pool rented out these cool water torpedoes, which the kids fought over constantly.
We went to a dinner party for families of the lawyers attending the conference and ate one last snacky dinner on our lanai before bedtime. After the kids were asleep, it was lovely watching the sunset and chilling outside on the lanai since the weather was so warm!
We though Meredith was asleep while we were out on the lanai, but went inside the find the closet light on. Sneaky Meredith was inside stuffing her face with cereal! She totally denied the whole thing when we caught her red-handed.
Lots of love,
