Real Leis

Want to hear the best excuse EVER for my not blogging earlier? The internet in the ENTIRE state of Hawaii was out. That's right. Entire state. Only in Hawaii, right?

On Monday night, Eric and I had tickets to attend the Old Lahaina Luau from Katie and Adam! It's supposed to be the best luau in Maui, so we were really excited. It definitely lived up to our expectations. Within 2 minutes of being there it was obvious it was going to be a great night, as we got REAL leis, free drinks and a beautiful sun setting over the ocean to enjoy :)





While the pig roasted under the sand (literally)...







...we roamed around and checked out the place and some fun Hawaiian things for sale. Eric got a fish hook necklace and I got a wooden turtle with our names and wedding date carved in them. The guy carved it on the spot which was cool to watch...





Dinner was a buffet which I like especially since I had no idea if I was going to be able to eat any "local" style food. I tried a little bit of a ton of things...



Most of my meal was tofu/vegetable fried rice. But I also tried some Hawaiian local foods like the purple sweet potatoes (all the way to the left- DELICIOUS), salmon salad (next to sweet potatoes- not my favorite) and poi, which I don't care to ever have again haha. I have also decided that Hawaiian pineapples might be my favorite fruit in the world, and I like pineapples at home just fine but I wouldn't go out of my way to have them (though honestly I wouldn't know where to start cutting a pineapple anyways). The banana bread was delicious too. It was nice to get to try some local flavors without making them my entire meal.



While eating dinner, we chatted with a couple who was celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary :) They were fantastic especially because they told us that the things we have not done in Hawaii (sunrise- 3 am, no thanks and snorkeling at Molikini) were "just okay". Haha.







After dinner, the "show" began...









I am going to try to put a video of this here so you can see the awesomeness. If there is a video that works, go me, if there is no, I claim technical difficulties :)





Yesterday Eric and I were supposed to go scuba diving, but there was a mix up with our reservation so we didn't go, which was okay because I was pretty done with scheduled activities at that point. We are going to try to get certified in scuba diving at the Cape later this summer so we don't have to search for intro classes anymore (especially because I have been scuba diving before and don't want to sit through any more intro sessions haha).

Instead Eric and I spent the day relaxing and pampering ourselves. I got a "polish change" at the Spa. It was the cheapest thing you could do there and frankly I'm not into having my hands massaged :) The spa was awesome.







They had a sweet "relaxation" room where you wait...



They also had nice comfy chairs, but I only sat in them waiting for my nails to dry a little bit and I couldn't really take a picture at that point :)



Eric's pampering was in the form of a new tattoo!



I'll show you guys a picture eventually, but I want him to be able to unveil it to family and friends first :) It's pretty cool. I wonder if you can guess what it is?? (and no, it's not my name, don't get any crazy ideas).

We also had two great meals yesterday. Lunch was at Hula Grill, and I had a delicious fish sandwich...





Since it was our last night for dinner we went back to our hotel steak and seafood place which was our favorite meal in Maui so far. This time I got the vegetarian meal that was tofu, grilled veges and macadamia nut rice pilaf. It was awesome and definitely one of my favorite meals of the trip so far...





In typical Kelly fashion, I was telling Eric how I'm now getting to the point where I like when I get ID'd at the Luau, but then didn't bring my ID to the restaurant last night and had to walk (far!) to my room to get my ID last night at dinner. Obviously.

Anyway, I'm about to go for one last snorkel, eat breakfast and then pack it up. Could someone please explain to me why whenever you are going east bound flights are always at really dumb times? For example, tonight we get on the plane at 4pm. However, when we get to Chicago 8 hours later, it will be 6am, meaning I was supposed to get a full night sleep starting at 4 in the afternoon. WHO DOES THAT?! Why not start the flight at like 10 pm, and then expect me to sleep which is slightly more possible? They do this same stupidity on the way to London and Ireland and of course it always messes me up for several days. Boo.

See you when I get back to Boston!