Christmas in Maui!

This week, my husband and I returned from our Christmas vacation to Maui. It was such an amazing trip and I wish I'd taken more photos. We went whale watching, swam with more sea turtles than I ever dreamed I'd see in one spot, went surfing (and stood up!), witnessed the grandest sunrise ever at the Haleakala Crater, swam in a jungle waterfall pool and drove the Hana Highway.

One of seven rainbows we saw on our trip. This one popped up on our drive from the airport to Pa'ia.

The H.A. Baldwin Park beach in Pa'ia at sundown.

An amazing view of Lower Puohokamoa Falls on Hana Highway.

The view from the Kaumahina State Wayside along Hana Highway.

The lovely Hana Highway and its itsy-bitsy hairpin turns were a little daunting at times...

The lava rock beach at Ke'anae, a tiny town along the Hana Highway.

I found this little crab critter hanging out in one of the tide pools at Ke'anae's beach. The photo doesn't do this duder justice. His eyes were the prettiest blue I've ever seen!

Sunrise from Haleakala Crater. We left our hotel at 4:30am to get to the top on time. The ascent was 10,000 feet and the temperature dropped into the low 40's. Needless to say we were decked out in ski gear and were still barely able to stand being outside for more than a few minutes at a time.

Sunrise continues.

The surprisingly lush Haleakala Crater in the light of day.

This Haleakala Crater overlook hangs out above the clouds!

Hawaiian hula dancers at our most touristy destination, The Feast at Lele.

The view of Lanai from our hotel room in Ka'anapali.

There were stunning birds at our second hotel destination: parrots, black swans, flamingos (which sleep standing on one leg!) and penguins.

A humpback whale tail!

This humpback kept slapping her tail on the ocean's surface over and over. Our boat's naturalist said that behavior is believed to be a way to attract males.

I love packaged coconut water, but the real thing is out of this world.

And that's that. Time to go back to the grind. But hey, when the grind is sewing lingerie, one can't complain too much. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year!