Silver Anniversary and Crossfit Games

We are mere days away from our 25th Anniversary! Aren't we cute with our readers? 

We planned to celebrate by taking the kids to Aunt Sarah's in Arkansas and then going to the Crossfit Games, but Mark planned in an extra day in Ft. Worth to have a real date. He nixed the long drive to Texas, bought flights and made reservations at Capital Grille. It was perfect. 

The hotel surprised us with a special treat. The restaurant sent us off with a goody bag too...so we had a yummy chocolate picnic after our early dinner.  

We grabbed an Uber to a movie theater and watched "Twisters". Then we took the scenic route back to the hotel. I'm a sucker for an artistic alleyway. 

The next morning, we checked into our Airbnb. It was super cute!

We had the best roomates: Dan and Lauren Smith, Ross and Lauren Terry and Zach Nash...who grabbed the way too short futon in the living room. Game nights, cooking meals, talking Crossfit and investigating the sinkhole hidden under the dining room rug. These were the perfect people to do all of the things with. 

Watching the games in Dickies Arena. We froze our butts off up there. The AC was on overdrive.

We spent our time walking from the arena to the Vendor Village and back, doing workouts (not me, mind you)

finding yummy places to eat, even if it takes a brutal, soul wrenching walk of torture to get there. 

Uber? Uber?

watching for our photos show up on the jumbotron!

eating sooooo many acai bowls,

and hanging out with the sweetest, quirkiest, nerdiest friends a person could ask for. I love these ding dongs!

And just like that, it was over and we were trapped in a plane for 4 extra hours, just trying to make it back home to our babies. 

Well, our teenager babies, which, as we all know, need the most love of all. 

 

Anniversary meal

We snuck out to one our favorite places for dinner. 

I was excited about my yummy salad

And he was ready to dig into his favorite mac and cheese. 

 That's all we need!

Goodbye Maui

Goodbye, Kihei Cafe. You're banana mac french toast will always live on in our memories. 

We hit up the Costco for macadamia nut chocolate and some travel essentials for Mark.

We experienced the most painful and never ending massage chair known to man in the Maui airport. 

Ow.

And that was it.  Time to fly home.

Goodbye, Maui!

Maui: Aloha Crossfit and Nakalele Blowhole

Do you have any idea how many times we have had the banana mac french toast at the Kihei Cafe?? 

So many times. 

To Aloha Crossfit we must go! Definitely a cool gym. They had a great local membership and weren't really used to tourists dropping in. We like the vibe there and we got in a good workout. Mark had fun practicing his handstand walks with one of the more experienced athletes there. 

We thought we'd like to drive out a see the Nakalele Blowhole before we head home tomorrow. 

We got there and I realized that I may have underestimated the hike.

Well, watcha gonna do? Just go slowly and hold up your skirt!

We read about how dangerous it can be if you get to close to the opening of the blowhole.

It's hard to imagine the force that it takes to make the water shoot up that high. And then you hear it and it definitely instills a sense of respect for what nature can do.

Still, the beauty of this place is so inspiring.

We grabbed some fresh pineapple juice and banana bread from a roadside stand.  Yum!

We had lunch at Aloha Mixed Plate, another of Alisa's recommendations. The meal was healthy and light...

So, we couldn't resist following it up with one of the best desserts we've had to date.

I mean...come on!

We took another stroll around Lahaina and listened in on this group singing beautiful island songs.

We watched the black crabs climb on the rocks and a group of kids go out for sunset surf.

It was perfect and relaxed. We have loved this time we've had to spend together.

Maui: Turtle Town, Burgers and Banyan Square

We're getting pretty savvy in the breakfast department. 

We branch out....

AND secure our morning happiness with the Banana Mac. Eh???

Then we drove out to Turtle Town with our poppin bellines to snorkel. I knew I had maybe 15 minutes to be in that swelling water before I felt like yacking it all up.....

We swam out into a cove and started to explore....I looked up and saw a turtle shell dip below the water right in front of me... I waved Mark over and we watched this gorgeous fellow glide around in front of us.

I'm so glad we figured out how to use our underwater camera and get just a few pictures.

And just like that, our turtle friend was gone and I started feeling queasy. I made it in to the rocks and happily watched Mark snorkel and look for shells. He found the best one!

We popped back to the condo to get cleaned up and then over to Lahaina to explore the shops and find some lunch. We were slowly collecting souvenirs for each of the kids as well as Heidi and Mom. It's such a lovely town...a little touristy, but not in an obnoxious way.

We hit the Cook Cat Cafe. Mark was in the mood for a burger and I'm always up for for fries and a banana split.

We explored Banyan Square and marveled at the way it sends it's limbs out. The whole square is one big connected tree community.

And I'm not ashamed to say...we headed back to the condo to hang out and watch whatever was on tv. Having adventures takes a lot out of you!