Maui 2023

I am way behind in blogging and plan to do some long overdue posts over these next couple of weeks to catch up.  This first one though is a little tough to do.  Back in April we traveled to one of our very favorite places in the whole world--Maui, HI again with Nana and Pops.  And actually this year Ryan's family also joined us which was so great!  Below I'm going to show highlights of the trip through photos.  But writing this post is emotional because in August--just a couple weeks ago, Maui had a devastating wildfire and it pretty much decimated Lahaina which is one of our favorite spots in Maui.  It's still very surreal and we just can't quite wrap our brains around the fact that Lahaina is gone and will never be what it was.  Our hearts break for the people who live there and lost everything and are suffering so much.  We're grateful for this trip because it's such a happy place for us with millions of wonderful memories and little did we know in April that it was going to be our last time experiencing it in its beautiful, pristine, historical and beloved way.  So this post is in a small way a tribute to the beautiful island of Maui as we pray for her recovery and hope for healing and restoration. 

At our favorite restaurant in the whole world--Lahaina Grill. Sadly the restaurant burned to the ground in the fires. So many amazing memories and meals here.

Visited the famous Banyan Tree in Lahaina which got burned in the fire.  Not sure if it will survive or not. But I read today that it is showing signs of life and new roots are growing!

Watching the NFL Draft!

Nate's 5th Grade Camp

 

Back in March Nathan got to experience 3 days of 5th grade camp!  Such a big deal for him (we still can't believe Nathan is in 5th grade!!) and we're so glad it worked out for him to go and have the full experience because COVID has definitely impacted the last couple years of camp.  Nathan's camp experience was at Camp Seymour in Gig Harbor.  And luckily James got to be one of the camp counselors!

Nathan had a great few days of doing a zipline, dissecting a fish, going canoeing, learning about water systems, and having free time around camp. He got to stay in a cabin with a couple of his buddies who all slept in bunk beds. He had a great time and we were so proud of him going off on his first big sleep away camp (although it definitely helped that Papa was there the whole time).  Here are a fun photo highlights from his experience:

I still remember my 6th grade Outdoor Ed experience--I loved it so much because it was a fun camp location and I got to make tons of memories with my close elementary school friends. James unfortunately didn't get to have a 5th or 6th grade camp experience (very sore subject so don't ask him about it) so I'm so glad he got to be the camp counselor for Nate's camp to kind of redeem his missed experience.

Only a couple weeks left of elementary school and then next year Nathan is on to middle school!  So crazy!