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December 4, 2015

Maui Family Vacation 2015 + Traveling Tips

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Her’s a glimpse into our Maui family vacation. A week and a half in Maui and every day was ideal weather (77-82˚F, partly cloudy). It was really awesome to escape winter! I miss the soft breezes, rolling waves, toes in the sand, my son’s contagious grin as he mounted his boogie board, blooming trees, swaying palms and warm nights lit up with tiki torches.

I imagine parts of Maui were how the Garden of Eden might have looked. This was our 4th visit and we all enjoyed it the most.

Those of you who follow me on Snapchat (@natashaskitchen) joined me for a few days of our trip, but I’m sharing loads of photos from our trip below along with Maui vacation travel tips (and cost saving secrets). It was a blessing to take a rest in such a beautiful place. If Maui is on your list of places to see, you might pin this post for future travels :).First, a whole bunch of pictures!

Baby D was initially very much afraid of the water, but by the end of Day 2, she was bolting to it :).

Everyone admired these two. That’s baby D’s cousin on the left.

We were on the beach every. single. day. The best!!

Sand everywhere… Oh here’s a quick but helpful tip if you’re spending alot of time on the beach, the little built in mesh underwear inside of boys swimming shorts traps sand and can cause horrible sand rashes. I cut them out of my son’s shorts for Maui.

Tiny foot prints 🙂

Bubba Gump was a cool experience with the waves hitting the building right under our window! Also their kids meal boats are adorable!

See those yummy fish tacos? ? Find my awesome fish tacos copycat recipe here!

We didn’t go out to eat a ton because it’s difficult with babies and the time change made for some grumpy kids in the evening, but the eating was good in Maui.

Here are the things we cooked at the Condo while in Maui:

(1). Steak with salad, potatoes and sauteed mushroom/onions. (2). Burgers

(3). Deruny – potato fritters (4). Poached eggs with bacon, cucumber and fruit

(5) Steel cut oats – seriously our favorite breakfast and our son loves it too. (6) More poached eggs 🙂

We couldn’t get the kids out of the water. It was so warm.

We found this crazy banyan tree that is one tree that looks like 20 trees with a crazy root system.

We went with my sister’s family which was great. The kids had alot of fun together.

Haha those babies

Best Maui Travel Dates:

We prefer to go during off-peak season. We went November 8 -18; just before the holidays. The condos and car rentals are less expensive and it’s not overly crowded.

Where to Stay on your Maui Family Vacation:

When visiting Hawaii, we always go to the island of Maui. It’s quieter, doesn’t feel like city life, but still has great amenities (like Costco!). We always use Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO) to book the place and have had great success with beautiful properties at lower prices than booking through real estate companies or agents. And, sometimes if it’s off season, they will negotiation with you.

It’s always better to work with the owner and VRBO is just that.

When in Maui, stay in Kihei or Wailea – the weather is dryer than the rest of the island. Even though the forecast showed wind and rain, it wasn’t the case a single day we were there. This time we stayed in Wailea (it’s really pretty there and Wailea beach is one of the best around the entire island). The resort we picked was Wailea Beach Villas (absolutely beautiful!)

It was spendy but we went with my sister and her husband so it worked out well. If you can find a resort with an umbrella and chair service for the beach, it’s really really convenient with kids. Baby D took some great naps on the beach under those umbrellas.

Booking Maui Flights:

We usually book through Alaska airlines directly on their website because they have a price guarantee where they credit you the difference if your flight fare goes down before your trip (which we have taken advantage of twice), but it’s nice because you don’t have to sit and wonder if the fare will go down, you just book it and check back a few times. We also have the Alaska Airlines credit card which gives us an annual $99 companion ticket – That saves us about $400-$500 on flights (that’s huge!).

Maui Car Rentals:

The prices at Discount Hawaii Car Rentals seem too good to be true sometimes, but they are true. We’ve used this website twice to book our cars. You can check back daily and rebook if prices go down.

More Maui Resources for Traveling with a Family:

1. Baby monitor (download “Cloud Baby Monitor” app – it works if you have 2 iphones – use the first as a parent unit and the second as the baby unit).

2. Baby Rentals – Maui has several to choose from if you google it. We made our choice based on price.

3. Maui Revealed Book – the first visit to Maui, we used this extensively (reviews for sightseeing, restaurants – very honest and accurate)

Things to do/ Restaurants to visit:

1. Coconuts Fish Cafe: Famous for their Fish tacos which I recreated on my blog after our last visit!

2. 808 deli: A quick sandwich shop. We were in love with the “southern squealer” sandwich and their “Porkie” panini. Yum!

3. Snorkeling and Bookie boarding (tip: go snorkeling in the morning before waves start) – You can find a snorkeling shop in Kihei when you get there. If you’re staying in a condo, there is a good chance someone has left behind a snorkeling set or boogie board for you to use. Also, if you need a boogie board, it may be cheaper to buy one instead of renting. They are inexpensive at Costco there, but check your condo first!

4. Aquarium (15% discount with Visa – they let us use it on the phone without printing it)

5. Whale watching – only during whale season (here’s a cool whale jump shot form our trip 2 years ago).

6. Parasailing – it’s kid friendly and not terrifying. It’s nice to do it once. We chose UFO Parasail company.

7. Sunsets – the most beautiful things in Maui (thankfully) are free! We tried to make it to every sunset on the beach.

Aloha 🙂

I’d love to hear your travel tips in a comment below!

natashaskitchen

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.