Hawaii: Days 7 and 8

On Friday, we ended up packing up and leaving the house where we were staying to move to a hotel on the beach for our last night.  The guys golfed again that morning while the girls finished packing everything up.  After we left the house, we went to Lahaina and shopped some before checking into our hotel and going with the guys to eat lunch.  It was a great way to spend our last full day and it was very relaxing.

We walked to lunch from our hotel and enjoyed a great meal together...

Group shot (minus Brandon who took this picture)

After lunch we walked back to the hotel and layed out by the pool until it was time to get ready for dinner.  We ate dinner at Kimo's and got to watch the sunset from our table.  The food was great and it was a fabulous way to end our last night in Maui. 

Love him more than anything :)

Seeing our last Maui sunset

After dinner we all headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before driving to the airport the next day.  On Saturday morning we met in the hotel for breakfast together, then went back and got everything packed up. 

Our last picture in Maui, right before leaving for the airport

We got to the airport just in time to grab a really quick lunch, then flew together from Maui to Los Angeles.  From LA, the rest of the crew flew directly to Nashville, but Daniel and I flew to Miami, then to Tallahassee.  We only allowed ourselves to sleep on the flight to Miami because we were trying to get our bodies adjusted back to Eastern time.  We chose to stay awake all day Sunday so that we could go to bed at a "normal" time (we crashed at 6:45 pm) and I am so thankful it was a really easy adjustment coming home.  I drove to Albany on Monday morning to meet my parents with the kids and they were so excited to see me.  It warmed my heart!  We missed them a ton, but we knew it would be good for them to have time away too!  I have to remind myself all the time that while it is our job as parents to nurture and protect our children, it's also important to give them a sense of independence. 

It was the perfect vacation and I am so thankful everything went smoothly!  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends here that actually feel more like family.  The Evers' kept Maddox and Maclain for us most of the day on the day we left until my parents were able to pick them up, and Justin also drove us to the airport.  On the day we came home the Reavis' picked us up and drove us back to our house.  We could not have made this trip without the support of friends and family and for that we are so thankful!