Maui days 4 and 5

How lucky we were to end this remarkable trip in Maui. We are at the airport now to catch our flight back to Chicago (apparently it's finally warm there now) and send off one last blog post before we leave.

We had a relaxed morning yesterday, getting up, finding a great, cheap bagel and schmear (Simon), and watching the U.S. Men's National Team beat the Netherlands in soccer. Then, our day really took off as we headed back to Lahaina town for our surf lesson with Josh at the Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy. 

As Erika puts it, we didn't just have a surf lesson, but we actually learned to surf. We were both pretty apprehensive before the lesson and made it our modest goals to catch one wave before the morning was up. After some excellent and concise tutelage on the sand, we both trudged and then paddled into the water and caught (and stood up on) our first waves! Our instructor made it easy, explaining how to carefully navigate between lying down and standing on the board. We even both moved past the beginner waves and headed for deeper water and larger waves as the two (but actually three) hour lesson went on. Overall, we were able to stand up on about 2/3 of the waves we tried, which we didn't expect, but really enjoyed!

After the long surf session we drove back to our hotel, got some lunch, and then hit the beach for the afternoon. We spent time under the sun, in the ocean, and also in the pool.

In the early evening we went down to the Royal Lahaina Luau on the resort grounds and loved it. The food was excellent (that pork, though!), the drinks were great and the performance was even better than we thought. The dancing was excellent and the fire spinning was very impressive. The show lasted for several hours and then we spent time walking around the resort for the last time. 

This morning we got up and I watched the Champions League Final (woo Barcelona!) while Erika admirably went to a one on one cardio barre training session. Then, we packed up, checked out, spent a bit more time on the beach, and headed to a final lunch in, and then walked around, Lahaina Town. 

We had a tremendous trip. Thank you to all of our friends and family for their generous donations and support, which made our honeymoon possible! We love you all and can't wait to share our fun experiences with you.

-Erika and Simon