We took Madeleine on her first trip in February 2003 when we went to Maui. We got to see whales, sunsets, sandy beaches, tropical fish, and a bunch of wind and rain.  But that is Maui in February... it is still winter there too, even if is stays pretty warm.

Here we are on the plane over. We were in a fully loaded Boeing 737-700 that was configured like a bus.  This lack of room was not helped by the fact that Madeleine was cutting a molar.  Tip for parents: It is well worth it to pay the extra for a seat for your child.  Six hours in an airplane with a child on your lap can be taxing!

Here we are on Valentine's day in Maui with Aunt Mary who flew over with us.  We are sitting at cousin Craig's house, where we stayed the first two days.

A rainbow as part of the view from Cousin Craig's.

Madeleine and Daddy at the Maui Ocean Center.  It was raining the first two days in Maui, so we tried to do something indoors.

At the restaurant at the Maui Ocean Center.  The place was open to the weather, so we had our jackets on.

Madeleine watching the weather while daddy colors.

Madeleine and mommy at Leilani's.  We learned a lot about kid's menus and crayons on this trip, as we ate out at least once a day with Madeleine.

Madeleine in the crib at the Outrigger Maui Eldorado Resort where we stayed for the balance of our vacation.

The crib in the condo we stayed in for one night.  The place we reserved wasn't ready for a night, so we got seriously upgraded.  This is the room that is pictured on the Outrigger web site for the Maui Eldorado Resort.

Madeleine awake shortly there after.  She got a rug burn on her chin at some point, and it is quite visible here.

The view from the first condo.  The Maui Eldorado Resort is in the middle of a golf course.  It is not ocean front, but it is pretty close.

Madeleine at the Hula Grill.

After lunch at the Hula Grill on day 3 of 7, we finally made it out onto the sand.

Madeleine and daddy at a group birthday meal for those of us born in February and March.

Daddy and grandma Nancy together.

Cousin Catherine and her friend Stacy, who also traveled with us to Maui.

The second condo, where we stayed for the rest of our vacation.  Much smaller, but still nice.  All the condos have a full kitchen and a washer/dryer setup.

Mommy and Madeleine out on the balcony.

In the pool.  The Maui Eldorado Resort has three pools, only two of which are heated.  This was not the heated one!  Brrrr....

Drinks by the pool after drying off some.

Lunch at Jameson's in Napili.  Here we are imitating daddy's table manners.

Daddy has never climbed on the table (while she was watching) so I have no idea where she got this idea!

Finally the sun was shining, the weather was good, the whales were out and about, and we went to the beach!  Madeleine fell asleep in her stroller on the way to the beach.

The view up into the hills from the beach.  

The Cabana's for the Outrigger guests.  You get your towels and such there.

Another view up from the beach and over the golf course.

Daddy gets his feet in the ocean.  This was day 6 of 7.

Madeleine woke up finally and joined daddy down at the shore.

She was very interested in the whole thing.

We dug in the sand a bit.

More digging!

Then we got into the surf.

Madeleine squealed with delight every time the waves came up and got her wet.

I had to hang on to her.  When the waves went back out, she wanted to chase them.

But another wave came in and we were happy again.

Our day afternoon at the beach.

Then we went up to visit Grandma Nancy in Pukalani.  We caught a double rainbow over a new sugar cane field while up there.

Grandma's house.  You can see our Ford Windstar rental van parked out front.

Madeleine helping herself to wooden fruit!

She was happy to play with the colorful fruit.

Madeleine and Grandma Nancy watching the TV.

And a smile from Grandma Nancy.

The next day we flew home and spent the following two days getting over our vacation!