We just returned from a seven night trip to Maui.

I am breaking down our vacation into a two part mini trip report. The first part is all about the hotel. The second part will be snorkeling, luau, and restaurants we loved in the area.

On the airplane ride to our destination, I was sitting next to my son and overheard the following, obviously incorrect, information given to him by my thirteen year old daughter:

“Do you see that airplane over there? That is the airplane that holds all of the luggage.”

“Do you know how fast an airplanes goes in the sky? 88 miles per hour.”

“Do you see that Fedex airplane? That is just ‘brought to you by Fedex.’ It doesn’t hold anything.”

After hogging the window seat, my daughter said to my son, “oh, the view is so beautiful. The clouds are beautiful.”

My son replied, “the wing is beautiful.” Because that is all he could see.

“No, really,” when I laughed at his sweetness, “the sun is glinting off of it. It is so pretty.”

Awwwww.

We stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea. No, we are not “fancy.” I got a fantastic price through Costco (I like to buy my vacations where I buy my toilet paper in bulk) and ultimately decided on this resort, because it is all suites. If you have older children, you understand the importance of this arrangement!

At check-in, they gave the children wooden whale tale necklaces, in addition to beautiful flower leis for the girls and wooden bead leis for the boys. This was a sweet surprise.

The hotel was exquisite. The employees were very gracious and friendly. It was definitely a classy hotel, but not snooty. Each room has a giant lanai with a table for four and a lounge chair. There is a small refrigerator, microwave and keurig machine (they give you the coffee) in the room. We opted to splurge for a deluxe ocean view room. It was well worth it!

Our first stop was Foodland where we stocked up on cereal, milk, snacks and wine. We ate most breakfasts in our room. The kids had cereal and milk. I had wine. I found this to be very economical.

Here are some things I learned about The Fairmont Kea Lani while staying here:

1.) For $45, you can reserve an umbrella and two lounge chairs for the day, for a front row spot on the beach. This can and should be booked before you arrive. We opted to get down to the beach when they opened and get the generous free umbrella and lounge chairs they offer with the room. We got a second row spot on the beach and just tipped for setup.

2.) If you want a pool cabana for the day, reserve one well in advance. Pool space is packed. People get down and reserve their spots well before I am even thinking about opening my eyes. Lounge chairs do not open up again until around 2:30 everyday. I tried to reserve a cabana further in our stay and was unable to get one.

3.) Sign up to be a Fairmont President Club member (this is free) before you arrive, you get free internet everyday. You also save 15% on pool cabanas.

4.) My favorite restaurant was the little cafe on the premises. The pizza was fantastic and such a good way to feed a family in expensive Wailea. Their tuna sandwiches were amazing. I bought seven cookies for our house on the last day we were there, because they were the most wonderful chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. (I ate one for lunch today. Shhh!)

5.) They have great prices on drinks at the pool after 3:00.

6.) Housekeeping has until 4:00 to clean your room. This did not work for us. They changed it to a time that did.

7.) My very least favorite thing about this resort was the air conditioning. There is a motion sensor on the air conditioning and for the first four nights, I was up waving my hands in front of the air conditioner, praying for air. I felt very much like I was in TOTAL RECALL. I was wondering which mutation I would get (I knew which one I hoped for. ; ) ).

Finally, I could not take it any more. I called down and they immediately fixed it. Why hadn’t I done that earlier? Who knows? Maybe it was wine for breakfast. But for others who like a cold room, you can request this before you arrive and never have to deal with the issue.

8.) I had debated posting this, but if you stay here, I thought you should know:

One day the umbrella attendants placed our umbrella at the end of the beach near the rental beach equipment. My son was boogie boarding in the shallowest of water and a woman came crashing down on top of him on her paddleboard. She had refused to listen to the instructor and get down when he told her to. The paddleboard clonked my son on the side of the head. They are very hard and have sharp fins. The instructor was scared. I was scared. The lady disappeared. I am not going to repeat the conversation I overheard between him and a colleague, but everyone was very relieved to have a good outcome.

The rest of the day was spoiled, having to continuously check his pupils. He had to sleep with us that night. I asked if he was dizzy until he was dizzy with annoyance.

If you have young children who play in the water: Do not accept an umbrella close to this rental facility. We were very lucky that day, but it just takes one person not listening to the instructor to turn a day at the beach in to what could be tragic.

All right! Enough unpleasantries! Did we just come back from vacation or what? Honestly, our stay was still a ten in my memories.

How could anyone have a bad time when their son runs up to them saying, “Mom! Mom! I’m just like Sam! I climbed the rocks in my bare feet!”. Here is a picture of my son’s hobbit toes:

Besides a couple of bumps (Budget rental car in Maui was awful), our holiday was truly magical. Maui is gorgeous. The humpback whales could be seen from our room and from our spots on the beach. It felt like we had just gotten there, and then we had to leave. I highly recommend this resort. It felt like home. We cannot wait to go back!