Cheeseburger in Paradise

Months before we came on this trip, Mom and Dad worked out a schedule of activities and it was up to each family to pick which ones to be in charge of. Today was the immensely popular sandcastle building contest, with Amy and Scott in charge. The rules have changed over the years to accommodate growing numbers of younger participants, and it has become one of their favorite activities. It should be noted that we don't usually build actual castles. Depending on the ages of each team, it could be a structure, a shape, and animal, etc. This year was sea creatures; specifically a whale, starfish, and turtle. I must admit that I tend to get caught up in the design and construction of our assigned project, and sometimes that means that the younger members of the team are delegated the tasks of digging trenches, fetching ocean water, or searching for seashells. But I think I'm getting better at handing out more "exciting" assignments. The kids were especially involved in decorating the turtle shell, and it turned out great.


Even though we should know better, we always seem to build our creations within reach of the largest waves. The vast majority of waves don't come close, but there are always those few that try to spoil our fun. Why do we build so close to the shore? That's where the best sand is. :) That said, one of the first things we do during the sandcastle contest is construct a defensive ditch in front of our construction site. The youngest of the helpers usually enjoy that task because they it's simple and they can do it by themselves. They also think it's cool when a big enough wave comes a long and actually flows into their ditch. The ditch isn't visible in the picture, but it saved our creation more than once.


Sandcastle construction was followed by beach time. We haven't done a great job lining up our boys' schedule with the other cousins, so they've spent a lot of time playing and swimming mostly on their own. But today the gang was altogether, and they had a blast.  One of their favorite things to do is wade out into the water, a little less than waist deep, wait for the waves to come in, and then sprint (as much as you can sprint on shifting underwater sand) up to the beach, laughing the whole way.  My favorite part is watching them laughing and having so much fun in this beautiful place.


After getting cleaned up, it was time for an early dinner at Cheeseburge in Paradise.  This is one of Grandpa Ed's favorite places to eat on Maui, and for a good reason.  It's a nice laid back two-story restaurant on the ocean side of Front Street with good music, nice atmosphere, and excellent food.  The novelty here (for the kids anyway) is the fruit smoothy.  The kids always love smoothies, but this one comes in a large plastic pineapple that they can use as a little bank afterward.  Our group is big enough that we were spread out across many tables.  Chris, Cassi, Grandma-ma and I were at a table by the window on the Front Street side.  The kids were back and forth between parents, but everybody was well behaved, and we had a very nice conversation.  Every dinner on the island is memorable, but this place is always one of my favorites.