MONDAY - 8-15-16 - MAUI, HAWAII - DAY 2 - BIKING DOWN VOLCANO ROAD AND ZIP-LINING.  We woke up early this morning and took a bus from our cruise ship to get the Rent-A-Car.  Alamo did a great job for us!  The pictures up above are in the bus ride to get the car.  Braden thought he was luggage, so he rode on the luggage rack.  That's why we love Braden.  He keeps things interesting!

For one of our activities for today, I took the 4 older kids and we rode bikes down the Haleakala Volcano road.  They pride themselves on no time limit, no timetable, and there's no lines to keep.  The road is steep, tons of turns, and has beautiful views of Maui.  It was a trip to remember!

Braden wanted to ride his own bike at first, but as we drove the van up the hill and I saw how steep and how many "S" curves there were on the road, I told Braden I thought it would be a good idea for his bike to be attached to my mountain bike.  We did the tandem bike where his front fork went into my bike seat.  He got to pedal and had handle bars, so it still gave him a great experience, but a lot safer.  After the trip, I think Braden saw the wisdom in that!  :)  Here is a picture of Braden ready to cruise.  He was wooping and hollering the whole way down the mountain.  It was great fun!

Right before we started.  This is where the van dropped us off.  It was raining pretty good at first, so they gave us rain gear and great bikes to bike down the mountain.  They dropped us off and said, "Have Fun.  We'll see you at the bottom."  I was a little scared of how the kids would handle themselves.  I could just see one of the kids pressing the front brake too hard and go over their handlebars right over the edge.  Luckily, everything went really well.  The kids had a blast! 

Some views from the road.  The first 5 miles or so, we were riding in a cloud and had some rain.  The next 18 miles were amazing views and beautiful!  I know what you're thinking.  Holy Cow, 23 miles, how did your kids do that.  Well, most of it was downhill and we were going about 25-30 miles an hour in some spots.  We were cruising.  It still took us an hour and half because we stopped at some places to soak in the views.  

Here, you could see both sides of the island where there is a bottle neck.

After the bike ride, we met back up with Heidi and Ella (they went to an aquarium and had fun looking at all types of fish, sharks, and sea turtles).  Then it was Heidi's turn to take the four older kids on a fun trip.  They went zip-lining over the trees of Maui.  

This is their fearless guide.  He was telling all sorts of jokes and riddles and having fun with them, until Braden started to challenge him on some riddles he didn't know.  Then it was game on and they had a battle of riddles.  It was fun to see Braden being challenged.  

Makayla and Maddison ready to go do some zip-lining.  On this zipline tour, they soared through the canopy of giant eucalyptus trees on 7 different ziplines.  They reached heights of 70 feet and speeds up to 40 mph, with some ziplines as long as 900 feet long.  Fun experience for first time zipliners (our kids).

Last minute safety instructions.  These guides were awesome!  They were joking the whole way through.  They would say things like, "Hey, you guys are so lucky, we have a brand new zipline that we're trying out today.  So far, we have not had any casualties.  Oh wait, there was that one time, but we think you'll be fine.  Who wants to be first?"  The kids got a chuckle out of them. 

Maddison showing off her pose.

Little Braden having fun going down the zipline.

Makayla climbing up the monkey bridge.

Our family of zipliners.  All smiles!  They had a really good time!

Maddison coming down the last stretch.

Makayla was going in circles on this one.  Dizzzzzzzzy.

Heidi coming down backwards!  Loving it!  

End of Day 2 on Maui.  Ella was wiped out!  She has done so well this whole trip.  She did amazing in Tonga and now with all the activities with Hawaii, she has been a trooper!

We got back to our room on the boat and had this on our bed.  Ella wanted to cuddle up with it and go to sleep.  Tired little Ella!  We love her so much!

Nice surprise to come home to after the day is done.

We decided to go to the nice restaurant tonight because we had a little more time.  Logan and I ordered two appetizers, two main dishes, and two desserts.  You may wonder why.......  Well, it's because you can.  :)  It was worth the wait!  It was amazing!  Logan was blown away by the food.  We felt a little guilty eating so much because of where we just came from (Tonga).  We wish we could box up all the food and take it over to them.  After being in Tonga for a few months, we realized more and more just how spoiled we are.  

Ella having her dessert.   The waiters were great!

Time to call it a night!  This is the kids bedroom.  They all loved being "roomies".  If you look in the mirror, we got everyone in the picture.  We didn't realize that until later.  HA!  Heidi's the one taking the picture.  It's amazing what they're able to fit into those tiny rooms.  Genius!