The LAST Hawaii saga: To Maui and then home again...

Maui was fantastic!! So fantastic, in fact, that I would consider going there again over Oahu...not that we didn't love Oahu, but we spent a LOT of time there, and did almost all of the sight-seeing we could there, but could do so much more on Maui then we had the chance to do. 
The Islands all seem super different. One of the great things about flying to Maui was that we got to take a small plane over there and it flew low enough for us to see several islands on the way over. 
A really loved the flight over, as there was a lot more noticeable "turbulence" and flying side-to-side and what not, which he loves. 
We almost missed our flight there, by about 2 minutes to be exact....they were calling our names for final boarding, as we were walking through the security-part....so I ran to the gate shoe-less and bag-less, with the children, to stop them, while the hubby caught up and grabbed ALL of our stuff (have I mentioned that we brought WAY too much luggage?? about 6 suitcases, 3 backpacks and a purse...nutso).
We didn't know much about Maui when we flew over there, but it was different right from the get-go....the mountains were huge!! One in particular, Haleakala, I think, is about 10, 000 ft from the peak...and if you measure it all the way to it's base, below sea-level, it's actually taller than Mt. Everest. 
There was a lot of jungle-rainforest-type stuff too, which I LOVE!! 
There was more countryside, and a lot of desert too. There wasn't huge cities or touristy spots like on Oahu....just a few really small resort-cities and towns. 
The bus system was a lot worse then on Oahu, which is crazy since I thought Oahu was awful. The bus didn't go too many places, only about half the island, if that....so we had to take cabs too, which is way more pricy...but we were able to do some great sight-seeing while there. 
We went to the 'Iao needle which was super neat, we all enjoyed hiking around there. We also took a bus to several little tourist towns, and took the boys mini-golfing, which was interesting, ha ha. For the most part Roo would throw the golfball, instead of hitting it, and eventually just walk it over to the hole and drop it in:)
We only spent a few days on Maui, and didn't get to spend any time at the beach....but it was still great. 
We decided that coming home would be the best thing for us fairly early on in our vacation....but we thought we'd just wait and see how flights turned out. One night we were perusing and found the cheapest deal we'd ever seen, and on a non-stop flight, which is great for us...so we took it. I had been really wanting to go to Maui, and it departed from there, so it worked out great!!
I kinda wish we could have stayed for another week or two....but it was really great to finally be back home in our comfy beds and unpack everything. We got to spend a few days at my parents house, which was really nice, minus the jet-lag non-sleepiness, roo getting sick (food poisoining we think), and my sweet little niece coming down with the chicken pox....needless to say it was quite the weekend. 
We're sure glad to be home and see what the next few months have in store for us...we're both applying for jobs, something I haven't done in years...so I'm pretty nervous about it. I think that whomever gets a goof job first will go to work, and the other one will stay at home. 
We're hoping I get a job ASAP just so that my hubby can stay home and study for the GMAT, which he really needs to do....my fingers (and toes) are crossed that he scores amazingly well, and that he gets accepted at some really great schools....if not though, it would also be nice for him to get a great job soon too...so we'll see how everything works out. 
I know there is a reason that we were meant to come back here, we both felt really good about it, and have faith that things will work out for us:) 
Thanks for following my little saga!