One of Dean's favorite things in the world to do is the "Grand Walk". My Mom (TuTu) started this with him and she takes him on his Grand Walk almost every Monday evening. They have their little routine and Dean likes to tell you every little thing they do and see.
When Grandma Jo & Aunt Cathy were here a few weeks ago, we took them on the Grand Walk with us and I snapped a few pics of Dean along the way! The Grand Walk starts by parking at the Shops at Wailea and walking along Wailea Alanui drive to the entrance to the Grand Wailea resort. There is a little walkway from the street level down through lots of tropical greenery and past a large waterfall to get to the main lobby entrance of the resort. Dean calls this the "Rainforest". He loves the ginormous chandeliers over the driveway thing where the valet guys take the cars from the arriving guests. The Grand Wailea is a very fancy resort. This is where Joel and I stayed on our wedding night. The rooms are now about $600/night I think (they weren't then). Anyway, the lobby is an open-air courtyard with lots of waterways and a mermaid fountain in the center. Dean carries pennies in his pocket to throw at the mermaid. (and now anytime he sees any change anywhere he gets very excited and squeals "ooooh, pennies! Throw at the mermaid on the Grand Walk!"). Here we are throwing money at the mermaid (you might notice Dean still refuses to wear shoes anywhere):
After the mermaid, we walk around to the elevator (another highlight of Dean's walk) and go down to the spa level. Dean likes to watch the numbers light up in the elevator and says "3, 2, 6"...he things the G for "ground" is a 6....and to his credit it does look an awful lot like a 6!! When we get to the ground level, we head outside and have to sit in all the gazebos. Dean likes to tell each person where to sit and then he sits for about half a second before jumping down and saying "come on guys" and heading to the next gazebo. Here's Dean chillin' in one of the gazebos:
After the gazebos, we walk along the beachfront, past the towel bins which Dean calls "keiki houses" - the towel bins are very fancy wooden structures that do look a lot like a little house of some sort. (keiki is Hawaiian for child or baby). Dean is way more interested in the "keiki houses" than he is the beach or the scenery!! We then head up through the maze of pools and lazy rivers and through the cave. Dean loves the cave!! We walk up the rock steps and across a swinging bridge that goes over one of the many pools and waterslides. After the pools, we head up around past Humuhumunukunukuapua'a Restaurant (yeah, it's kind of a mouthful) and up on another path through tropical grounds. This area has lots of little grass shacks and Dean likes to go in all of the little grass shacks and sit down on the bench and turn on the light before heading to the next one with another "come on guys"!!
Finally, after the little grass shacks, we end up at the back entrance of the resort and head up a large marble staircase to the main floor. Great Grandma Joan often goes with Dean and TuTu on the Grand walk and according to TuTu she moans and groans a lot going up the stairs. Dean has taken to moaning and groaning when he goes up the stairs - we think he must have learned this from Great Grandma Joan!! It's so funny!! At the end of the Grand Walk, if TuTu is in charge (which means Mommy isn't there), Dean usually gets an ice cream. If Mommy is in charge, we just head home!Dean really REALLY loves the Grand Walk!! If we happen to be driving anywhere near Wailea he gets very excited and yells "Grand Walk Mommy" and if I turn the wrong way away from the resort he is very quick to point out to me "No! Other way Mommy!!".
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