TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

The Nortons spent their Thanksgiving indulging in the best of both

worlds.

They had a feast, but didn’t go through the mess and stress of cooking

it.

They spent time with loved ones, but didn’t worry about who would host

and cleanup after.

The kids and the dads played boccie ball on the greens outside the

Grand Wailea on Maui. The moms watched and drank mai-tais.

“We went last year for Thanksgiving and had such a great time that we

came back and kinda spread the word and rallied everyone to come,” said

Julie Norton, a photographer who lives in Costa Mesa.

The Nortons and six other families vacationed in Maui for 10 days last

month. Most of the kids knew each other from playing on the same Junior

All-American Clinics Football Team. The adults were either friends or

neighbors and decided to group together away from home to celebrate what

they were thankful for.

“We invited a couple different families and it kinda snowballed,” said

husband Kirk Norton, who owns New Image Promotions.

The group went snorkeling, played football on the beach, drank

cocktails and even attended a wedding.

Parker Norton, 9, Tatum Norton, 8, and their dad as well as all the

other kids and dads made somewhat of an afternoon tradition of boccie

ball as they played the game -- it involves throwing out a bunch of big,

heavy balls and trying to hit a small one -- every afternoon.

The Kleins -- Jeff and Judy -- were one of the seven couples on the

trip and had arranged for their wedding to take place at the same time.

For Thanksgiving, the group ate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with

turkey, mashed potatoes, pies, sauces and stuffing at a local seafood

restaurant within walking distance of the hotel.

“They had it decorated for Thanksgiving and with the warm, nice

weather at night, the families all walked over there,” Julie Norton said.

Kirk Norton said that aside from the boccie ball matches, his favorite

part of the trip was knowing that all his friends were with him.

“The things that we were thankful for were all over with us in

Hawaii,” he said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.