A few months ago, while taking the kids on a walk on the beach, Scotty and I decided it was time to try to take our first official family trip… to Hawaii!!! The kids love the beach so much that it seemed obvious that we should go to a place where they could play in the sand all day. And when they were finished playing in the sand, what better way to wash off than in a nice warm pool? So last week we hopped on a plane and headed to Hawaii (Happy Birthday, Scotty!). Nam and Papa joined us for the trip and Auntie Kelly and Ian also joined for most of our stay! Thanks family for helping us make such fun memories!!
This is obviously what a screen shot looks like. Oops, meant to save the picture, not screen shot it! 😉
First adventure– the plane ride! Oh dear God, who ever decided to schedule a 6 hour flight at 7 PM (right before bedtime for young kiddos!) obviously isn’t a parent??? Bad idea! Kloey, didn’t sleep, not a wink! This however wasn’t the issue. The issue was that we had loaded movies on the laptop, purchased a splitter at the airport (paying way too much for it, undoubtedly!), and settled in to watch our first movie… only to find that the earphones we brought weren’t laptop compatible. In fact, not only were they not laptop compatible, they weren’t iPad or iPhone compatible either. So what this means is 6 hours of no distractions. Sure books are fun and toys from home are fun, but both lasted less than 5 minutes each. Joy! This also means that mommy didn’t get to read or watch the movie she downloaded too. Double joy!! All in all, they did a fantastic job inspite of the setback. No tantrums, melt downs, or whining. Until we arrived at the hotel.. at midnight… 3AM California time!! This means that the kids were awake from 4 PM (after naps) until 3 AM (the wee hours of the morning!) After a major meltdown walking to our hotel room (surely waking up every person within earshot), the girls settled in and went to bed…. and woke up EARLY!! They never really adjusted to Hawaii time and woke up before 6 AM each day, which made for very long days, but they handled it like champs!! (aka LONG naps!)
In the seven days we were in Hawaii, we managed to do a lot of fun things. One of the best parts of the trip was that our good friends, the Sargent Family, were there with us for 4 days!! We stayed right next door and the kids played together each day. It was great for the kids and the parents!! The Sargents were in Hawaii for a wedding and we happen to have scheduled our trip for the same time they were there! The kids swam, ran, watched movies, ate, napped, and had a great time together!! Both families got to meet and play with a dolphin up close! We met Nimbus, a twelve year old male dolphin who was very gentle with the kiddos. We pet him and the the kids even got to kiss him! We had a great time! Thanks Nam and Papa for the experience! We have more photos that I’ll upload later!
And finally, Mother’s Day!! On Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day with a nice brunch at the hotel. The kids were great and made me feel special all day! After we filled up at brunch, the kids went of with Nam and Papa to play for a few hours while Scotty and I enjoyed a little R & R beach side. It was a great end to the trip!!
As a family we had a GREAT time and are currently looking into booking our next vacation!! Hmmmm…. wonder where we should go?? 😉
