A Week in Paradise

The last time we visited the big island of Hawaii was five years ago. It was also for the family meeting, but it was a completely different experience. First, we didn't have kids at the time. But also, this time, we showed up a few days before the meetings and stayed at the Hilton in Waikoloa Village. Have you ever been to Kona? If you have, you may have heard of the hotel with the dolphins. That was the Hilton! Thank goodness for the (quickly depleting) bank of Hilton points that Dylan has accumulated during his travels. It was a top notch experience. Like, it was the best.

Gavin operated at maximum capacity for a solid seven days and did not catch much sleep. He was delirious more than a few times and honestly, at one point, I was worried for his mental health. The kid gets so amped and will not cool his jets. But actually, it was completely awesome. I've never seen him enjoy every part of his day so completely. At the Hilton, he loved swimming in the pool and the lagoon, watching the dolphins, going down the water slide, looking at the barracuda (which was terrifying) and just everything. It was the best. Our friends, the Taylors, who live on Hawaii also joined us for a night at the Hilton. Tess, Mik and Jace also came to Hawaii a few days early and joined us at our resort for two mornings. They give our boys so much love, and G had a blast with them. Baby Graham was so awesome and was happy to go along for the ride just about everywhere. He loved splashing in the shallow water, too. I just feel bad that he is so young that he'll never remember being there.

On Wednesday, we took a road trip to the rainforest part of the island and saw the Akaka Waterfall. Afterward, we checked into the Hapuna Beach Prince and met up with the remaining Millers for dinner. On Thursday, it was more fun and games with the whole family. The pool at the Prince was nothing like that of the Hilton, but we did have a much better beach, so Gavin got in the ocean quite a bit. We had the first family dinner on Thursday night, and we introduced Graham with all the other new babies. I don't have a very discerning taste for food, and I never have any complaints about the free meals on the family trip...but I did very much enjoy the seafood and all-you-can-eat desserts for four days on Hawaii! The kids went to camp Friday, Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday. It was AWESOME. They were there while we went to meetings but also while we enjoyed free time. We hung out in the ocean for a while and Dylan snorkeled. I've snorkeled plenty of times to know it's not really my cup of tea...but we did go on a kayak adventure, and it was a blast. Saturday night was the adult dinner and games, and the boys went to sleep at camp while we partied with the cousins. After we picked them up, Graham had the best night of sleep of his whole life.

These photos aren't really in order. I did my best...but I'm working on a PC and I have really no idea what I'm doing. I'll fix it later, but probably not until this post is no longer relevant. (**As of 7/9/16 the photos are in order...reasonably enough.) Anyway, here's a very lengthy rundown of our trip and a little more to the story after the photos.

Graham smiling at me all the way to Sky Harbor.

Our cozy accommodations on the way out of PHX

We made it to Hawaii and we were still smiling!

Dylan and his mini-me waiting for the bags in Kona

Even this guy cooperated and acted pleasant during the first part of our travels.

Our first stop on the island was the nacho store, of course.

Checking into the hotel and getting into vacation mode

Taking the train to our room

Had to take a dip in the lagoon before bed

G2 was jet lagged

Kicking off Day 2 at 4:15am

Let's do this!

The prince had his own queen bed. But you'll see how the comfort of his accommodations drastically declined over the course of the trip.

The dolphin pool

A big performer these days, he serenaded us over breakfast

So much fun when Tunes, Mik and Jace came to visit.

Mik and UJ are such a blast!

More performing

Checking out the dolphins during lunch

My koala spent a LOT of time in the front carrier

What a trooper, this little guy. He was so awesome.

Waking up ridiculously early, waiting for the breakfast place to open

My three faves

Love this sweet face.

The waterfall. The boys were unimpressed.

Family breakfast at the Prince.

Now he's back in vacation mode.

Always big smiles when UJ is around.

Helping with the baby on our patio

Not so sure about the flower behind his ear

We caught a bug in our room (gross) but it snapped Gavin out of a tantrum (awesome).

The beds at the Prince were super tiny. Dylan and I love each other, but we didn't want to sleep entangled in one another...so we kicked Gavin out and made him a bed on the floor of the closet. "The Lizard Cave." He loved it and slept soundly there for five nights.

Prancing around the hotel like a boss.

Checking out camp with Dad and Aunt Tuna

Tandem breakfast

Hanging out in underwear and licking the germs off the window.

Brothers and babies

These boys were SO wound up on the bus to the luau. It was so funny.

Big cousin Z leading the way

Dancing at the luau with Judah

Too much fun in the water. He's not actually asleep...but this is as close as it gets for him, I suppose.

Graham's first time at Camp Three Tree!

Sweet cousins

Feeding snacks in bed. It was worth having a few crumbs on my pillow to keep him occupied for a few minutes.

Brother snuggles in the morning

Z reading to J and G

Tunes at me for the adult dinner

We got G out of bed for the video and dance party on our last night in Hawaii

Aunt T and Baby G

Dancing with Guinea

The water was bright blue and crystal clear

Boogie boarding with Grandpa!

On our way to Honolulu

The 3 lizards creeping around the terminal

Checking out the koi pond at the airport hotel

It was 11:30pm local time and we were just getting to the hotel. Gavin was still rumbling and ready to help with the luggage cart.

Happy with a banana chew toy

G2's first shopping cart ride at Safeway on the coast.

Graham had almost one-on-one attention at camp, and it was just awesome. His counselor said that he was great, which made me very happy! Gavin hardly looked back when we dropped him off each day. His group of six cousins was ALL boys, and they were all 2-years-old. The counselors were incredible and got all six of them to take a 2-hour nap together each day on a king size mattress. I don't think I'll ever pass up on the family meeting. There's no sweeter deal in life than Camp Three Tree, in my opinion.

We caught a flight on Monday with all the Millers and then stayed in a hotel that night in Portland. We made it to the Oregon coast yesterday. We are happy to be on the mainland, but we're still very much in paradise!

I wasn't exactly excited to bring my family on a 6-hour flight there and back, but I was actually pretty chill about it. I mean, I won't pretend like Graham didn't blow out of his diaper on the way there. And that the ancient airliner we were on had zero changing tables aboard, forcing us to clean him up in our row. I also won't pretend that Gavin didn't pee his pants on the way back. Or that the whole airplane had to wait while we changed rows because, after we were completely settled in with Gavin buckled into his car seat at the window, the flight attendant informed us that our row had only three oxygen masks and we needed to move to one with four because of the baby. So, I didn't exit each flight with my dignity intact, but I kept my wits about me and once it was done, it was done. No biggie and totally worth it!

I am so grateful for the time with family and the excellent vacation. I learned so much on this trip, in terms of traveling with kids. First, they are completely resilient. Second, I've spent so much of the last three years stressing out about Gavin's inability to ever get enough sleep, and I need to just let it go. Yes, it causes him some behavioral problems, but short of drugging him with melatonin (which I DID do a couple of times on this trip), I really can't do much about it. I've tried every trick in the book, and I am done. And lastly, going with the flow is the key to traveling with kids. I was able to let go of any sort of structure or schedule or special diets. The baby slept on-the-go, we made a bed for Gavin wherever it worked out, and we just ate what was available and didn't worry about it. We enjoyed the company of our family and had the BEST time!