Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Maui No Ka 'Oi


The first vacation that Chris and I ever took together was to Oahu, Hawaii and it was the first time I had ever been to our 50th state and I couldn't get enough. Warm days, sunshine all the time and the most beautiful beaches I had ever seen.

Since then, we've been to Kauai (where we were engaged) and the Big Island together (along with our very good friends), so Hawaii has always been special to me & Chris. I really wanted to share that with Annika, so I decided that WE WERE GOING TO HAWAII THIS YEAR.

Chris always told me that Maui was probably his favorite island, so I was pretty set on going there. We invited my parents to come along because we travel well together and I'm always looking for a way to have Annika spend time with her maternal grandparents.

I spent about a month researching the best condo, best area of the island, best plane tickets, etc. I love research. I love the Internets. Anyway, we got a fabulous condo on the West side of the island. We also got some pretty good airfare deals from Southwest which of course turned out to be a disaster so we had to re-book the whole thing on United, which was ok. I had to mention that part because it was not cool.

Annika thought that all of Hawaii would be a large sandbox, since she asked as we were landing "We're not in Hawaii...where's the sand?". Her time on the beach was amazing - when we could get her there. She really does not like the ocean. And she does not like the wind. Which turns out not to be a good combination on a tropical island. Annika's favorite question would be each evening "Does the restaurant we're going to have walls?"

Despite those obstacles, she really had fun. She is an excellent traveler and really rolls with the punches and with less sleep. She spent a full night with her grandparents while Chris and I had dinner which she loooved because she had devoted attention for 3 hours from people who want nothing more than to please her. Who wouldn't dig that? She was able to see fish and go shopping for SpongeBob Crocs and spend a full week with her parents. That last part was more exciting for me because it has been too long since we've really focused on our family as we've continued to adjust to the house remodel and our busy work schedules.

Now we're ready for the next vacation.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008