Every year we go to Hawaii with Ryan’s immediate & extended family. It’s such a fun time to reunite with aunts, uncles, and cousins- some that we only get to see once a year.
This year there were NINE little girlie cousins and our one (cutest ever!) little boy cousin who, by the way, is going to be SUCH a trooper when he’s old enough to start [trying] to talk… with nine little girls constantly chattering around him like a pack of seagulls. 😉
This year was perfection. My girls were at such ideal ages for a trip like this…that it actually made the vacation err more on the side of “enjoyable” than “work”, which is kind of a new thing for us.
We stay on Maui and our trip happens to fall on Halloween every year. The girls have so much fun dressing up with their cousins and parading around the resort “trick-or-treating”. Q & A went as Sully & Boo from Monsters Inc this year. And yes, I chose the costumes. (I got that question a lot.) I figure my days of dressing them in cute coordinating costumes are numbered, if not over…the push to be anything “Princess” is STRONG, people.
Even though our trip falls on the anniversary of my Dad’s passing, we always find a way to incorporate him and think about him in a positive way while we are there.
We ended our trip this year by flying over to Oahu to Disney’s Aulani resort for 4 days. The girls LOVED seeing the characters and playing on all the awesome water features. And we thought it was pretty great too…until about day 3 when we were ready to hit up the hotel next door for a meal that didn’t consist of chicken fingers or Mickey shaped anything.
Our only complaint (if we HAD to think of one) was there was almost TOO much for the kids to do. When on Maui we say: “There’s the pool and there’s the beach, kids. Have a fun day!.” Of course we’re building sand castles, swimming, and paddle boarding with them, too- but at Aulani…the kids were so overwhelmed with options that we were chasing them around from water slide to pool party to lines to meet Minnie Mouse- All. Day. Long.
Overall it was another AMAZING family vacation to add to the books. But I think our whole group agreed that Aulani has more of a 2-3 day stay max. And if you should find yourself there for longer…just remember: The Four Seasons next door has some killer retail therapy. And a Starbucks.
