A (birth)Day at the beach

What would you be willing to pay to lay on the most perfect beautiful beach for a day?  12 hours on flights?  2 hours of driving?  packing 9 pieces of luggage?  a red eye flight with kids?
This was all worth it to us this weekend!  We have taken some very short trips to different places and even though this trip wasn't nearly as short as others we've done, it was still a little crazy.  

We left Saturday morning at 8 am for MAUI and returned the next night at 9 pm.  We had about 34 hours on the island.  And it was absolutely perfect.

We prepared for tired tantrums, bored problems on the long flights, etc, etc, but our kids exceeded our expectations and did so well!!  Hallie slept for 2 1/2 hours of the 6 hour flight and Jackson even fell asleep for 1 hour!  We had lots of games, food, books, and a few new toys from the dollar store.  It was just a perfect flight!  We had  6 seats for the 4 of us.  We brought a pack n' play, skim board, sand toys, 2 carseats, a cooler full of food for the weekend (we travel cheap) and regular clothes, swim gear, church outfits, and other necessities.  so we had a lot of baggage.  Luckily, the guy at the car rental place upgraded us to an SUV for free!


We  were on Ka'anapali beach at our hotel as soon as we arrived.  Jackson was SO excited to get to the beach (although I don't know if he really knew what to expect).  Hallie also loved the sand and water.  Watching the kids play, get wet, swim, and have fun on the beach was the one thing our trip to Hawaii was missing in December.  It was awesome.  We stayed at the same place and went to the same beaches as before.  We almost went to a new island, but thought for a 1 day trip it would be better to know where we were going.  

Whoops!  Didn't realize that wave was going to be so big!  This is the BEST ocean photo I've ever seen!  I love looking and laughing at my kiddos!

We spent 4 hours on the beach, cleaned up and headed to Lahaina to walk the streets, eat gelato and watch an amazing sunset.  Yep, these are from our camera . . . not even professional!  It really is that amazing.

The kids went to sleep easily, despite the LOUD luau happening right out our balcony.  Dave and I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the entertainment of the luau without actually having to pay for it.  We crashed an hour later and slept through the night.  Luckily, our kids went back to sleep every time they woke up.  Their usually wake up time is only 3 am in Hawaii so we were worried, but once again, they exceeded our expectations.  Hallie slept until 5:15 and Dave took her to the beach.  Jackson slept until 6:00 am (9:00 am in AZ!!)  We spent the morning on the beach getting family pictures, walking up and down the sandy shores.  What a beautiful and peaceful way to spend a birthday morning.

We attended church in Lahaina.  When I dropped Hallie off at nursery and told them her name, I realized it sounded exactly like Haole (white skin) which is the name the Hawaiian use for the white people visiting their island.  The rest of the trip I was super self-conscious every time I called her name out.  It felt like some racial slur to my own race . . .

We ate lunch in a park of the world's 3rd largest Banyon tree which was an incredible site.  Hallie napped in the car and Dave had to check out of the hotel alone.  It is amazing how quickly all of your bags and things can explode throughout a hotel room.  It was very difficult to clean it all up (while I had to wait in the car with Hallie).


We loved being on the beautiful, warm beaches, snorkling and playing with our kids.  We brought as many meals as we could so we could eat cheap, but ran out by dinner on my birthday, so we went to eat at a Hawaiian mixed plate place on the beach.  I loved the outdoor atmosphere and the delicious kalua pork and salmon salsa.  It was such a fun birthday dinner.


We saw yet another gorgeous sunset and headed to the airport to go home.  Jackson fell asleep on the ride there, transferred 5 times (car-shuttle-stroller-security-get pj's on- airplane) and then slept through the night.  Once again we got 6 seats for the 4 of us so we got to stretch out.  Hallie was up and content and happy until the plane took off, she downed a bottle and fell asleep in her carseat without a peep.  She also slept through the night.  Dave spent the night on the floor under the kids.  I got to stretch out on the other 3 seats and slept for 5 hours without waking up!   After landing Hallie stayed asleep and transferred 5 times without waking up (airplane-stroller-shuttle-car- home) 


Travel tips:  
* buy dollar store toys with many parts (I don't care if we lose them, but the kids love parts)
*Pack stuff together rather than by person.  Pack a bag of swim gear, a bag for pjs, a bag for church clothes. SO much easier than rummaging through the suitcase looking for everyone's pieces!  
*benadryl . . . tried it . . . liked it!
*Anything frozen solid can get through security with no problems . . . freeze drinks, milk for kids, etc
* We made lunchables on the plane (crackers, meat cheese) yummy (I am so sick of PB&J on planes!)