We left the morning of the 20th with quite a bit of apprehension for how Mckinley was going to do over the very long day's travel. Amazingly, but not that surprisingly, she did fantastic! The day ended up being about a 13 hour trek by the time we arrived at our condo and Mckinley barely let out a cry the entire day! :) Keep in mind this trek included one 2.5 hr flight to San Fran, one 2.5 hr layover, and one 5.5hr flight to Maui in addition to all other travels to and from airports. We have flown cross country with Mckinley two times before and she has always been GREAT, but you never know. She is much older now (making it a little difficult for dad to hold her on his lap during the flights--since my growing belly makes it even more difficult for me) and mobile--two things that make flights pretty hard on a babe. Really though, we could not have asked for the day to go any better.
Enough about boring travel though...on to Maui! We stayed in an amazing beach-front condo with Kevin's parents (his brother and his family were also in a condo across the hall). To say that it was the perfect place for a family to stay is an understatement. The beach in front of our condo was perfect---huge, uncrowded, great for water activities, and literally 60 seconds from our condo door. Mckinley got lots of sand time in but what she really loved was standing in the surf!
We spent our 9 days enjoying time with our family and taking in all that Hawaii has to offer. A few highlights were a Luau, Warren & Annabelle's, surf lessons (Kev), snorkeling (Kev), the Hana drive, shopping, and sunbathing. Of course we also celebrated Christmas in Hawaii too! What was especially nice was that my dad and Leann were also in Maui for three of the same days we were. We got to go to the Luau with them (leaving Kinley with Grandma B and Grandpa D).
It was an incredible trip and one I am sure we will make again at some point in the future. Honestly (and as corny as it may sound) the best part was getting to spend 9-uninterrupted days with my husband and daughter. Mckinley LOVED getting to see her dad every day and I loved it too! :) Soon we will be adding a new member to the family, and as exciting as that is, it will change they dynamic of our family forever. Having this trip to make memories of our family of three was priceless.
So now on to Kevin's favorite part of any blog post (and probably many others)....pictures:
This was what Kinley was like at 10pm before we boarded our LONG flight home....she was so cute running around the airport! :)
Our return trip went just as well as our trip out to Maui...which was even more of a surprise because we had a redeye! Mckinley was the perfect little traveler (although we have no intentions of doing it again ANY time soon)! Poor daddy had to hold a sleeping baby/giant child for 5.5hrs through the middle of the night (I think he may have secretly enjoying the snuggle time a little because Mckinley NEVER lets you hold her while she sleeps!).
We have lots of other pictures from Grandma and Grandpa that I can't upload right now...I hope to get them up soon in another post.
The trip was so amazing and as I have said a million times, I am so glad we did it. A huge thanks to Grandma B and Grandpa D for making such a great trip possible (even if it was the idea of another smart lady!). Mckinley unfortunately will not remember this trip, but we will, and we will tell her all about it and make sure we return so that she can make memories to remember! The time spent with my family was what made the trip perfect, but Hawaii was obviously not that bad of a place to spend with them either! :)
So, hopefully you made it through this mammoth post and have not decided to boycott my future blog posts! I promise to keep them a little more brief in the future!
No comments:
Post a Comment