The Family Vacation

My word of the year for 2012 was "Family," and my goal for the year was to focus on my family and take a family vacation.  We succeeded in the family vacation part by taking our gang to Hawaii last week.  I've had quite a few people ask me why I would even consider taking my children to Hawaii with us, but the fact of the matter is this: I have been blessed with children for a brief period in my life and as a result, I want to spend that time with them, creating memories for them.  I'm sure my husband and I will take a romantic weekend here or there in the future, but in my opinion, true vacations should be about the family.

The second question I was asked when I told people we were headed to Hawaii was why we chose the island of Oahu.  Well, in my opinion, Oahu is probably the most kid friendly of the Hawaiian islands.  Oahu is the most touristy of the islands and can accommodate my little ones well by offering toddler friendly activities like the Dole Plantation, train rids, firework shows, parades, The Bishop Museum, The Honolulu Zoo, aquariums, college ball games, and lots of beaches.  In the future when my gang is ready for a more rugged, outdoorsy vacation, we'll venture to another island.  Until then, I intend to enjoy all the shopping, restaurants, and history available on Oahu.

On our last trip to Hawaii we stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which is extremely tropical and family friendly.  You can't beat the views from the Rainbow tower rooms!  But this trip, we took a more historical approach to our vacation and stayed at the Royal Hawaiian (the big pink hotel).  Despite being more of an adult hotel, the customer service at the Royal Hawaiian was fantastic and the accommodations were amazing.  Plus, our room didn't have a balcony making it safer for our monkey of a one year old.  Both hotels are fantastic and are located in the Waikiki area (unlike the new Disney hotel), and are ideal for families.

The trip turned out to be a huge success.  I was finally relaxed for the first time in 3 months, my husband got to fulfill some of his bucket list goals by meeting Pearl Harbor survivors and seeing The University of Hawaii play a home baseball game, and my boys had a blast.  Now that's a family vacation.