Our first trip to Hawaii

Hawaii...What can I say? It is an amazing and beautiful place and I have loved it since the first time that I went there with my parents at age 15. Each time I go, I am more drawn to the islands. I almost moved to Maui once, and seriously considered moving the family to the big island another time. For myself, I could live anywhere tropical. Give me beaches, warm clear ocean water, humidity, tropical fruits, and plenty of warm sunshine and I will make it my home and be perfectly happy.
  I was fortunate enough to spend six weeks on a very small, private Fijian island once. I fell in love with it: I loved the people, the lifestyle, the land, and the sea. But that is a story for another day.

  This trip to Hawaii  contained many firsts for all of us: The first time on a plane for Apollo and Orion. The first time to the big island for myself, and the first time to Hawaii for Melanie... and Apollo and Orion for that matter.
  This trip was completely my idea, and to be honest about it, I did meet some opposition from Melanie when I first started planning it. I believe the comment was, "Hawaii is not even on my top 25 list of places to visit." I was persistent and after she spoke with a few friends about Hawaii, she agreed that she would go and make the best of it. Sure, there are many places in the world on my list to go, but how many of them are feasible with small children, without it turning into the trip from hell. My thought was that I knew Melanie would love a lot of things about Hawaii, the boys would have a great time, and to take the four of us, it would be relatively affordable. I needed a vacation where we did not have to spend a couple days driving, and have to spend another couple days visiting family and friends. Not that there is anything wrong with visiting with our loved ones, but our time is always short and we are always rushed. Hawaii seemed like the perfect place to do exactly the opposite of that.

  For Melanie, I know certain things that would amaze her in Hawaii, namely; snorkeling, the fish, the reefs, the flora and fawn, and of course the weather. Was I being selfish? Absolutely! Did things turn out the way I had hoped? Definitely! Actually, even better than I had hoped. There are things that would have made the trip better for Melanie and I, such as some alone time, being able to snorkel alone together, walks on the beach, sunsets, walking under the stars, etc....but that would be for our next trip and obviously I would not be sharing much of that here. ;) I am a bit of a romantic so I really feel like we missed out on those things this time, but I would not trade the family time we spent together.

  I have a deep connection for nature and all things living, and in Hawaii, nature is in her best form. I could spend all day snorkeling and playing on or in the water. I am a very sensory-tuned individual, by which I mean, I relish in the way things look, smell, taste, feel, and sound. For me, I take every bit of those sensations in. It is what drives me and makes me feel alive. I love filling my nose with the sweet smell of plumeria with every breath, and the many other varieties of fragrant flowers, lush earth, and warm ocean air.

I love the warmth of the sun as it toasts my bare skin, the warm ocean water as it glides across my body, feeling the different temperatures in the currents.
  I love the sounds of the birds, the wind through the palm trees, the waves as they crash against the rocks, and even the sounds you hear underwater in the ocean, the most prevalent of which are the loud clicks of parrot fish biting off pieces of coral.

 I love the taste of all the fresh Hawaiian fruits, Everything, and I mean everything, just tastes so much better there.

The islands are beautiful to behold in many ways: The water, the land, the sky. Even walking down a city street, I look at and notice the tiniest plants and flowers, or in the rainforest where everything is so green and lush, overgrown and of impressive size, or that amazing water that is so clear, and all the beautiful fish and wild life which she holds.

 Favorite memories from Hawaii:

The boys excitement getting on the jet.
Snorkeling.
The boys seeing their first fish underwater.
Melanie and the boys dancing to live music in front of a cafe.
Stand up Paddle boarding.
Honu (Sea turtles)
Plumeria and palm trees
Exploring

  Favorite things I heard on our trip:
On our way from the airport to hotel room, Orion kept saying "Wow! Where are we?" As he looked around as I drove. "Hawaii," I finally answered. "I love this place!" he exclaimed.
Apollo: "My first day in Hawaii and I peed my pants!"
Melanie: "I always saw myself as kind of bohemian or a hippie, turns out I am really just a beach bum."
Melanie: "I could see myself living here."
Apollo: "A Humu-humu what?" laughing hysterically as I told him the name of the Hawaii state fish (Humuhumnukunukuapua'a). "Say that word again, dada!"

Orion: "Dada! I see another lizard!" Several times each day.

Orion: "We're going on a ship!" Planes are planes, small jets are jets, and large jets are "ships".

A vacation is a vacation and like all vacations, unfortunately it had to come to an end. We packed our bags and solemnly boarded our "ship". Because of a seating mix up, I even tried to get them to bump us from the flight so we could spend one more night in Hawaii. They weren't having it. Alas, we said good bye to the big island as our ship rose from the ground, climbed through the clouds and pointed us towards home.