Our little family took our first big vacation together this past month. We journeyed from our home in Utah to the Boise airport and from there flew to Seattle and on to Hawaii. Kyle’s parents took us and Kyle’s sisters on the trip and made all the arrangements in our behalf, which made it a very easy vacation indeed.
I was very nervous for the flight, since I had no idea what to expect from my 10-month-old, but as my mother-in-law remarked, “He lived up to his middle name,” which has the meaning “golden”.
He slept almost the whole way, and when we were in between flights, we set up a luggage barricade and he played in the middle.
When we arrived I stepped out of the plane doors and found myself staring out at a lunar eclipse! It certainly felt epic to have my first glimpse of Hawaii in the erie moonlight of such a rare phenomenon.
We stayed in a condo near the beach, which was absolutely lovely.
And our stay was certainly packed full of adventures! We went to several farmers markets where we found souvenirs and a fruit that looked amazing but actually tasted like hairspray.
We hiked around waterfalls,
through jungles,
and through a lava tube near an active volcano. We went snorkeling, met some sea turtles,
And tried to convince William that the ocean isn’t altogether a bad thing.
We explored an ancient Hawaiian place of refuge.
And we definitely played on some beautiful beaches.
We also explored the southernmost point of the United States, which turned out to be a scary, rotting old platform hanging over a cliff.
In an attempt to salvage the afternoon we thought we’d check out a nearby, green-sand beach. However, the beach was even more ghetto than the cliff! We only made it to the parking lot infested with chickens before we turned back. On our way out we found a graffitied wall that read “Tell my people I tried.” It seemed like an appropriate subtitle for the experience.
It was a trip full of beautiful vistas, exploration, and more than one adventure. All the ingredients for spectacular memories.