If you don’t know we used to live on Oahu and Big Island. And we haven’t been back since we left 5 years ago. We only had 2 kids at that point and our middle kid was the age of our baby now! So time really has flown. It was so fun to be back and see all the old spots where we used to go to. The sunshine really does cure the winter blues. We had great weather the whole time, we got a few beach days, and we saw family and friends that feel like family. Hawaii will always hold a piece of our hearts and I grateful we were able to go back and do this trip.

Don’t be fooled, traveling with kids is crazy and exhausting but as parents you always hope there is a few core memories made between the different time zones that get your kids up at 5 am everyday of the trip, and complaining of the “lack of food options” that don’t meet their pickiness, and the bickering between siblings. But getting to see old neighbors, the house where Soren was born (but really he was born in our Hawaii house by accident) , visit the zoo and the shallow beach I used to take the kids with friends.

We fed the goats, we saw the waterfalls, we (meaning my husband and I at least) ate a lot of good food, we saw sunrises and sunsets, looked for sea glass, watched surfers, drove through the jungle, saw donkeys, pigs and lots of chickens.