OOO: A little trip to Hawaii
Sometimes you literally need to throw your phone in the ocean
Aloha my CLOSE FRIENDS!! Boy, how I’ve missed you! My apologies for the delay on this recent post, my phone (and therefore all tech access) was a casualty to an otherwise very wonderful tropical getaway. Serendipity? Maybe! Last week I had the exciting pleasure of Clay, Ansel, and I going on our very first family vacation. So I thought, what better to write about than a little Hawaiian debrief!! Let’s get personal! I know many of you are modern mamas, even more of you are in need of a well-timed vacation, so let me break down how we did it. We picked Hawaii as our vacation spot for a couple of reasons. For one, Hawaii is really easy to travel with a little, everywhere is very kid and family-friendly. But also, I wanted Ansel to have this first big travel experience in a place that felt very nostalgic to me — and I really love that Clay and I have a bit of nostalgia there as well.
Clay and I actually planned this trip while we were snowboarding in February. We were sitting on the freezing cold, snowy chairlift and started reminiscing about a time a million years ago (circa 2008) when he joined my family on one of our vacations to Maui. My mom has held onto a condo there and we have been visiting for almost 30 years. I have fond memories of wearing my very first two-piece there (it was Speedo brand) and I felt like a real adult. So after our snowy daydreaming, I threw the idea out to my mom of letting us pay the taxes and fees on the condo this year and having Clay, Ansel, and I have our first real family vacation in Hawaii! I've been wanting to bring Ansel there since I was pregnant with him (and technically did because I actually third-wheeled my mom's vacation during that time, haha) — now I was hoping he would be old enough to be able to actually enjoy it, my expectations were met and beyond!
When traveling with a little, best to set low expectations —
Having Ansel with me this trip was quite a different experience than the last 30 years I've been going there. He made me see things in such a different way. I feel like he's actually reinvigorating my sense of adventure. BUT, I also made sure to have very low expectations, and just assume that he would want to do maybe half the things offered to him. He was literally game for everything.
The most surprising of all, I could not BELIEVE he snorkeled. Granted, he is quite a strong swimmer — we put him in an ISR swim lessons at six months old because we have a pool, I just felt like he needed to know how to swim, or at least survive, ASAP — but I never expected him to jump off a boat in the middle of the ocean with a snorkel on and actually snorkel. And he loved it!! I figured at best the boat ride would be pretty cool for him, and Clay and I could just take turns popping in the water while the other waited on board with Ansel — again lowwww expectations. If you keep your expectations low, I find I am more patient with where Ansel is at. Better to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed if something you were really looking forward to didn’t pan out. Temper tantrums are a reality people, little ones have big opinions and are not always open to negotiating!
The boat had a small face mask and snorkel (and Ansel luckily has a huge head) but they didn't have flippers quite small enough. Turns out no flippers, no problem, he wanted to put the face mask and snorkel on right away, so while Clay got ready, I tossed mine on and jumped in the ocean. To my great surprise, Ansel just slid right in with me, we bobbed about for a bit on top of the water, he got his bearings, and understandably it took him a little while to want to put his face in. But once he did, I got to see him literately take in a whole new world (cue The Little Mermaid). He looked around with such wonder then started yelling out of his snorkel, "NEMO!! NEMO!!" Everyone on the boat laughed and watched Ansel with sweet admiration! To see the world with fresh eyes!! He also got to see two sharks (very nice ones), at least ten sea turtles, and millions of other colorful 'nemos'. Of course, I had to grab my phone and document this moment! My phone may have dropped dead hours later, but it was so worth it.
