"Oh the places you will go." ~ Dr. Seuss
HELLO!! And welcome to our blog! We thought we'd start with a little introduction about our family, what inspired us, and a bunch of what we did and learned during our first big trip as a family of 5!
Who we are:
***My name is Shayna aka Mom, Mommy, Mother and I'm the one doing most of the writing here. I'm a proud wife, mom of 3 awesome kiddos and a bunch of fur babies, a full-time Physician, part-time DJ and travel blogger, and I've got a million hobbies: dancing, hiking, sailing, archery, fishing, knitting, baking, just to name a few...
***Mike aka Dad, Daddy, Father and he's the one behind the camera taking pictures and videos. He's an amazing husband, father, ex-paramedic, photographer, videographer, and graphic designer who shares many interests with me in addition to running, reading, writing, working out, and dog training.
***Aidan is 12 years old (as of early 2022) and is in 6th grade. He loves math, science, basketball, golf, frisbee golf, drums, writing, and of course Minecraft.
***Camilla is 10 years old (as of early 2022) and is in 4th grade. She loves reading, writing, art, dance, theater, piano, singing, learning sign language, and playing with OMG dolls.
***Kendall is 7.5 years old (as of early 2022) and is in 2nd grade. She loves art, math, dance, parkour, theater, all animals, and playing with legos.
Introduction to our travel history:
Throughout my childhood, my family traveled a ton, but we mostly did road trips and visited national and state parks with a few international trips and trips to Disney in between. While in college, I traveled all around Europe for 6 weeks with a friend which only made me want to travel more!
Mike and I met after college in 2002 and we instantly had a travel bug. Our first big trip together was to Fiji way back in July of 2002 and that was an adventure I'll have to share another time. We managed to travel a bunch both around the US and internationally from 2002-2009. However, in 2009 that traveling bug was put on hold when we started having kids and add in some intensive training for Shayna's career and Mike finishing school...
Fast forward to 2015 the play button was restarted. While we had done some road trips around California, we had not been on a plane with kids or even left the state! And for a while that just sounded like a daunting task and just plain unfun. However, in 2015, it just felt like the time was right.
The kids were 5, 3, and 10 months. Why is this such a good time to travel with kids:
1. The older 2 were potty trained and could sit still for a while and be entertained by iPad (disclaimer: we try to avoid electronics and I'll provide a list later of what we brought and how, but let's be real, if it's the difference between a kid crying the whole time or quiet with an iPad, I'll chose the iPad anytime!).
2, The baby was not yet walking and still loving breastfeeding (more on this later).
3. We were mentally in the right place to deal with the unpredictability and potential chaos that we were about to experience. ;)
Per our usual (go big or go home), we went big! Hawaii it was!! Ok and hear me out, there was a very good method to my madness and here's why we chose Hawaii: 1. Easy to find direct flights that were reasonably priced from California.
2. There is a Disney resort (Aulani) there (Disney fanatic here, more on that in another blog...) that has everything we need for vacay, ie we wouldn't have to leave the resort-->super easy peasy!
3. They were having a deal: book 4 nights and the 5th is free!
4. The resort included easy transportation from airport to resort and then back to airport. And they provided car seats so I didn't have to bring ours. Another huge bonus!
I figured out these other $$ saving tips too:
1. We decided to keep the trip relatively short (just 5 nights). We found that was plenty of time to get away and we were ready to head home after 5 nights away with 3 little ones.
2. One room requirement was a washer and dryer. That is a must for our first trip with littles and especially since we'd be living at the beach and pool. The suites at Aulani had that and they even provided the detergent and dryer sheets. With this we saved money and it just made traveling easier by bringing fewer clothes and fewer suitcases.
3. We also planned to save money by cooking most of our food. Since food can be a little more expensive in Hawaii and the food at Aulani is even more expensive and just ok (the only bad reviews I found at the time were for the food), we actually brought some of the kids' favorite nonperishable foods in our suitcases. The suite has everything you need to cook meals.
4. We also did a partial ocean view to save money, but still had the most amazing view of the resort and ocean:
What we packed for airplane:
1. As already mentioned, the 2 older kids had iPads loaded with movies and headphones. Now a lot of flights will provide that entertainment, but I liked having our own.
2. We did allow a couple toys (doll or stuffed animal), but nothing too small because that would have been lost so quickly.
3. Since our 3 year old was a little squirmy, we also brought an airplane baby harness to help strap her into her seat and seatbelt safely. She wasn't too crazy about it at first, but eventually stopped complaining.
4. We brought some crayons and coloring books and other books for them to "read."
5. They also each had soft lunch boxes with their favorite snacks that they helped me pick out and a water bottle that I filled with water after security.
6. I was careful to only pack what could fit in a kids backpack and then those 2 backpacks had to fit in a rollaboard since the kids were not yet reliable at carrying their own stuff. We also had a blanket for each kid and change of clothes just in case of an accident. It was super easy carrying all that since it all fit in the rollaboard. We just pulled everything out real quick before storing the rollaboard in the overhead compartment once we got on the plane.
7. I also had my own backpack with the following:
-Wipes and lots of them! You can never have too many of those!
-Breastfeeding supplies (cover, burp cloth, and pads). -Snacks such as protein bar, nuts, whiskey (just kidding ;) that's for later..)
-Book and headphones for me. -Water bottles (purchased after going through security).
-Other necessities: hand sanitizer, chapstick, toothbrush and toothpaste, baggies for trash, Kleenex, bandaids/first aid kit, ibuprofen/tylenol for those unexpected teething pains, achy legs or headaches, and a travel neck pillow.
Breastfeeding on an airplane:
1. If you have a baby that loves breastfeeding, then you are golden! Well, kinda... baby will be so happy, but you will have a baby attached to you pretty much the entire time, but I loved it. And Kendall was the happiest baby ever.
2. I recommend breastfeeding on take off and landing to help with popping ears and fussiness from the commotion.
3. Expect baby to fall asleep at some point and just stay there. Why move baby while they are quiet and happy and possibly for hours??
4. You are not required to cover up, but I was a more modest breastfeeder, generally speaking. I kept a cover on but had it open on the side facing away from the aisle so I wasn't flashing anyone and so baby could breathe well and still look around. It worked perfect for Kendall and me.
How the trip itself went:
We had a blast!! Honestly, we didn't do much but relax at different pools all day, play in the ocean a little bit, and just enjoy family time. Shoot, we didn't take that many pictures or videos! We did do one character breakfast which is a must there since it is a Disney resort. And we met a few characters who were wandering around the resort. My 5 year old did some water slides, but we were mostly pretty low key there and, let me tell you, it's just what we needed.
Don't get me wrong, like most resorts, there are tons of fun things to do there and even childcare options so the parents can have some fun too, but this was a family trip all about family time and relaxation, so we didn't partake in much and that was perfectly fine.
**On a side note, I had several people come up to us after the flights and tell us how well behaved our children were and they'd sit next to us anytime. Honestly, that felt good to hear since it was our first time flying with littles and it was pretty stressful at times.
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