aloha. part 1. big island.

I've clearly been away for awhile. A portion of the reason for this was that we went to Hawaii for two weeks! I pretty much turn into a frantic, OCD mess in the weeks leading up to a big trip, and add to that that diapers.com doesn't provide a reasonable delivery option to the islands, and I was pretty much a mental patient. I had lists, piles, and organization down to the very last Qtip...leaving little time for the ole blog.

But, we're now back from said vacation. Tanned and happy and with all suitcases unpacked, and laundry cleaned. Again, I don't know how to just relax so all unpacking commences the moment I cross the threshold of home.

Ah, vacation. How sweet it is. And you know what makes it even sweeter? A 20 month old who is a rockstar traveler. And what else? Grandma and Papa joining us. And what else? Having a final 5 days for our first real family vacation. And finally? Scott didn't work once. All of the above add together to make for a tremendous 14 days of fun in the sun.

This year is a big year for the Koon family. My parents are celebrating their 40 year wedding anniversary and I turn 30. Sounds like a pretty good reason to vacation, right?! That, and we haven't had a real vacation since our honeymoon. To define "real": longer than a weekend, no work for Scott, not in St. Louis, no agenda.

SO, with that, we headed off to Hawaii. We spent the first nine days of vacation on the Big Island in a condo with my parents. It.was.amazing. The company, condo, weather, food...all of it. It was such a nice way to kick off our vacation. But, pictures speak a thousand words (I am going to try and not make this a refresh of my Instagram feed so if you want more pictures, follow me there...my user name is Steffy7210)...

I sure hope he enjoyed his first class flight as much as us because we will be making the right turn to coach for every flight from here on out. Time to start saving miles again!

We had to take a commuter plane between Maui and Hawaii. Clearly, this was not my finest hour in making travel arrangements. I am pretty sure this flight took at least 2 years off my life. Please note how big the pilots are on the left in comparison to the plane. It was an experience. Checked that box...back to jets!

These two melt my heart. (that small plane in the distance makes my heart race. still.)

We made it! This was the view from our condo. Noah played golf ("golsh") every waking moment he wasn't in the pool.

He even got to join Dad (Gaga) and Papa on the 9th hole at Hapuna.

I did a lot of this. I am pretty sure I consumed my rum quota for the next five years over the 14 days.

We took a local recommendation and went to Da Fish House to buy some fresh fish. The place itself is a bit concerning when you drive up but just as we pulled in, a fisherman was unloading his fresh Mahi Mahi catch from that morning. Talk about fresh fish! We went back a second time because it was that good.

Tourists.

While we had Grandma and Grandpa around, Scott and I took off to try out stand up paddleboarding. We paddled about 2 miles and it was seriously SO fun. If you get hot, just fall off into the ocean for a refresher!

We also found Scott his true Hawaiian shave ice. These boys were happy campers!

We soaked up so much great quality time with Papa, and...

Grandma. We found just the place for Grandma and Noah...

This was the condo complex's pool. There was never anyone there so we had the place to ourselves. The area Noah was jumping into was supposed to be a hot tub (I think) but it wasn't hot, just warmer than the rest of the pool, and was only 1.5 feet deep. Like I said, ideal for Grandma and Noah ;-).

Scott and I also stole away for a date.

Morning walks.

And evening sunsets. Not a bad way to bookend a day!

And one with mom.

In between leaps off the side of the pool we made sure to get in a few back floats so we were still up to speed at swim lessons.

And, sadly, we had to say farewell to these two.

We did manage to squeeze in a family picture session. (Please excuse the light here, this is a picture of a picture...I'll share more when we get the disks)

And after a little monkey business at the airport...

We were off to Maui (on a much more reasonably sized aircraft).

So, why 5 more days? Scott and I went to Hawaii after we got engaged in 2009. We stayed for 10 days and decided that it wasn't quite long enough. After knowing my parents were only coming for 9 days, we made the decision to extend our trip by heading over to Maui as a family of three. It was the best decision imaginable. We definitely weren't ready to end our trip when we headed there and it was seriously relaxing! I was a bit worried that we were going to be stressed without the extra hands of Grandma and Papa...but we settled right in, had some amazing parental teamwork, and just truly enjoyed our time as a family. No interruptions (aside from Instagram...I need a 12 step program). 

Maui pictures and recap coming soon. Uploading and sorting is taking a bit more effort than I expected. Stay tuned!

This was one of 3 "feral"cats we had to feed while staying at the condo. I don't necessarily think they count as true feral cats when being fed Meow Mix twice daily, but they definitely weren't interested in coming inside or being pet...as a matter of fact, they hissed at you while you were feeding them. They also had crazy green eyes which made them a bit creepy. Ok, enough about cats...