Spontaneously Us: Our first family vacation

This year we decided it was time for a family vacation. A real vacation, not just any old "let's go to the beach" vacation. Our destination? Hawaii! More specifically, Oahu. Why? Well, last year Andrew and I went there for our honeymoon and loved it. Unfortunately when we went we didn't rest at all. We were up doing the whole "tourist" thing the entire week. It was a vacation but it was exhausting! This time we decided it was all about relaxing. And relaxing is exactly what we did this time.

I booked our vacation one month in advance. We didn't even know we were going to go there until I realized the trip would cost just as much as staying at a local beach for a week. Really, who would pick the local beach over Hawaii when it cost the same? So once that realization hit I discussed it with Andrew and booked that night. Man, we were excited and full of anticipation! We started planning what we'd do...OK, I should say I looked beaches & activities up and ran it by Andrew. Yea, he's not the planner/researcher in the family.

Vacation day comes, we hit the road at 4:30am for our 8:00am flight out of LAX. We're tired but full of excitement until we get to the airport. First off we find out you have to pay for meals on the flight, pay to check our luggage, and our flight is booked and Andrew and I don't have seats. Notice I said Andrew and I, Suraya had one. Guess she was going to Hawaii alone. My bad for not looking up the airline info but their bad for overbooking. It was a little stressful but in the end we got to Hawaii on the original flight we booked but the nightmare didn't end there.

We land in Hawaii and of course the excitement has hit us pretty hard. We couldn't wait to get the rental car and head to the hotel to unload and hit the beach. So we're at the baggage pick up at the airport. we get Andrew's and Suraya's luggage but where's mine? They lost it! I was fuming! I filed a claim and they were going to call me when it came in. Needless to say the drive to the hotel was not as exciting as expected. I had to go out and search for a new bathing suit. I'm not skinny minnie and I have a larger than normal top area so bathing suits are a pain to find. Once we go to the hotel I set off on my mission. Thankfully while I was still shopping Andrew called and told me they had delivered my suitcase. Oh sweet relief! Let the fun begin!!!

So the hotel wasn't as great as the one we stayed in during our honeymoon. I wanted to upgrade but found out the price was outrageous so we made due. We were only going to sleep there anyway. The first evening we walked around Waikiki and didn't do much. I was still getting over my close call with losing my luggage. Later we ended up going to the grocery store and buying a weeks worth of lunches and breakfasts. Little did we know that the nearby Walmart was cheaper! Here's what $70 worth of groceries looks like in Hawaii....

Day 2 was much better. We decided to head to the North Shore and check out some beaches. Suraya got to snorkel for the first time. She loved it.

Day 3 we went to the Honolulu Zoo. It was quite interesting to see some of the animals. We saw Pumbaa, Timon, and Simba.

After that we picked my sis up from the airport. They lost her luggage too! Eventually that was found as well but with some serious damage!

Day 4 and on we explored and went to every beach we could fit in. It was so much fun. We had an amazing time. We mainly stayed up in the north shore where the beaches are less crowded.