First Family Vacation ~ Day One

We recently got back from our first family vacation! And I’m sure you can guess where it was…Hawaii. We decided to take advantage of the “under 2 years of age fly free” rule. We also took advantage of our United and Marriott points and flew for free to Maui and stayed at the Ritz Carlton for free as well (we did pay taxes, parking and resort fees). More on that later!

This trip was VERY different from our past trips. When Matt and I travel we usually stick to our 2 carry-on items each but this time we felt like mules hauling around all our shit! We had 2 checked bags, a car seat, infant carrier, diaper bag and then our carry-on items. I wish we would have taken a picture but who was going to hold the camera?! And I might add that given the opportunity to check a bag I will over pack, it’s just a fact. I brought WAY too many clothes for myself and Alana.

We arrived in Maui around 6pm, collected out luggage and rental car and then we were on our way to our hotel that was about an hour away. We arrived at the Ritz Carlton with the warmest aloha and the most amazing customer service I have ever experienced at a hotel. We made our way down to our suite and I quickly unpacked all the bags to get them put up and out of the way. One of the best things, in this mom’s eyes, about the hotel was that we had free laundry! They even had the soap and dryer sheets! This came in handy for washing our very dirty travel clothes and any of Alana’s clothes she got a little too messy. We were also able to come home with luggage full of clean clothes and I didn’t have to do any laundry right away!

This trip was very different from our other trips to Hawaii (2011, 2012, 2015). This was all around what Alana wanted to do and very little of what we wanted to do. We took family pictures first thing the next morning which in hindsight might have been a mistake with the time change. After we all took a little nap, headed down to the pool for some lunch and then off we went for some whale watching. We didn't get quite the show we did back in 2015 but we did get to see a cafe with its mom learning how to breach...reminded me of a puppy! 

How have your family vacations gone?!