Kona, Hawaii

How blessed I feel that we were able to go on vacation with my entire family; that Liam and Aidan got to spend a week together, that we were all "back at the house" with Mom and Dad again, that Steven and Brian joined in on the fun. When I was growing up I have so many memories of the family going to Disney World, The Smokey Mountains, Texas, California.... We weren't able to go many places in the past several years because the boys were very busy with football. But this year, we all went to Hawaii. And our family of 6 has grown to 11, with one on the way.

The plane ride. This was a bit of a concern for me going in. But I couldn't have asked for the boys to do any better. Aidan sat with Nanny and Paw Paw and was content as could be. He got to pull things out of the treasure bag and play with new toys and books. But all he really needed was his Paw Paw. Brody sat with Brandon and I and slept or ate the whole trip. He is such a happy, content baby.

Hawaii is paradise. Our condo was right on the water and we all could sit for hours and listen to the waves. The weather was perfect. We often went to the beach behind the condo and swam with the turtles, we snorkeled, the boys took surf lessons from the self proclaimed legend, we went to a luau. Don't get me wrong, vacationing now is much different from vacationing 3 years ago. Our beach trips in the past were spending 6 hours laying on the beach, deciding on a whim to go on an atv excursion or take out the catamaran. Now we spend 3 hours packing the beach bag to spend 1 hour on the beach and the boys fall asleep on the way home. But this is the time and season we are in and I'm embracing every moment.

I am truly grateful to my parents for making this trip happen. There were many wonderful memories made.