my3princes
<font color=red>Looking for a milestone to claim<b
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2004
- Messages
- 16,065
Weve been home for a week now and Im finally at a point where I can start documenting our amazing 23 day Hawaii and Disneyland Adventure. Ill admit that some of the details may be a bit fuzzy because I did something completely out of nature for me, I relaxed, no evening notes, I just soaked in every second of our once in a lifetime trip.
The cast: Myself, Deb, 42 year old mother of 3 boys
DH, Chris 41 year old father of 3 boys and master automotive technician
DS(16) Nick super intelligent and ultra sensitive
DS(14) Hunter Brain Tumor survivor, the boy who made us realize that lifes too short to wait until retirement to have amazing adventures as you never know what life will throw at you
DS(9) Our high energy outdoor kid
DM My mother, Nancy, 65
DF My father, David, 69
DB My brother, Kevin, 38
DSIL My SIL, Amy, 39
DN(13) My niece, Summer, 13
DN(10) My nephew, Logan, 10
It all began years prior. DH and I always wanted to take our kids to Hawaii before they head out into the real world, but we also wanted the youngest to be old enough to enjoy the trip and most importantly to remember it. Since DS(16) will most likely be working next summer we decided it was now or never. So as soon as Norwegian Cruise Line opened booking for their summer 2012 cruises we booked our inside staterooms. Many of us get motion sick so an inside stateroom in the middle of the ship is important and those rooms fill up quickly. I think we booked about 18 months out, it was definitely the first day that bookings were available and we couldnt even book airfare at that point. As soon as we booked we bought a bunch of guidebooks and started scouring the internet for must sees on each Island. We compiled our must see lists and then kind of forgot about it. There is only so much you can do without concrete dates, airfare, etc. Fast forward several months and airfare is finally available. My immediate family of 5 had decided we were taking a 3 week vacation and including DL in our plans. The other 6 would do 2 weeks, one week on Oahu and then the cruise. Im a little foggy on the time frame, but I know that on our 7 month DVC window I was able to book 4 nights at Disneys Aulani for the 11 of us. I booked a 2 bedroom and a studio. We now had an arrival date of July 28th. Airfare was purchased, the 5 of us would be flying United and the other 6 would be flying Alaska Airlines (yep, thats right, Alaska airlines out of Boston, MA to Honolulu, HI via Washington state). We would also fly out of Boston, but via Chicago on the way out and stop at LAX for 5 days on the way back for our DL portion. On our 7 month window again I was on the phone first thing and was able to book the Grand Californian for 5 nights in a one bedroom for the 5 of us. Things were starting to fall into place. DS(16) has a good friend that lives outside of LA so they were busy making all kinds of touring plans for DL. Everyone was excited. Since we were using our DVC points for the first 4 nights my DB and DM decided that they would book and pay for the remaining 3 nights on Oahu. It was decided that we would go to the Waikiki area to be close to the beach, International Marketplace etc. They ended up booking us in 3 one bedroom suites at the Ohana East. Since we had an extra 2 nights on Oahu after the cruise we booked those 2 nights in a larger one bedroom suite at the Aston Waikiki Banyon. We now had all our accommodations covered. Things were still up in the air as to where to park at the airport or how to get to the airport as we needed 3 weeks parking and our flight left early on Saturday morning. We looked into limos, one way rental cars (no vans available for one way), busses from Vermont (didnt leave early enough to make our flights), etc. Driving ourselves was the only option and it was less expensive for us to book a room at a nearby hotel that included airport parking with a shuttle than it was to park at BOS for 3 weeks. So we would head to BOS the night before, get a good nights sleep before our very long flights to HNL. The rest of the family opted to drive to BOS leaving home at 3 AM and parking at the airport.
Details continued to fall into place over the coming months. We learned about the Go Oahu card which gives you selected free tours for whatever length of time you purchase the card for. It seemed like a good deal and we saw many tours that we would have booked anyway so we purchased the 5 day card for the 5 of us. I started roughing out a day by day itinerary not so much as a we must stick to this schedule kind of thing, but as a guide as many tours needed to be booked in advance. This did not sit well with my DB as he had no plans of abiding by a schedule, but planned to roll the dice and decide what to do on the fly. Since I have a type A personality flying by the seat of my pants with no plan at all did not seem like a wise decision. Dont tours fill up? What if I cant fit in those important things? So we agreed to disagree and they would do their thing and we would do ours. That left my parents in limbo so they decided that they would also get the 5 day Go Oahu card and tour with us. Things were really falling into place. I had booked rental cars early on, but as better deals manifested I cancelled and rebooked and luckily found a great short sale on minivans. I booked one for Oahu the first week then booked them for each port with the exception of Hilo which I had rented a 15 passenger van. Transportation was all set or so I thought. SIL did not look for deals ahead of time and therefore missed out on the minivan. She ended up renting a convertible for the week in Oahu. That would be a problem as there were 6 people with lots of luggage needing to fit into a convertible. We were arriving in Honolulu at 2 PM they were not arriving until 6 PM. What I had originally thought would be a quiet afternoon at Aulani with a grocery run would now mean a trip back to the airport to get my parents and luggage. That was a little bump in the planning which gave me anxiety. I had no idea if they had booked transportation for the other Islands, but I knew we were covered and I had booked them a minivan on Maui as we were doing a double vow renewal and I needed to make sure we were all there. Otherwise they could roll the dice.
Fast forward to July 27 Day 1
We had been pretty much packed for days and were itching to go. Dh was working today and we would leave once he came home. My plan was to have the house completely cleaned as I hate coming home to any messes and we were gone for a long time so I didnt want any fly issues etc. DH called home many times and was out for the day by 3 PM. His brain had been on vacation for days and he was also itching to go. We loaded up and headed out to Boston. We were ahead of traffic and on a Friday afternoon traffic isnt usually too bad into Boston, its getting out that takes forever. We arrived at the hotel, checked in and decided we needed some dinner. The front desk said it was a short walk to a Friendlys up the street. The street was actually a 4 lane sub divided highway that I would not recommend walking on. We never found the friendlys and our 9 year old would not consider stepping foot into Hooters. We ended up in a huge mall and ate at the food court. Now Im a small town Vermont girl and we do not have malls. Its an 1 ½ hour drive to the closest one and I find myself in shoppers paradise on day one of vacation. I did not shop, AT ALL. We walked back to the hotel and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics until lights out.
The cast: Myself, Deb, 42 year old mother of 3 boys
DH, Chris 41 year old father of 3 boys and master automotive technician
DS(16) Nick super intelligent and ultra sensitive
DS(14) Hunter Brain Tumor survivor, the boy who made us realize that lifes too short to wait until retirement to have amazing adventures as you never know what life will throw at you
DS(9) Our high energy outdoor kid
DM My mother, Nancy, 65
DF My father, David, 69
DB My brother, Kevin, 38
DSIL My SIL, Amy, 39
DN(13) My niece, Summer, 13
DN(10) My nephew, Logan, 10
It all began years prior. DH and I always wanted to take our kids to Hawaii before they head out into the real world, but we also wanted the youngest to be old enough to enjoy the trip and most importantly to remember it. Since DS(16) will most likely be working next summer we decided it was now or never. So as soon as Norwegian Cruise Line opened booking for their summer 2012 cruises we booked our inside staterooms. Many of us get motion sick so an inside stateroom in the middle of the ship is important and those rooms fill up quickly. I think we booked about 18 months out, it was definitely the first day that bookings were available and we couldnt even book airfare at that point. As soon as we booked we bought a bunch of guidebooks and started scouring the internet for must sees on each Island. We compiled our must see lists and then kind of forgot about it. There is only so much you can do without concrete dates, airfare, etc. Fast forward several months and airfare is finally available. My immediate family of 5 had decided we were taking a 3 week vacation and including DL in our plans. The other 6 would do 2 weeks, one week on Oahu and then the cruise. Im a little foggy on the time frame, but I know that on our 7 month DVC window I was able to book 4 nights at Disneys Aulani for the 11 of us. I booked a 2 bedroom and a studio. We now had an arrival date of July 28th. Airfare was purchased, the 5 of us would be flying United and the other 6 would be flying Alaska Airlines (yep, thats right, Alaska airlines out of Boston, MA to Honolulu, HI via Washington state). We would also fly out of Boston, but via Chicago on the way out and stop at LAX for 5 days on the way back for our DL portion. On our 7 month window again I was on the phone first thing and was able to book the Grand Californian for 5 nights in a one bedroom for the 5 of us. Things were starting to fall into place. DS(16) has a good friend that lives outside of LA so they were busy making all kinds of touring plans for DL. Everyone was excited. Since we were using our DVC points for the first 4 nights my DB and DM decided that they would book and pay for the remaining 3 nights on Oahu. It was decided that we would go to the Waikiki area to be close to the beach, International Marketplace etc. They ended up booking us in 3 one bedroom suites at the Ohana East. Since we had an extra 2 nights on Oahu after the cruise we booked those 2 nights in a larger one bedroom suite at the Aston Waikiki Banyon. We now had all our accommodations covered. Things were still up in the air as to where to park at the airport or how to get to the airport as we needed 3 weeks parking and our flight left early on Saturday morning. We looked into limos, one way rental cars (no vans available for one way), busses from Vermont (didnt leave early enough to make our flights), etc. Driving ourselves was the only option and it was less expensive for us to book a room at a nearby hotel that included airport parking with a shuttle than it was to park at BOS for 3 weeks. So we would head to BOS the night before, get a good nights sleep before our very long flights to HNL. The rest of the family opted to drive to BOS leaving home at 3 AM and parking at the airport.
Details continued to fall into place over the coming months. We learned about the Go Oahu card which gives you selected free tours for whatever length of time you purchase the card for. It seemed like a good deal and we saw many tours that we would have booked anyway so we purchased the 5 day card for the 5 of us. I started roughing out a day by day itinerary not so much as a we must stick to this schedule kind of thing, but as a guide as many tours needed to be booked in advance. This did not sit well with my DB as he had no plans of abiding by a schedule, but planned to roll the dice and decide what to do on the fly. Since I have a type A personality flying by the seat of my pants with no plan at all did not seem like a wise decision. Dont tours fill up? What if I cant fit in those important things? So we agreed to disagree and they would do their thing and we would do ours. That left my parents in limbo so they decided that they would also get the 5 day Go Oahu card and tour with us. Things were really falling into place. I had booked rental cars early on, but as better deals manifested I cancelled and rebooked and luckily found a great short sale on minivans. I booked one for Oahu the first week then booked them for each port with the exception of Hilo which I had rented a 15 passenger van. Transportation was all set or so I thought. SIL did not look for deals ahead of time and therefore missed out on the minivan. She ended up renting a convertible for the week in Oahu. That would be a problem as there were 6 people with lots of luggage needing to fit into a convertible. We were arriving in Honolulu at 2 PM they were not arriving until 6 PM. What I had originally thought would be a quiet afternoon at Aulani with a grocery run would now mean a trip back to the airport to get my parents and luggage. That was a little bump in the planning which gave me anxiety. I had no idea if they had booked transportation for the other Islands, but I knew we were covered and I had booked them a minivan on Maui as we were doing a double vow renewal and I needed to make sure we were all there. Otherwise they could roll the dice.
Fast forward to July 27 Day 1
We had been pretty much packed for days and were itching to go. Dh was working today and we would leave once he came home. My plan was to have the house completely cleaned as I hate coming home to any messes and we were gone for a long time so I didnt want any fly issues etc. DH called home many times and was out for the day by 3 PM. His brain had been on vacation for days and he was also itching to go. We loaded up and headed out to Boston. We were ahead of traffic and on a Friday afternoon traffic isnt usually too bad into Boston, its getting out that takes forever. We arrived at the hotel, checked in and decided we needed some dinner. The front desk said it was a short walk to a Friendlys up the street. The street was actually a 4 lane sub divided highway that I would not recommend walking on. We never found the friendlys and our 9 year old would not consider stepping foot into Hooters. We ended up in a huge mall and ate at the food court. Now Im a small town Vermont girl and we do not have malls. Its an 1 ½ hour drive to the closest one and I find myself in shoppers paradise on day one of vacation. I did not shop, AT ALL. We walked back to the hotel and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics until lights out.
