Almost three weeks ago, we got up early, put all our little boys in their matching blue shirts, threw a few last things in our checked bag, and corralled said boys for a quick picture before heading to the airport.

Destination: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

(I highly recommend the matching shirts, by the way. Easy to keep track of, and they pretty much guarantee cute pictures and fun comments along the way.)

I don't remember when we started planning this trip, but it was quite a while ago. Eric wanted to go to a warm beach; I didn't want to fly all the way to Florida. I didn't realize at the time that a straight-through flight to either Florida or Hawaii from PDX was really comparable time-wise. Florida just felt much further away. 🙂

When we'd finally saved enough travel rewards to get our tickets, I still wasn't sure I wanted to commit to a five-and-a-half-hour flight with three little kids for "no" reason, but commit we did. Our boys were so excited. They had been talking and continued talking about going to Hawaii for months before we left.

The good thing about traveling with kids is that you go into it expecting it to be hard, and if it's not as hard as you thought it'd be, then you're pleasantly surprised and it actually feels like a vacation; and if it's as hard as you thought it'd be, then you're ready for it, and it's easier to ride the waves of big emotions and late nights and upended schedules without feeling like you're not getting your "dues" of rest and relaxation.

I'd say this trip was definitely more riding the waves than resting, but that's okay. I think the key to traveling with children is remembering that the hard moments will end and that you'll still have really cute kids at the end of it, as well as some wonderful memories and hopefully a whole lot of photos. I know we have all of the above!

Anyway, what was originally planned as just a quick vacation for our little family eventually grew to include all of Eric's local siblings and those attached to them (Hi, Abby!). Turns out a bunch of uncles and aunts are really handy to have on the beach. 🙂

Back to our travel day though . . . here's a few snapshots from that.

Little boys riding in the front of the shuttle bus.

Husband single-handedly hauling three car seats, a large suitcase, and a backpack while also helping to keep track of two rambunctious boys.

Three little boys in matching shirts doing what you do at the airport.

Until it was not what you do, and they were wildly running every which way, yelling and making way too much noise, and there was only me there to chase after them all because Eric had gotten an important work call. Whew!

Three little boys in matching shirts, no longer wild and woolly but sleeping peacefully all in a row.

Two little boys in front of the plane that had finally brought them to the long-awaited Hawaii.

Waiting in the heat at the rental car agency was probably the hardest part of the whole day, especially since I hadn't thought to refill the water bottles while we were still at the airport. It was so hot and sweaty, and Alec just had to have water, but I didn't have any. Sebastian was pretty good except for when he wasn't, and when he wasn't, it was kind of major. Like knocking over the table major. Knocking over the car seat carrier and spilling car seats all over the place major. And Emmett wanted to run, but the car lot was right there, and the shuttle buses were pulling in and out, and he had to be content with climbing around on a slatted little bench that kept trapping his leg or his arm and making him mad.

We did finally get our car though, and we did finally get to our lovely rooms (thank you, Dad and Mom Baer, for letting us use your timeshare). There were flowers and palm trees and all kinds of interesting plants, and we had a fountain right outside our front door, and we had AC right inside our front door, and it was so good to finally be somewhere. 🙂

Of course, with a five-year-old and a four-year-old we couldn't just settle in and relax for the rest of the evening though. They were there to go to the beach! Eric found one nearby, Magic Sands Beach. We went and checked it out, but it was super busy.

We were all up by 5am or earlier the next morning, so back to Magic Sands we went, thinking to catch the sunrise. Alas, we were on the wrong side of the island. The sky was still just gorgeous though! I think these are some of my favorite scenery pictures from the whole trip.

The last time we were in Hawaii was on our honeymoon. Just look at us now. 🙂

It goes without saying, and yet isn't part of the reason we were created to say it? Thank You, Father, for this extraordinary life . . . for these darling, beautiful boys . . . for their handsome, amazing daddy . . . for breath and health and love and happiness . . . for this incredible world You created for us. Thank You.

And maybe that's a good place to end this post. I have more pictures though, so stick around. 🙂