Something A Little Different

It all started in December 2015. It was Christmas Day and, as usual, I showered my kids with an abundance of gifts they didn't really need.  My daughter spoke up and said, "Mom, next year, instead of giving us all of these gifts, why don't we do something a little different?  Why don't we just save the money and go on a big family vacation?  If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?  What would you choose?"  And so a plan was hatched.  The idea was to spend some time during the coming year (2016) researching and planning and then instead of doing the usual gift buying, our Christmas 2016 gifts would be "things we could use on the trip"! We chose Hawaii and the target date - April 2017. Thus began the planning of our big family vacation.  

Christmas 2016 rolled around and, since we weren't doing the usual display of boxes, I planned a Hawaiian themed morning, complete with matching t-shirts and photo booth.

 

Even Cassie got in on the action!

 

We played Island games like The Big Kahuna. (Bobby won.)

 

Then we opened gifts. Well, I wasn't going to totally eliminate Christmas!  Everybody got a stocking full of travel goodies and one small gift (sandals, underwater camera accessories, portable hiking sticks...) 

 

As for our big trip items, our gift to the kids: lodging in Hawaii, Jenny and Bobby gifted us the rental car, and Jeff would be providing some of the meals.  We were all set and waiting for April 2017. And now after 16 months of planning, dreaming, and making out my Hawaii bucket list, April has arrived!  The bags are packed and we're ready for our Big Family Vacation on the Big Island!