Hawaii

As a traveling wedding photographer, I’ve loved bringing my family when possible to my destinations. Hawaii was a dream and I couldn’t wait to show them. The last time I had been to Hawaii was for a girls’ trip when I was 18. This trip felt so different. There were the obvious reasons like carrying a double stroller on to the plane, but also getting to see the growth and change I’ve made in my life.

We stayed in a VRBO just steps from Waikiki beach for the first part of our trip. We spent mornings walking to get coffee and head to the beach to build sandcastles and eat Dole Whips. Our kids love the beach even though our home is about a 9 hour drive from the nearest beach. They seem to come alive. That week we snorkeled together, learned how pineapples grow, watched beautiful sunsets and talked about the future. My husband remarked at one point how sad he was that he had to work full time because he was missing watching our babes grow up. That was a bookmark moment for me, one that I would return to and make a point to continue adventuring once we got home.

Our second stop on the trip was Kauai - one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. You step out onto pristine land that looks untouched. Here we stayed at the Grand Hyatt on the south part of the island, but our last day out we trekked to the Naapali Coast and up to the north shore.

One of the highlights was getting to experience paradise from a child’s perspective. The kids spent time snorkeling and over-coming fears to be brave and just dive in. They tried new food (the shrimp scampi from the food trucks in the North Shore of Oahu is legendary), made new friends and chose to hike up mountains to find fun things like a hidden lighthouse. My favorite moment however was taking the kids to Pearl Harbor. Having been before, I understood the seriousness of the experience. As a history major however, I really wanted my children to get to see the sunken battleship and understand what happened here. When you sign up for a tour, they explain through a movie about the day and you see footage which has never been aired on public television. I was apprehensive that my children (ages 5 and 6) would sit through the film. I held my breath for what felt like it’s entirety. At the end of the film, the lights came up and Adam, my 5 year old exclaimed, “Well that was the worst movie ever!” He was met with quite a few chuckles, but he maintained a serious composure as we journeyed across the harbor on the boat. I remember very vividly he was looking through the center of the memorial down into the top of the battleship and beautiful schools of fish were flittering by. My sweet boy asked about life and death and considered how sad it must have been for all the soldiers’ family members who were so sad. I took a photo of the back of his curly head glancing out over the water and it will forever be one of my favorites. Since then, he has picked up a book on WWII and has been fascinated with the history.

My children would probably tell you that building volcanoes at kids’ camp was their favorite part. I can’t express enough the blessing for parents traveling for 10 days non stop with their kiddos to have a daycare center on the resort property. My kids loved it and so did we!

One day in particular, we were told of a “short” half mile hike to see a hidden light house. Once we started up the steep climb, we quickly realized this was a bit longer than half a mile. A mile and a half in we finally reached the top and spent the next 15 minutes rubbing out sore muscles and staring out at the Pacific. It felt like such a huge accomplishment, but taking kids half way around the world to experience something new and beautiful isn’t for the faint of heart.

91Traveling over 4000 miles is going to cause you to deal with some jet lag. I foolishly convinced my children to sleep on the flight over but when we landed at 1 a.m. Honolulu time, they were ready to go. So plan accordingly!

Our kids didn’t have iPads at the time, so I made sure to pack their bags carefully. They carried on backpacks full of candy, gum (for popping ears), stickers, markers, a change of clothes just in case and surprise bags.This always kept them pretty calm and happy.

Next year we are headed to Europe. We are shooting a wedding in Dublin, Ireland and plan to visit London, France and Italy over the course of 3 weeks. We’re so excited for what’s next and hope our kids enjoy the adventure. We’ve been reading books about Europe and checking out the sites on Google Earth, namely the Eiffel Tower!

Words and Photography by Michelle Leach