Team Howerton: Hawaii Family Vacation 2011

My mom called mid March to tell me they had booked a condo in Maui at the Marriott Ocean Club Resort for 2 weeks in July and were looking at airline tickets if we were interested in going with. Joel being due May 6, there was just no way I could commit…way too many unknowns! I just hated we were going to miss out…neither of us had been to Hawaii before.
Joel arrived happy and healthy a week earlier than his “due date” on April 29, 2011! We were in and out of the hospital with no issues…I couldn’t have asked for a better delivery/recovery! By the end of June I was rethinking my decision to decline the trip. ;-) After talking to a couple friends that lived in Maui and several others that had visited, I was VERY SERIOUSLY reconsidering. Jon was on board to look for airline tickets and…we booked our flights the beginning of July! We were definitely nervous about the very long flights and enduring such a dramatic time change with 2 babies less than 2 years old but…we were doing it! I was off work on leave already, we had family there to support us with baby help and we couldn’t be sure we’d have a second chance for a trip like this!
The boys did AMAZING flying!! I was SUCH a proud mommy! :) I must mention that AA has the BEST flight attendants when flying with children. GINGER was our favorite…she was WONDERFUL with both boys and they absolutely LOVED her! She was on both flights (going and coming home) which was a total blessing to us!
My Uncle Rikki and Aunt Sharon stayed with my parents and brother, Kevin, the first week of the Maui trip and we joined them for the 2nd week. We had one night with all and it happened to be Kevin’s 14th birthday! We had a great time celebrating with everyone and we were so thankful we got to see Rikki & Sharon for a bit before they flew back to Texas!
The week flew by and Jon and I are SO glad we decided to go AND that we brought the boys! We made such unforgettable memories and my family was a HUGE help!! Our only wish was that we could have stayed longer!! :)

I'm posting a slideshow of pictures in a post but here's a handful...there are just so many it's hard to choose!! :)