2015: Being Pregnant and Travelling to Hawaii with Children

The hubby's family took us on a Hawaiian vacation! It was awesome.

Saturday, August 29th:
Husband and I load up and go to pick up the girls who slept over at my parent's house, so we could finish packing and get some last minute things finished. I can't explain how wonderful it was to know the girls were having fun and also not getting under my feet while I made sure we had everything we needed. I recommend it to everyone.

Then we met up with husband's family and made a two car caravan trip to the Kansas City International airport. It was a pretty uneventful drive. The girls played, watched a little bit of a movie, colored, and the youngest napped.

Having fun with the air vents while we wait to get on our first flight.

We stopped around lunch time and ate some fast food and stretched our legs. This was the last meal we had until we reached Seattle. I don't know what I was thinking not packing more protein heavy snacks for my 27 week pregnant self, but I'm not perfect and I can't remember everything. Let's just say that crackers and raisins were not going to cut it and by the time we landed in Seattle I was hurtling moving suitcases to make it to the bathroom in time to dry-heave and vomit the sprite and water I had been drinking in an attempt to quiet my nauseous stomach. It wasn't pretty. I finally got something significant to eat around 8:30pm (Pacific time; 10:30pm Central time). We put the girls to bed and crashed right along with them.

After that first day of travel I took my nutritional needs into my own hands for the rest of the trip. In hindsight, I should have ordered something on the plane, but I just didn't realize how long it would be before I had the opportunity to eat a meal again that evening. Lesson learned.

Sunday, August 30th:
We got up early to catch a shuttle bus to the airport from our hotel. As soon as we got through security I found something to eat for myself and the girls. I also ordered food on the flight. And I did not vomit when we arrived in Honolulu! I still wasn't feeling awesome on Sunday, but I didn't have another day as bad as Saturday for the remainder of the trip.

 The flight from Seattle to Honolulu was definitely the worst leg of the trip for our youngest traveler. When we first got going the pilot announced that it would be an 8 hour and 20 minute flight. My heart dropped out of my chest and I almost lost it. I had prepared myself mentally for 5 or 6 hours, but I knew we wouldn't make it 8. Luckily, and much to my relief, the flight attendant corrected the pilot's mistake and announced our 5 hr 20 min flight time.

The last two hours of the flight Amelia was starting to get restless, whiny, grouchy, and uncooperative. It was nap time. So husband and I began to try and convince her that a nap would make her feel better. I even had her laying on Jared's lap at one point and rubbing her feet. Of course, that is the exact time that sister started making requests for some toy and Amelia decided that nap time was not for her. I tried to hold her, Jared tried to hold her, we tried reason, we tried bribes, we tried everything. The more time that went by the louder Amelia's resistance became until she was in full tantrum, not going to listen to anything, toddler mode...on the airplane. Trapped 30,000 ft in the air, in a metal tube; surrounded by judgmental, advice-giving strangers. Jared finally took her to the bathroom, disciplined her for her disobedience, and rocked her until she gave up and crashed. It took an excruciatingly long time. And we spent the rest of the flight feeling mortified and embarrassed while simultaneously looking at our sleeping daughter and wondering how that gigantic fit could come out of such a small sweet, sleeping thing.

Sleeping after an epic nap battle on the plane.

We finally landed in Oahu, picked up rental cars, and made the excruciating trip through Honolulu traffic to our resort. It was around 1:30pm when we landed and a few hours later once we finally reached Aulani, the Disney resort, where we would be staying for the remainder of the week.

Taking in the view from our balcony.

Thankfully because we ate and resistantly napped on the flight we were able to put our bathing suits on and go enjoy the pool area for a while. Then we ate dinner and attempted to go to the resort luau that was happening that evening. It was immediately evident that taking our two travel weary, sleep deprived daughters to anything where they would have to listen or behave was the worst idea ever, so our little family of four went back to the room and went to bed while the rest of our travel group stayed for part of the show.

Next Post: 5 Days and Nights in Honolulu, Hawaii