We were lucky enough to be able to schedule a trip back to Honolulu to visit Jason's hometown. We last visited two years ago, when Seth was just shy of two-years-old, and we had a wonderful time. We decided it was time for another visit, one that Seth would remember (he "remembers" our first trip through pictures and video), as well as a chance to introduce Evan to Hawaiʻi.

We were also lucky enough to be able to share the trip with our mothers. My mother, Henriette, flew out with us and stayed with us for the first week. Jason's mother, Judy, flew out on her own, and after visiting with her good friends, stayed with us for the second week. It was wonderful having our mothers along, so much fun, and they were such a big help! Finally, we were lucky enough to be hosted once again by Anne and Tom - parents of our dear friend, Cathy. Anne and Tom have hosted us many times before, and they are the most wonderful, gracious hosts around. They make us feel like part of their family, and we always have such a great time when we stay with them. Thanks again, Anne and Tom!

We had to take three flights to connect all the way through to Honolulu, and let's just say it was a long trip! We were so lucky to always have a third adult flying with us (thanks, Geema and Grams!). We made quite a picture as we hoofed it through the airport. Jason definitely earns his title of "Chief Schlepper" on this trip - he wore Seth's heavy, 30-pound carseat on his back (came with back-pack straps), and hooked up Evan's carseat to our roller-bag and pushed this contraption with Evan strapped in! I couldn't believe there was a strap you could buy expressly for this purpose, but Jason found it, and it was incredibly sturdy. Evan loved looking out at the airport from his special vantage point.

We had some difficulty on all of the flights because when we booked the tickets online, there was nothing that told us that carseats could only be strapped into seats where they didn't block the aisle (even if they were only blocking one of us). We couldn't get the seats switched ahead of time (even though we asked), so our only recourse was to beg the flight attendants/travelers to switch seats with us. We were really popular on all these flights. On one particular flight we were definitely "that family" - the one that holds up the flight, makes everyone switch seats, has a crying (adorable!) baby. But what could we do? It all worked out (I am oversimplifying here), and we made it to Hawaiʻi.

Both boys were troopers on the flights. Seth did really well - we had packed his red backpack full of items to keep him busy, and he sat with my mom on all the flights. They had a great time! Evan had a harder time - try explaining to a 14-month old why we are on and off of airplanes for 14 hours! He did such a good job given the circumstances. At one point while in his carseat, he amused himself with a plastic cup for 45 minutes! We were very glad we had the boys' carseats with us, despite all the hassle, because the boys slept in them, and they are just so much more secure to strap them in when there is turbulence. And there was quite a bit of turbulence on the last flight into Oʻahu, as there was quite a bit of constant rain, very unusual for Hawaiʻi, that stayed with us for the first several days of our trip.