Back to the Island- Taking My Kids Home

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Can you believe it has been ten years since Ive been back home to visit?

I feel like thats a common statement for many who’ve moved away from home. Yet my “home” is Maui! 

How could I not go back to visit? 

Life happens, college, hygiene school, babies, jobs, military, kids, money!

Well we are FINALLY going back to visit next month. 

This will be my kids first time there, my husbands second. Not to mention the kids first EVER flight.

Taking My Kids Home | East Valley Moms Blog 

There are so many emotions that go along with this trip yet excitement trumps them all. Im going HOME! This is where I grew up, where I went to school, played sports, made friends. Most of my family still lives there and many of the friends I grew up with. It almost feels like a different lifetime when I lived there. Granted I moved away at 18yrs old, so much has changed. Not only personally for me, so much growing up, but home as well. Theres new roads, buildings, things have disappeared, time did not stand still. Priorities were different for my 18 yr old self as opposed to my mom self now. There is a different list of things I want to do and see, experience and eat, then when I lived there. 

I will be going back as a tourist. Never in all the years living there did I really play tourist. Maybe because I was a teenager and didn’t truly appreciate what I had. Some things Im most excited about:

 The weather – cool and breezy (not a hot blow dryer like AZ) and maybe some rain

The beaches – lets just say California beaches aren’t “true” beaches when you grew up with Maui sands. I’ll be happy if this is all we do.

Food – I don’t even know where to begin, but yes Spam is on the list

Sunsets – although Arizona could give a Hawaiian sunset a run for its money

Family – My Mom, Dad, oldest brother – this time we get to visit on their turf

Friends – a handful of girls I grew up with and went through a ton together, all mamas now and so excited to meet their littles. 

 While I’ll be playing tourist and visiting places I may not have ever while living there, my vacation is more about sharing my childhood with my kids. The music, the slower pace of life, white beach sands,  salty air, lush greenery, and even the roads. It’s a different way of life, almost a different world. 
 
 I think it’s important for my kids to experience a different culture that played a role in who I am today. Being able to appreciate the differences in other people and places. 
 
Have you taken your kids back to your hometown? 
How amazing was it the first time?

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