so i thought...

brandon & i FINALLY scheduled a summer vacation for our family for next month. actually, all we did was schedule time off from work. since we haven't taken off more than a day or two from work since our honeymoon, we are stoked for the upcoming break! however, we don't want to blow all of our savings on a week of fun, so we have decided to stay on-island during the vacay. i was very reluctant about not going anywhere "exciting" during our time off, but brandon always has a way of putting things back into perspective.

i used to be under the impression that a real vacation needed to include reservations at a big, fancy resort...or a week of excitement at a roller-coaster infested theme park. but mostly i thought it should be a hop, skip, and a plane ride over to the mainland... aka - off the rock of o'ahu. but we are staying home during our vacation. i know, "hooooome" can sound depressing when you aren't planning to go anywhere else on vacation time from work. but duh! our home IS on one of the biggest vacation hot-spots in the world!!! what was i thinking? yes...i was thinking i see this stuff every day (or at least almost every weekend).

...i was thinking the beach would be just another weekend type day for our son.



...i was thinking we'd end up wasting our days off in front of the tube.


but, thanks to my practical, money-saving hubs, i have since come to the realization that vacations are as wonderful as you make them to be - no matter where you are or what you do. and this is the list that we came up with for our 11 day vacation...

• hit up the bishop museum to see the "backyard monsters" insect exhibit.
• visit the children's discovery center so ahonui can freely explore without me worrying.
• take ahonui to the honolulu zoo for the first time!
• check out the waikiki aquarium to show ahonui what nemo really looks like.
• go to wet'n'wild hawaii (previously known as hawaiian adventures waterpark) for some fun in the sun
• soak up some world war II history at the pearl harbor memorial
• enjoy a day at waimea beach and some local kine shave ice at matsumotos.

i think it's safe to say that our days won't be wasted. any other suggestions?