Kauai

Coming to Hawaii has usually been a family affair. My family, along with my uncle's family has been descending on the islands every few years for the last 18 years. My grandmother began the tradition in 1994 by taking her descendants to Maui as a way to spend more time together. We've visited Kauai, the Big Island and now back to Kauai. My grandmother was only with us for the first two trips, but the tradition continued. This year is the 100th anniversary of her birth.
Every trip has included a different set of cousins (for various reasons) and has now included various significant others of my generation. The current youngest generation (of which there is only 1 at the moment) has yet to come to Hawaii but I'm sure there will be more opportunities in the future.
Our accommodations have ranged from condos to houses where there aren't enough beds to our current location of more rooms than we actually need and so big we get lost.
This year was the first year that my generation really took more of an active role in planning, instead of letting our parents decide everything (or just assuming that our parents would do everything). Before we even got onto the airplane there was a spreadsheet about who was bringing which game, a spreadsheet with which person was cooking which night and what groceries needed to be purchased, and another spreadsheet with everyone's contact info. Of course there was also the copious amounts of emails that filled inboxes with important details and inane, yet hilarious, banter. All of this made me only love my family more.

Some gratuitous Hawaii photos below!




Sleeping monk seal!





Dolphins!




Ziplining!




And sunsets, we can't forget the sunsets...