Today I am so excited to be featuring a post from Keryn at Walkingon Travels. Keryn's motto is to not let your kids stop your wanderlust and being a mom to two wonderful boys certainly hasn't stopped her travels. She just recently welcomed her newest little traveler and I can't wait to see where her next adventures will take her.
Remembering Maui: Our Five Month Adventurer
I remember the day I found out I was pregnant again. My reaction was so different from the first time I was pregnant with my son Dek. I looked at the test, put it down, and thought, OK, so where should we go after the baby is born. With Dek, I stood in my hallway in a numb panic. I had no idea what was to come and surely my life was over, but it wasn’t. When my brain came down from the rush of fear and endorphins, I got down to work. I had a post-baby trip to plan and nothing was going to stop me from proving to the world that I could travel again, no matter how much luggage and baby gear it took.
My husband and I tossed around a few trip ideas. He knew I needed to stay preoccupied with something other than my fear of giving birth so he played along. A colleague convinced him that Maui was the perfect place to take an infant. I was easily convinced that a beach holiday in winter was the way to go. I started researching and planning like mad. No one knew more about the rental properties and sights to see than me by the time Dek was born.
In February 2010 we hopped on a plane with our 5-month-old son. I didn’t end up packing every piece of baby gear plus the kitchen sink. In fact I’m quite proud that we still managed to pack the exact number of bags we had pre-baby, we just added in a diaper bag. It still seems like we brought his entire nursery with us though. Thankfully we could rent a lot of baby gear on the island, so we didn’t have to drag a crib down, just our car seat and stroller. We couldn’t possibly live without that and get through the airport in one piece. Naturally I ended up carrying Dek in my Ergo baby carrier the whole time.
Once we arrived I realized I had no idea what to do with all of the research I had done. Sure I knew what to do on the island but what could I do with a baby in Maui. Apparently just about anything. We didn’t do any deep-sea exploration, but we did go on a fabulous whale watching tour. Dek got his first glimpse of aquatic life at the Maui Ocean Center. He dipped his toes in some of the bluest ocean he ever saw and fell asleep on the beach countless times. He was in his own little version of paradise; new sights, mom and dad by his side, water to splash and warm air he could roll around naked in.
I was also in my own version of heaven. I proved to myself that we could keep up with our travels. We didn’t have to stop our lives just because Dek had come into it. He could simply come along with us. Sure my husband and I couldn’t swim with dolphins or go snorkeling together for a little while, but that didn’t mean we had to miss out on everything.
The beauty of traveling with Dek at such a young age is that we were exposed to activities we may never had done. We hopped in our car and drove for miles. We took the road to Hana to see the black sand beach and hidden waterfalls. I accidentally drove usaround the entire northwest side of the island. If Dek hadn’t fallen asleep in the car we might not have discovered the best banana bread I have ever eaten or picked up some passion fruit butter to take home.
As the birth of my second son looms overhead, literally any day now, I’m already plotting and planning our next trip, or should I say trips. I have three in the works including an extended stay in Europe and (fingers crossed) a trip down to the island of Kauai for a little R&R before the New Year. Without that first trip to Maui with Dek I’m not sure how our travels would have played out. Would I have let fear take over or just said enough is enough and dragged us somewhere eventually? I like to think I would have gotten bored pretty quickly sitting at home and in my office. I tend get antsy and hop on a plane.
More about Keryn
Mom and active blogger, Keryn Means left the publishing world in 2011 to take care of her growing family and follow her passion for travel. A native of Philadelphia, she spends her days exploring her new home in Seattle with her toddler son and anxiously awaits the arrival of her second born due in late April. When her son is asleep you can find her editing photos and writing away on Walkingon Travels. Keryn follows the mantra that just because you have kids doesn’t mean you have to put your travel dreams aside, if anything they just get bigger and more exciting.
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I love Keryn's mantra. Traveling with two only gets more exciting. I am such a firm believer on traveling with children and not putting your travel dreams on the back burner. Great post.