I recently took a two week vacation with Charlie who was one month at the time, and Ayla at the very trying age of 19 months. Along for the ride was my husband, and my two parents who fulfilled their roles as doting grandparents. Our destination? Hawaii. Namely the Big Island and Maui. Although the mere mention of Hawaii conjures up images of a tropical paradise, our vacation was anything but.

Was our vacation horrible? No, but it definitely was not paradise. Let’s just say that on the long flight from our wintry home in Canada, a very kind stewardess slipped my husband a complimentary bottle of vodka to go with his orange juice. She said, “Here, I think you’ll need this.” Boy, did he ever.