You probably won't believe this, but this was my FIRST time ever going to Hawaii! And it did NOT disappoint. We brought our two littles along and also kevin's parents (also their first time!). We rented an Airbnb which was perfect for us! It was in Hau'ula (near North Shore) which was a good spot for us as a home base.

I can't believe it's been almost a year since we traveled to France! It was a 14 day trip (sans kids!!) with my brother and sister in law. We had such a fun time! I think France in May was perfect weather and good timing for avoiding the high tourist season. We scored an amazing deal on our roundtrip tickets (only $408 each!) We decided that we wanted to take the 14 days to fully experience all parts of France, with one exception of visiting Geneva, Switzerland for a day - which I wish we had planned one extra day for that but oh well, we'll just have to travel back there ;)

last month i traveled with some girl friends to Bali for a girls trip! our husbands get to go on a guys trip at the end of the summers for work. the past several years they've gone to hawaii and this year was to the dominican republic, so we figured us ladies deserved our own girls trip! ;) we ended up finding an awesome groupon deal to BALI and figured, why not go?! go big or stay home, am i right?!

While visiting our friends in baltimore, we decided to take a little drive to Annapolis one evening. i wish we had more time to spend there, but with the time we had, it was enjoyable.

a couple weeks ago we went on vacation to Destin, FL and my goodness, I don't think beaches can be any better than there! the sand felt like you were walking on flour and it looked like sugar. seriously, the prettiest sand i've ever seen! we stayed in a house right on the beach with kevin's brother's family and his parents. colsen LOVED being around his cousins and enjoyed playing in the sand and the water. we pretty much lived on the beach for the 5 days since it was just right out the back door. i loved visiting destin. i definitely would want to go back!

our first stop in california was san francisco. we didn't have too much time to spend there. the only thing we had planned for sure was touring Alcatraz. a few summers ago when we lived in california, i went to san francisco a few times, so i was able to see most of the popular tourist sites. this time around, we decided to tour alcatraz, walk around fisherman's wharf and eat at our favorite place, boudin. their sourdough bread is amazing!

remember that one time we went on a babymoon to costa rica?! well i'm finally posting the photos! looking back at all these images really makes me miss that place. we were there for 9 days and loved every minute of it. i'm so glad we decided to do a babymoon vacation to get away from the colder utah weather, spend time together before the baby and it was really fun going with my parents! we love traveling with them.

click below to read about our adventures there + see sun filled images of palm trees, beaches, cute animals and a (much smaller than it is now) preggo bump ;)

before we headed back home to the states (after leaving poland), we stayed a night in copenhagen. this time it was my mom, kevin and i since my dad left to ireland for a business trip. so the three of us enjoyed visiting the second oldest theme park in the world, Tivoli. it was amazing! the park was built in 1843 and the rides were the originals. i wish we could have stayed until dark to see the place all lit up, but we didn't have time to. we just enjoyed walking around the park's gardens, listening to some live bands play and seeing all the different themes of rides and spots around the park.   

our last stop in poland was the city Gdańsk, located next to the baltic sea. we spent about three days in the area exploring and enjoying the city. unfortunately, it was pretty rainy the days we were there, so i didn't take as many photos on my camera as i would have; but luckily i remembered to snap some on my iphone (hence the lack of quality in the images above). i really liked Gdańsk - the plaza was fun to walk around and window shop. we tried out a few of the restaurants there and walked around the waterfront.

this castle was incredible! we did the self guided tour and it took us about 3 1/2 hours. my parents went on the tour with a tour guide and it took them even longer. the crazy thing is that we only got to see a small portion of the castle during that time. the malbork castle is the largest castle in the world by surface area, and the largest brick building in Europe!

after visiting warsaw, we drove our rental car through the town Toruń on our way to northern poland. it rained on us while we were there, so we walked through the town and explored for a bit before getting back into the car. i didn't know this, but nicolaus copernicus was born in toruń! we stopped and took some pictures in front of the statue of him in the main square.

warsaw was a fun place to visit with so many sights to see. we stayed at an air b&b apartment very close to the main square. we enjoyed walking around the streets exploring and trying new restaurants. i loved the variations of colorful buildings. 

the next city we visited after zakopane was Łódź. we spent the night at this amazing hotel that was made in an old textile mill building. this was the nicest hotel i've ever stayed at! when kevin was living in poland, he made a goal to one day bring his wife here. (check!)