My husband and I were world travelers before our world was consumed with the needs of our kids, and our vacations turned into the laughable schlepping of pack and plays and car seats, teether crackers and coloring books. We went from meandering through foreign cities all day to wasting away our time in dark hotel rooms while the kids napped, from long, leisurely late-night dinners out to post-sunset bottle washing in hotel bathroom sinks. Everyone said we could never truly go on a vacation with kids.
There just had to be a better way.
Enter: The Kanini Estate, a big, beautiful villa, located on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island.

We had never vacationed in a house before. Despite the popularity of AirBnB and VRBO, I felt icked out at the thought of staying anywhere but a hotel room. And I figured I would feel oddly isolated in a home outside of a hotel, and disappointed without the comforts a hotel provides. Little did I know, an incredibly luxurious, comfortable, connecting, and ease-filled vacation could be in a villa just like this.
The Kanini Estate has 8 bedrooms, each with a king-sized bed — so we could bring family, friends and even our nanny.
Complete with a pool and a hot tub, a big, gourmet kitchen, an outdoor grill and bar, game room, gym, views of the ocean, sky-high ceilings, and a shaded, pool-side lanai, it was stocked with everything we needed for beach days, pool time and more (umbrellas, beach chairs, pool noodles, boogie boards—you name it).

With grandparents, aunts and uncles in tow, we had built-in support for long days with the kids, and the kids could play with their friends and cousins. We were able to set up baby monitors and lounge at the pool while the kids napped. We weren’t running back and forth for a forgotten bottle, toy or snack, and we had everything we needed right there. Midday quesadilla for a kid? Check. Games for some adult afternoon fun? Check. Enclosed grassy space for the kids to run around? Check. Dinners around a 16-person table, s’mores around a fire pit, tiki torches flickering? Check, check, check!
And we were hardly isolated. We were under the same roof as people we love, and with whom we spend far too little time. There isn’t much better than my kids making breakfast with their grandparents, or waking to my mom and sister doing yoga in the yard at sunrise, or hopping in the golf cart with my Dad to get our favorite coffee, or listening to the pitter patter and giggles of all of the cousins playing together, or toasting with our friends in the hot tub — essentially connecting on a level we never could in our normal daily life. And thanks to the spaciousness of the estate, we had breathing room, too. We could retreat to our various spaces whenever we needed.

My husband and I aren’t traipsing through cinque terra or helicoptering from Nice to Monte Carlo like we used to in the good ole days, but we have a different vacation style for this life chapter and it’s magical in its in own way.
And with our new-found discovery came the realization that we can mark more special occassions away, too. One year, we had Thanksgiving at The Kanini Estate; we hired a local chef to make a delicious and gorgeous Thanksgiving feast. We ate it pool-side after taking beautiful, color-coordinated family photos to capture our time together in the yard.
Another year, my husband and I invited a handful of families to join us for a week of fun and sun for my husband’s birthday. We marked his birthday with an Olympics-style competition on property, rotating between ping pong, pool, corn hole, and shuffleboard, followed by my husband’s famous chicken, grilled outside with friends and beers around the fire pit, the palm trees rustling in a star-studded sky.

All I can say is that I can’t wait to get back; maybe a trip with kids can be a sort of vacation after all.