Cook Islands.

Hey guys! It's been a bit since I've blogged - we recently went on a family vacation to the Cook Islands in March and it was a vacation we'll never forget. 

Tate went to the Cook Islands last Spring while I was on a girls trip to the Czech Republic. To be honest I couldn't have told you where he was on a map; I just knew he was going fishing (does that make me a bad wife?). When we both got home we shared some amazing pictures with each other and he told me that he had to take us back as a family someday (at the time I was 5 months pregnant with Daisy). So when we saw inexpensive flights to go back in March of 2018 we immediately booked tickets. 

The Cook Islands are a cluster of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, directly south of Hawaii. Most of the vacationers that visit are from either New Zealand or Australia because it isn't super easy for Americans to fly to. We flew from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Roratonga (the main islands of the Cooks), then Roratonga to Aitutaki. After layovers and such our total travel time was about 24 hours. Was it super easy flying with Daisy? NO. Would we do it again in a heartbeat? YES. 

^^When we landed in Roratonga it was a Sunday morning and there is very little to do because most of the people on the island are religious. So we rented a car and drove around. The drive around the entire island is only 26 miles. Wait until you hear how tiny Aitutaki is.

^^We showed Daisy the ocean and she was unsure of it at first. The water was really blue, but Tate just kept saying how it doesn't even compare to the water at Aitutaki.

^^We ended up driving around Rora a couple of times, enjoyed lunch near the airport, then boarded our flight to Aitutaki. This was the small plane that we boarded. 

^^This was our view from above of Aitutaki. (Photo credit here). Unfortunately Tate and I were sitting in the *two* seats that didn't have a window, wahh. The rest of the photos in this post belong to me :) Aitutaki is known as the "jewel" of the Cook Islands because it's a lagoon with the most beautiful natural blue water.

^^We were picked up at the small airport and drove a few minutes to our destination for the week: Aitutaki Village. It's a small "village" with several casitas, a restaurant, and a whole lot of lagoon. Our home for the week is the casita on the right of the photo.

^^This is one of the first pictures I took once we landed. Our casita was *literally* a twenty second walk to the beach. The restaurant at the Village actually sits over the water. I couldn't believe this was actually real! Tourist season hadn't start quite yet so there were only a few other families/couples at the Village for the week. 

^^Proof that the boys fished everyday while we relaxed at the beach. We'd wake up at about 7AM, eat breakfast with the boys, then watch them get on a boat and take off every morning.

^^The sunsets at night were incredible. We'd put Daisy to bed around 7PM and then we'd walk on the beach. Since our casita was so close to the beach I was able to carry around a baby monitor so I could watch her in case she woke up. 

I have so many pictures from Aitutaki so I'll be doing several posts from this vacation.