vacation with kids
like home but with more yelling
and less relaxing
Mike and I have not taken very many vacations, and even fewer since the kiddos were born. That is mostly because we are unwilling to spend the money required to go on a vacation (also, it's hard to spend that which you do not have (though I have been trying...)).
The trip that Mom and I took to Vegas last week is the basis for the haiku above. I felt like all I did the entire trip was yell at Emily. I know that we both had a good time, but with her schedule so off and less sleep happening for all of us, tempers were a little short.
In spite of my perception of family vacations, Mike and I both are looking forward to taking our girls on fun family vacations when they get a little older. We've talked at length about buying a camper of some kind so that we could go on trips and not spend a fortune on food and lodging.
I remember going on trips with my parents, especially my Michigan parents. Every summer, when I was visiting them they would take me (and usually my cousin Jenny) on a trip. We went up to Mackinack Island, to the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and to Battle Creek. We also made at least one trip to Cedar Point.
Those trips with my parents are some of my fondest memories of my childhood. One vacation to Lake Superior has become something of a family legend.
When I was in 3rd grade, I got a retainer of sorts. It was called a bionator and it was intended to help correct my underbite. When I got it my mom had a long talk with me about keeping it safe and making sure I didn't lose it. That message really got through. I think it was the threat that if I lost it (I think she meant if I wrapped it in a napkin and it was thrown away) she was going to make me pay for it.
So, I am at Lake Superior with my dad and stepmom. I wade out into the water and am playing. As I remember it, a wave came up and caught me off guard. Somehow, the bionator flew out of my mouth and plunk! landed in the water.
I promptly fuh-reaked out. I was sobbing and crying about losing the bionator (and telling my parents "You don't understand! I have to pay to replace it! I don't have that kind of money!"). My poor dad waded out into the water where I had been and searched for it for easily 45 minutes. In case you aren't familiar with Lake Superior, it is the coldest of the 5 Great Lakes. My dad said he lost the feeling in his feet after 5 minutes, but kept searching anyways, just in case.
I remember, very clearly, sitting in the motel room that night, calling my mom to tell her that I had lost my bionator in Lake Superior.
I am sure that I added my own special brand of chaos to each of my family's vacations when I was a kid, just as Emily and Lucy added their special chaotic touches while we were in Vegas. I especially appreciated how Lucy would start SCREAMING whenever we had my aunt in the car. Emily usually started crying, too. We'd be driving down the street (and remember it took us at least an hour to get anywhere in Vegas) with at least one, if not both children sobbing. I always sat in the far back seat of the van, with the kids in front of me. I spent at least one trip from Joyce's to Erica's house out of my seat belt, so I could keep putting the pacifier back in Lucy's mouth. My current plan for avoiding vacation chaos is to go on our next family vacation when the kids are at least 30.
If you have watched Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s “Vacation” and not recognized your own family in the Griswolds, then you haven’t taken a real family vacation. Because no matter how carefully you plan, chaos will befall you - although hopefully it won’t be as extreme as the chaos that the Griswolds seem to attract.
Now’s your chance to write your own vacation story for Parent Bloggers Network and PickPackGo and win an 8" Sony portable DVD player for your next family trip!
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