1. It takes two days to fully give in to vacation mode, so plan accordingly. This is how long it takes to deprogram yourself from the schedule and rules that seem so important when you’re at home.
2. Then, it will take two full weeks to “un-vacation” yourself. Hence, the suitcases remain half packed and home cooked dinners seem highly overrated.
3. The whining and fighting that takes place over whose turn it is to press the elevator button…well, that’s just part of vacation with kids. Get used to it.
4. At times you may wish your family vacation was actually a quiet getaway for two. Then…well, your kids do or say something incredibly heartwarming, like “this is the best day ever!”. This seems to make up for not sipping bottomless tropical drinks while relaxing on the beach. Instead, you’re drinking juice boxes, munching on sand covered sandwiches, building sandcastles, and digging the “biggest hole ever”.
And, for the most part, you wouldn’t trade those moments for anything.
5. Just when you think you have absolutely run your kids ragged after a day at the beach, they will wake up the next morning with just as much, if not more, energy as before. Meanwhile, you and the hubs feel like you’ve been hit by a mack truck and can barely peel yourselves out of bed.
6. Ice cream always tastes better on vacation. Wine does too for that matter.
7. No matter what you do or where you go for vacation, it’s the small moments that linger and stay with you. Moments like eating dinner with the kids after dark, with waves crashing in the background and your table lit up by a lantern. Moments spent “saving” your children from the approaching waves and basking in their squeals of delight. Or, unexpected moments, like breakfast at midnight in a random restaurant along the long road back to home.
8. You could have had the most wonderful, most relaxing, and most incredible vacation ever and still…nothing will feel sweeter than laying your head on your own pillow, in your own bed, once you finally get home.
We’re back from a wonderful, albeit exhausting vacation! What are your truths about vacation and kids?
Definitely difficult, rarely relaxing, but so worth doing.
Thank goodness someone else's children fight over the elevator buttons.
It's actually been years since we have had a family vacation further away than the local state park. Hopefully, when residency is done, there will be a vacation that includes a beach.
i just got back from a week long "vacation" with my kiddos while my husband was on a mission trip to guatemala. let me just say that he went to a foreign country for 7 days….he packed a duffel bag. the kids and i went 6 hours south (so we never even left the state of florida!) for 5 days. i wondered if there was going to be room in the suburban for the kids after i got finished packing!
And the thing with vacation with kids, is that you never remember the silly arguments about how pressed the elevator button but you always think back to how awesome it was!
Melissa, I love this! Makes me wish we were going on a family vacation this summer. We did that over spring break and are a little overspent. Maybe we can do some hotel weekends and at least experience the fight over elevator buttons…and feel like we've had a real summer!
It sounds like you had a great time! I'm really blessed, because my daughter loves to travel and does great! We have a lot of fun going on vacation!
I definitely agree with the one about ice cream (& wine!) and that while vacation is great – its even better to be home in your own bed!
We have rented a cabin for a long weekend in July. Its right off the beach and in a cute little beach town. There are a few things to do but it'll be nice just to have a couple of fun days at the beach!
Super funny. The build-up – planning, packing and preparation – take so much energy, I find I'm extra tired on my trip. Two weeks would be ideal to chill out!
Having just returned to New England for a week with an overenergetic 2 1/2 yo, I'm ready for a break. My single friends thought I'd drank all week and relaxed. HAH!
The best part of the trip were the times we played together as a family in the woods, on the beach, in a sandbox. I love disconnecting from my technology and listening, watching and laughing.
Is it worth the rough flying experience? YES!
#6 Yes and yes
And those small moments are everything.
Spot on. Especially #8. There is ultimately no place I find that I love more than home, and all the memories in it. That said, I can't wait for the next chance for us to get away. It's been a long time…