Redondo Beach, CA--May 30th, 2013
Of course that night, I bugged Mike about it, and am ashamed to admit I have continued to bug him about it every so often since that end of year meeting. "Bugging him", meaning, I lament to him that we never take the time or money to go on a "real vacation" and that one day we'll regret it, etc. etc. He reminds me that everyday memories are just as important and even though we might not do "real vacations", we do plenty of other good things to build memories.
With that said, it's pretty easy to surmise that although Mike was in complete agreement about our most recent "vacation", I initiated it.
And so I blame myself.
Actually, I blame him as well. After all, he could have said no it would be too expensive, or too difficult to take time off work, or too hard to manage 5 kids, or whatever excuses
But he was in complete agreement with it.
Then the "vacation" happened.
And well, um, let's put it this way, it wasn't exactly a vacation.
It bordered slightly on the "miserable" scale. I can't even count the number of times Mike and I looked at each other, and without even saying a word, read each other's thoughts and knew what the other was thinking.
Things like:
"What were we thinking?"
"How much longer until we get to go home?"
"How long exactly until they are all grown up and gone from home?"
"Make sure we never claim to miss this one day."
"Why? Why? Why?"
"Will they ever stop fighting?"
"Why are they so loud?"
"Do they ever stop?"
"Do you think we can abandon them?"
Yes! That would be Luke purposefully photo bombing our romantic photo shoot. Like I was trying to say, good, obedient, submissive, well-behaved children wasn't exactly the highlight of our trip.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't all that bad. But having only been home a few hours, I haven't quite forgotten the negative parts long enough to do a blog post that focuses on the highlights of the trip. Maybe tomorrow. For now, I (and Mike) feel a little bit like this:
(Drew, June 1, 2013)
More on our family vacation another day.
PS-Our bishop only has one child (who is now an adult). I will never again heed any "family vacation counsel" from him.
There is a big difference between a family trip and a vacation. A vacation is where you and Mike go on your own sans children. A family trip is where you schlep everyone and their gear and it is a TON OF WORK! But making memories never was easy right? We are DRIVING to Nauvoo this summer all packed in our van...let's hope there's no maiming of each other. Memories will be made for sure, let's just hope they aren't the kind that call for therapy later!
ReplyDeleteThat fun uh? Oh dear. At least it made me laugh and I love the photo bomb!
ReplyDeleteNext time you decide to heed your bishops 'vacation' idea come here! We love loud! We'll even take you down the river, to awesome parks, donuts, see this unique town we live in (I call it Hippyville). I don't even mind fighting ;) (remember I have MANY SIBLINGS myself) I love your postings!
ReplyDeleteThat picture of you and Mike is beautiful (despite the photo bomb!) I honestly don't see how both you and my sister Sandy take vacations with five kids! You both must have an extreme amount of patience. I remember distinctly booking a short weekend getaway to the Homestead resort when Harper was a few months old and remember feeling so upset and stressed because it wasn't relaxing and I had to sit in the hotel room for hours while she napped and had to go to secluded places to nurse. Basically my whole vacation revolved around her sleeping and eating schedule and for some reason I never really thought that through before. I honestly don't know what made me think it would be relaxing or that she would easily transition to sleeping through the night in a play pen she had never used. Needless to say I got a huge reality check and have learned over the year and a half she's been with us to set my expectations much lower than when it was just me and Zack! :) One of the many reasons we decided to take a trip ALONE before #2 comes! haha
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