Family Vacations. Everything but Fun?

Oh it’s that time of year. Family Vacation! Time away from the hussle and bussle. No work or school and just good ole togetherness and adventures. Seeing and doing new things. The happiness and wonder in the eyes of your small people. It’s excitement. It is fabulously FUN! But is it really?

I mean, yes. It’s fun. But getting to and through the fun? Ugh. So we plan and we prep. The adults scout for deals and cheaper booking times, especially if you have more than 4 people in your family, (Ie – bigger than max occupancy on a standard hotel room). The idea of cramming 5 people in a standard hotel room with one bathroom sounds like the reason I fall head first into a bottle of tequila. Searching the interwebs for coupons and discounts to make all the things more affordable. Playing with different dates so that MAYBE we are not vacationing in the same place at the same time as everyone else in the world. Alright, we have a place to go and a plan to get there. Now what? Everything else. Do you have pets? Should have checked with that pet sitter or boarding facility before you booked your dates. A reputable organization – whether it is an insured, licensed in home pet sitter or an equally licensed and insured boarding facility – they will likely be booked with clients well in advance. Fury people under control? Excellent. Now we wait, randomly selecting activities and adventures to do, make sort of a must do list and an itinerary. My itinerary is always just a suggestion unless there are reservations attached to a particular activity. Pick up things from the store that you need to bring. Basically, just count down and wait until vacation comes.

What happens if you accidentally slip and one or more children hear that we are going on vacation on *insert date*? Well, that will be tragic. Expect to be asked every single day if we are leaving for vacation. Every single day. It’s my own personal hell on earth. Pray that you do not spill the beans and time can click away with none of the hooligans being privy to the upcoming excursion. Seriously, every day they will ask if we are leaving tomorrow and then quite possibly get mad when the answer is no. So not worth it. Just keep it hushed for as long as possible and curse anyone who gives away the secret.

Now these small humans with no clear sense of time will immediately “pack” when they hear about vacation. It will be one pair of underwear and all the toys they can fit in their tiny little suitcase or backpack. For 8 days. Adorable little things they are.

Alright. We made it. It’s the week of vacation. We have all the events or attractions booked, or none of them. Just the hotel? Whatever. We are doing it. The little hellions don’t know yet. The world has been great. We are on our A game. BTW – I have never actually experienced this level of success. I’m jealous if you know what I am talking about. Anywho – the time has come to start packing or delegating the essentials to be packed by the larger minions. No matter the very detailed, explicit instructions given – they won’t listen. Nope. For instance, we just went away for a long weekend. I packed for my littlest one and gave instructions to the middle and biggest that stated – 2 bathing suits with swim tops, 2 sets pjs, 2 outfits, 1 nicer outfit, underwear, and socks. How did that work? Oh lemme tell you – a basic ball gown, mismatched sweat shorts and a raggedy tee shirt, incomplete & unmatched bathing suit, one pair of underwear and 1 singular sock. That was my middle child, who generally follow directions. My teenager came to the car with 3 duffle bags of clothing. But have no fear – all the toys/electronics were packed. They'll be naked but we have barbie dolls. Excellent. And the teen is packed for two weeks instead of 3 nights….because I deeply desire extra laundry to do. Alright, fix that whole mess. Pack for myself. Ensure husband is packed. Make sure all the meds and essentials are packed. Run around and lock all the gates and close the doors so the dogs are less likely to destroy something. Unplug the things. Play tetris in the back of my suv to get all the completely nonessential things inside my vehicle. Throw some kids in the car. Check the house again to make sure everything is picked up, closed, locked and unplugged. Leave the house two hours later than I wanted to but alas we are leaving for adventure. Are we there yet? I have to go to the bathroom. I’m hungry. Can we change the movie? Sigh. Yup, on our way to adventure. Hopefully the nonstop needs from the hitchhikers in the back is short lived and everyone is either snoring or glued to an electronic without any additional cares. Finally. We’ve arrived. No matter the mode of transportation – we are all tired and cranky. But we are on adventure and that’s it. We are having fun, whether anyone likes it or not. And we do have fun, making memories. These people are hot, tired, hangry, overstimulated, running wide open on actual empty, angry, excited, feral at times, angelic in the off moments, happy, not in the mood to be pulled to different activities or completely over the fun thing we are doing – but it IS the best. No matter where we go or what we do, magical memories are made. At the end, it all goes by so incredibly fast but it is still priceless moments of togetherness. Enjoy the time you have cause in the next minute they'll be grown and all we will have are memories of the time we had.