What I Learned On Vacation

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley

I just want to preface this by saying that I am extremely grateful for my mother’s generosity and fully appreciate the time my kids got to have with their uncles and my mom.  That being said…

Taking two small children on a 9 day adventure is not my idea of a vacation.  Not in any uncertain terms was it a vacation.  I think part of my problem as well as my husbands was that we had really high expectations for this trip.  We were really excited.  Neither of us fully appreciated what it is to travel with two small children.  I have to say that Noah and Zoë did awesome.  They were perfect on the plane flights all 9 hours of flying on 3 different planes.  But it was exhausting.  Zoë is a spark plug and wanted to be played with the entire time we were on the plane.  She is a busy little girl and loves to play. 

But being away from home is hard.  Especially for little ones who thrive on routines.  Neither napped much on the trip–as we had to drive every where we went.  
I have learned that 5 days is the absolute longest my children can happily be away from home. 
I also learned that it isn’t worth it to lug a pack-n-play for them to sleep is as they will both sleep with us.  unde
I learned that family won’t always step up to help you out.
I learned that neither of my brothers are parent material.
I learned that my son loves the ocean.
I learned that I don’t need to pack so much.
I now understand that there really is no vacation from being a parent.
I learned that staying in a resort is the way we will travel from now on.
I understand that I have to make sure the places we vacation are actually kid friendly (St. Maarten–not kid friendly)
I understand that a vacation with kids really isn’t a vacation. 
I learned that you can’t let someone else plan your vacation if you want it to work for you.
I learned that kids shouldn’t board an airplane after 7pm for a flight.
I learned that I love my husband and that he is amazing. 

There are so many other things that this trip taught me.  I am still tired–as I didn’t really get a chance to relax.  I am happy to be home and our new bathroom is amazing.  It still needs a little work–we have drywall to mud and sand, then prime and paint, but everything else is done and it is fricking amazing.  I’ll post pics of that when we are done. 

8 thoughts on “What I Learned On Vacation”

  2. I totally hear you. I’m not sure when I stopped thinking of them as vacations and started calling them “trips” (and sometimes “bad trips” — being a child of the 70s and all). Vacations are what I take with my sister (i.e., no children), because I always find it hard enough to be home with the kids, so adding an extra dimension of stress by scary travel schedules and unfamiliar places and routines being upset, well, for me it’s harder than staying home. It’s great to see new places and visit family and all of that, but it certainly comes at a price!

    Glad you survived and had some fun, too. Can’t wait to see pix of your new bathroom!

    Like

    Reply

  7. Thank you for saying everything you did! We just did a 13 hr drive with an almost 3 yr old and a 5 month old. Whew, how vacations have changed. Arizona was beautiful and the kids had a great time, but I second the idea of a resort that has a kid friendly pool and restaurants/room service on site. LOVE YOUR BLOG!

    Hallys last blog post..Why did you choose cloth?

    Like

    Reply

  8. Ah, my husband and I were so envious of you guys at Wannafest with just one little Noah to keep up with. Doesn’t having 2 kids make you wonder what you ever thought was hard about just one??!

    Lets keep this post handy when we plan our next Wannafest so we don’t get too carried away. I like the resort thing – there’s something to be said about food and bed always nearby and miles and miles of sand to play in.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Anne Cancel reply