Travel

I’ll Stay Out of It Thank You

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 4 Comments

We are home for our trip to stay at my MIL’s vacation house in New Hampshire on Newfound Lake.  We had a nice time, but it always a difficult place to be and I have finally figured out why it is difficult.  A little bit of background on this place.  It is just one hour north of Boston where my BIL and his family live.   My MIL bought the house as a place for the family to gather and for her sons to use–mostly my BIL because Hubby lived in California at the time that she bought it and that is where she calls home.  My BIL and his wife have been the ones to take care of the house and for the first may years my MIL rented it out in the summer to help pay for the house–as houses in that area bring in a good deal of money from rental in the summer.  It really is a beautiful place and very nice.  Because of this role of caretaker and the fact that my MIL only comes out an uses the house herself twice a year, my SIL views the house as her own and this is where the issues seem to arise.  I do want to say that I like my SIL.  We talk and are friendly.  We certainly would not be “friends” if we weren’t family, but we are family and we get along just fine.  But she is difficult to live with. There is a power struggle in the house when both my MIL and SIL are there.  It is my MIL’s house but my SIL feels entitled to the house because they do live there all summer and use it nearly every weekend as well.  They have been doing it for nearly 12 years now and it is easy to begin to feel as though it is yours.  It is hard when you are on vacation and others are going about their regular life.  A regular life that is highly regimented and not very relaxing at all.  It does put a bit of a damper on one’s own vaction. I could go on and on, but I won’t.  I am just happy to be at home where I am not under any scruitiny for letting my kids play or for eating my lunch before I wipe up the crumbs from the table, etc.

The kids had a pretty good time.  Noah didn’t quite understand why his cousins–who are 14 and 10–didn’t want to play with him and that caused a few issues for Noah–but he’s a trooper and got over it.  Both kids had a good time and Noah loved spending time with his Grannie Sue.  All in all it was a great trip–I didn’t exercise at all–don’t want to even get on the scale.  I ate pretty good, but I didn’t exercise.

Here are a few pics of the good time that the kiddos had.

The Good Times Did Roll

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

Jazzfest was a blast.  It was so nice first off to be “childless” for three days.  New Orleans really is a great place and has an energy about it that is unmatched by any city I have been too.  It was nice to see it so packed and really starting to come back to life.

I will save the stories for later and a less public forum but there was certainly fun had by all.  There is no place like Bourbon street after midnight.

8 Days In Orlando: The List

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

There is so much to say about our trip to Orlando, that a prose entry would be way too long and I would get way off topic–much like a freshman writing their first paper.  So, to ensure that you don’t go blind reading about my family vacation (or want to poke you eyes out–which would also cause blindness) I am posting a list. 

Travel in general:  My kids are totally awesome travellers.  Noah is a pro at it–this trip marked his 7th trip flying somewhere.  Zoë is also pretty good at it.  She’s at the age where sitting still for a couple hours isn’t her favorite thing to do–but she’s also a trooper–this was her 3rd trip flying somewhere.  Never thought I would travel so much with kids. 

Sleeping:  The kids did well sleeping in the hotel.  So much better than our trip to St. Maarten.  Zoë slept in her crib and slept well.  Noah slept in our bed at the first hotel and then in his SpongeBob room at the Nick hotel.  They napped somedays and not other, but never complained and didn’t get very crabby.  I feel very lucky.

Waiting in Ride Lines: Again they are champs.  We didn’t ride many rides as the kids are pretty small.  We did ride Pirates of the Carribbean, The Boat to Tom Sawyer Island, and Climb the Smith-Family Robinson treehouse as a family and the Merry-go-round but then Noah and Bill did the Teacups and the “race” cars at Disney and then at the Animal Kingdom Noah and Bill rode a Dino ride at Dinoland and we did the Safari.  Most of the line times were just over 30 minutes and Noah never complained one time.  He was just happy to be there.  It was great an quite an experience.  We spent just over 6 hours at each park–the kids rocked it. 

Meeting the Characters:  More lines–most of these were short and we were very lucky to only have to wait 20 minutes to meet Mickey and Minnie.  We met, Jiminy Cricket (Noah still thinks he’s a turtle wearing a hat), Rafaki (baboon from Lion King), Baluoo and King Louie (jungle book), Dora, SpongeBob, Blue, Little Bill, Squidward, and a Bear at Seaworld.  He loved every minute of it. Zoë on the other hand liked to look at the characters from afar but if they got too close she’d get a little scared–but she loved seeing them from a distance.

Doing New things:  Noah tried a lot of new things–for Zoë everything was new.  Noah fed the dolphins and touch them.  He fed the stingrays and touched them (at seaworld).  It was great and awesome and he was so excited about it.  Zoë loved the playgrounds at the hotels and spent what seemed like hours going up and down the slides–up and down and up and down.  She laughed and smiled the whole time.  I love being a mom.  both of them rode the train in Downtown Disney for the first time (Noah by himself a few times. 

Some other random highlights–room service.  The nick hotel might not offer the plushest accomodations–beds a little hard-rooms a little small and sparse, but their food from room service was so good and it was nice to be able to hang out in the room at night and eat and relax. 

On the plane ride home we had to switch planes in Atlanta.  We were all really really tired and Noah was sitting in his seat.  The descent was a little bumpy and he looked at me “mommy my tummy hurts.”  So, I pick him up to hold him.  Not 30 seconds later he pukes all over me–and it’s wasn’t  a small amount–3 times.  I felt so sorry for the people behind us as some of it escaped over my shoulder through the seats.  Noah then looks at me “Oh mommy, I so sorry.  I spit all over you.”  I had to smile, it was so sweet that he apologized.  He really is such a polite little boy.  I sat there on the plane in row 28 covered in puke until the plane landed and everyone was off.  Luckily I had a shirt in one of our carryons.  All in all it was quite eventful and awesome.  To date this was one of the best vacations I have every had.  Thanks hubby and kids.

Too Much Fun

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

We are having a blast and let me just start by saying that my two kiddos are champion travellers.  They haven’t complained one time and have just been amazing and happy kids–even though they have gone without naps most days.  It’s been great.

Orlando Day 1 thru 3 Here’s a link to some pics from our first few days.

Today we are having breakfast with SpongeBob and Dora this morning–more pictures to come.