I have to say, for us, it was a genius decision to travel with and to family. There will never be such as thing as a real vacation with the kids, at least not for me, as a mom. The mom is usually the one who has to be the most responsible (no offense to the dads out there, you all are super, but let’s face it, most of the details fall to Mom), and the element is hyper-highlighted away from home, so moms don’t get the full relaxation experience (seriously, there should be a mandatory spa day for moms after the vacation is over). But as they say, it takes a village to raise a child, and I got to breathe just a little bit easier because I took my local village to meet up with my greater village at large.
At the very least, since we caravanned, I wasn’t in charge of the route, and that is a blessing to all. My mom is a master navigator, and could probably MacGyver her way out of the forest if dropped there in the dead of night, so I was thrilled that she took charge, giving me maps (in case we got separated) of the entire trip in easy to follow segments, including the 6 miles from our house to their house. See, prepared. (As for me, it’s not a trip to the grocery store unless I make 3 u-turns. And I cannot for the life of me make either of the 2 GPS units we had at our disposal work without wanting to throw them out the window at 65 MPH.)
So, we got there. We got to munch and chat with 30 or so assorted relatives who showed up to see our faces for the first time in, well, anywhere from 2 years to never before. These are the memories of my childhood, enjoying the cooling evening air, running around from group to group, grabbing a handful of chips of crackers from the proffered snack spread, drinking just a little more soda (or something stronger perhaps) than maybe you should at that time of the night. And although one of the fabled nickel poker games didn’t break out (it is way more fun to play Change the Diaper than actually change a diaper I can now say with certainty), everyone seemed to enjoy seeing each other. Some of these people live mere minutes apart and don’t see each other for weeks or months. Take advantage, Family, take advantage. You all have spectacular stories to share with one another.
Given the sheer quantity of travelers (2 full vans, people), we certainly didn’t want to impress upon any one given household for lodging. Thankfully, several kind folks took pity on our homelessness and took us in for the time. No disrespect to any of my other relatives, but I believe we got the sweetheart deal. My lovely cousins were so generous to offer us their basement, and I had no idea what that meant until we got there. This was no mere subterranean storage unit. We had at our disposal a huge living room / game room area, a full bathroom, a high definition TV, a Foosball table, and a pinball machine. They’d set up at very comfy bed for the grownups, a twin for the boy, and even a crib for the baby monkey, I mean, girl. This is a house that hasn’t needed a crib in awhile, and yet, a crib. Awesome doesn’t even cover it. The courtesy didn’t stop there; when we lugged ourselves upstairs, there was my cousin flipping pancakes and setting out a smorgasbord of fruits, cereals, and beverages. On a Monday morning. I tried to cut off this overkill before we got too spoiled, and although I did get them to stop the made to order breakfast, we still had an array of options set out for us almost every day. Needless to say, we felt very welcome and knew from the start this trip was a good idea.
We’ve been talking about and preparing for this trip from the minute we decided to go, so there were a few activities we knew would happen, but I was honestly expecting a lot of downtime, just talking and enjoying and watching the kids run around in the reasonable temperatures. It wasn’t exactly a tourist area. But I was completely wrong, because we were busy every single day. Well, maybe I wasn’t completely wrong, because we weren't on the go go go from sun up to well past sun down, but there was something on the agenda in every square of the calendar. Days had some excursion – hikes in the park, shopping at stores we can’t dream of here, day trips to pretty places with the greatest frozen custard in the country, football practice (OK, that was the guys), sidewalk sales. Evening were more gatherings at various relatives’ homes for more eating and general carousing. And did I mention the eating? Yeah, there was lots of that. Little of it fit a diet plan, but all of it was good. (To those of you who know who you are, I’m still waiting for recipes, please.)
One of my favorite outings was to the local children’s museum. I’d seen such a place on TV (OK, it was Jon & Kate Plus 8, but before all the salaciousness – hey, those kids are adorable), but we didn’t really have much like it in the area, so I tucked the idea away for some future opportunity to be determined. Imagine my glee when I found out there was a kid’s museum right where we were going. I was determined then and there to hit that place up, even if it meant sacrificing something else (and it did, a trip to the amusement park, but we’ll get there next time), because I think it’s important to work a little education into a vacation so that the kids – oh, who am I kidding? I totally wanted to play with all the gizmos.
If you have the chance, go to a children’s museum. I don’t care if you have kids the right age, wrong age, or no kids at all. It will be a blast for your inner child. We rolled golf balls along mini roller coasters, splashed in water tables, scooped up magnets with a giant crane, pretended to be firefighters in a kid –sized truck, and watched balls get sucked through pneumatic tubes. Yes, underneath it all, I’m sure my kids absorbed something about physics, literature, and biology, but mostly we just had a heckuva good time. We almost laughed out our spleens watching one mother try to put together some water tubing that would have sprayed her directly in the face if she’d been able to connect it as she’d intended. That was worth the price of admission.
And I see yet again, I’ve prattled on for obscene amount of space, so now’s the time to stop before I develop carpel tunnel. Stay tuned for Part 3. In the meantime, here’s photographic evidence of the fun.
Just one more...
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