Week 148: Family Vacation

Well, here I am, sipping my Sleeping Time tea, trying to channel lovely non-stressful thoughts as I realize that spring break is over. There was much celebrating as I got to appreciate Jason being home, and also was able to sleep in a few days. And this morning when I didn't get to sleep in, well, the celebration came to an end. Back to regular life.

However, we get to go into regular life a little bit changed having just experienced our first overnight family vacation with the four of us. Certainly we've had plenty of overnight vacations with Syd, but this was Jules' first vacation. And even though the Oregon coast isn't exactly the dream spot that some vacationers might envision, we were quite happy with it.

Really, the whole thing was a bit last minute, but our friends weren't going to be able to use up all their time at their vacation spot, and would we do them a favor and like to stay there for them? For free? We remembered our manners and said thank you very much, we'd love to.

I don't know if two nights away really qualifies as an actual vacation, but any place where I don't have to worry about household chores is a veritable paradise for me. Plus, we used suitcases. Isn't that really one of the major qualifiers for a vacation? I think so.

What did I learn from our family adventure? First of all, it takes a long time to pack. Maybe as long as you are going on vacation. We were only gone for two days and two nights, but we had to pack half a dozen outfits for each of the girls since Jules insists on pooping through most of her clothes and Sydney can't bear to wear something if it gets spilled on--or even almost gets spilled on. Throw in a case of diapers, books, beach toys, blankets, DVDs, and two coolers and the car was loaded.

Since the hotel room we stayed in had a full kitchen, we planned to make almost all our meals. This probably doesn't sound like that much fun to some people, but it's WAY less stressful for me because Sydney doesn't really eat if we're at a restaurant and then later on she gets frantic and cranky with hunger. So we hauled out the cooler and filled it with milk, apples, applesauce, apple juice, cranberry juice, jelly, butter, peanut butter, eggs, yogurt, and cereal (Syd's special treat: Tiger Cereal, aka Frosted Flakes). Add in another bag full of car snacks (pretzels, yogos, fruit leather, granola) and we were more prepared than a boyscout in the wilderness.

The second thing I learned: it's okay to watch Winnie the Pooh on vacation. I hardly have the capacity to keep going all day long, let alone expect Sydney to. Down time comes in all sorts of forms: reading books and watching tv is okay. We can hone that "let's get moving and make the most of the day" character trait later. Right now? Not so much. That's why going the Oregon coast is a great place to vacation, because you can do very little and not feel like you're missing out.

However, even with some down time, we still packed in plenty of activities. We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory where Jason kept with tradition and bought himself some squeaky cheese (or cheese curd, is it is properly known -- not my favorite). I was a genius mom and packed pretzels and a sandwich for Sydney, allowing Jason and I to enjoy our cheeseburgers without hearing "I don't like hamburgers!" Some nice guy at the table next to us gave us his fries, and while I don't usually eat food from strangers, I was on vacation and willing to go along for the adventure. I kept telling Jules how exciting it all was, but she slept through the whole thing.

Then on Wednesday we hit all the highlights of Seaside that would fill any little kid with joy. My parents drove over from Washington, bringing Clover along with them, so it was quite the family affair. Oh boy, oh boy. Down to the beach where the weather was gorgeous, plastic shovels and rakes, and sandcastles and the ocean and oh my goodness was it all just too exciting? Then off to the carousel for rides, then to the aquarium to see the seals ("and they barked! and they splashed Clover! and they ate fish!" Sydney tells me every time she remembers it), and then out to eat to Norma's where we filled our tummies with crab cakes/fries/chowder/cobbler/ice cream, and finally back to the hotel for some swimming.

Whew.

My parents headed home; we packed up, did a quick stop at Starbucks on our way out of town (since all the other local coffee shops had closed by then), and spoiled ourselves with wonderful uninterrupted conversation as we made the two-hour trek back home along the dark windy roads.

As we were driving back, it dawned on me that our vacations from here on out will probably look a little different than the ones we've had in the past. This vacation we didn't do any shopping, didn't look in any book stores, didn't eat by candlelight, didn't watch any romantic movies or stroll along the beach when the sun set. And yet, that was okay. We've done that before, and someday we'll do it again.

But for now I suspect our future family vacations will make us experts at finding the nearest carousel, the nearest children's museum, the nearest ice cream shop, and the nearest family friendly restaurants. Our vacations will be a little louder and a little crazier.

And you know what? It's going to be so much fun.

Comments

[Kirsten]

We stay at that Worldmark all the time! I think it is a great place for kids too with the way it is set up. We plan on heading down in a few weeks now that Ruby has arrived and we have a whole month with Hubby home. Glad you had a great time!

[Goslyn]

Ah, so glad your vacation was wonderful! We have those family vacations now, too. But it's all good. In the fall we'll be going to Cape Cod with both boys - should be interesting.

[Margaret]

Some of my family's favorite road trips were down the OR coast. We stayed in Seaside on one trip, then the next time we did Cannon Beach and continued down to Florence and into CA to San Francisco. It was fabulous! I'm glad you got a chance to get away and stay somewhere different. Just seeing other places is a vacation to me, especially with little ones. It's family bonding time too; I miss that now that mine are almost 21 and 17. They are way too independent!

[ally bean]

"and we were more prepared than a boyscout in the wilderness."

You had me laughing on that one. Glad that you had a good time.

[ccap]

Okay, so, I'm curious: Who won the NCAA thing? At least I THINK it's called NCAA. I don't even know THAT much.

[Jess]

I'm so glad you had a wonderful, relaxing time! Thanks for sharing all the pictures. You have such a beautiful family!