Loving and Loathing a Family Vacation

For 63 days, a small white board was stuck to the front of our refrigerator, counting down the days until the kids would finally be experiencing their dream vacation at their very favorite place on Earth.  I'm not talking about taking them to see the Big Mouse, as we have yet to make that trip with four kids.  Who knows when we'll muster up the courage for that one.  Our children always want to travel to an indoor waterpark and hotel that provides loads of fun.

One afternoon, when we were all driving down the highway, Mark asked the kids, in an unusually high shrieking voice, "Hey, guys, wanna go to Your Favorite Place (YFP) this summer?!!!"  He must have been gunning for that "Favorite Parent" spot.   It was still early in Summer, and we parents had yet to discuss plans for what we might want to do for a family vacation, if anything. 

My choice would not be to return to YFP for the fifth time in just a few years.  This place has sort of run its course for me.  It's not that I hate it, but I do not enjoy being soaking wet all day, every day.  I also must worry about water injuries the entire time, which definitely is not relaxing.  Finally, because the kids are all different ages and swim levels, Mark and I have to split up to keep watchful eyes on everyone.

Are these the ingredients a mom needs to be in charge of building a fun, family vacation?  Wet, worried, and without her husband?  It's like we're doomed from the start.

On the positive sides, the children go crazy for this place.  Not only does it have the never-ending fun of water slides, pools, and buckets of water being dumped everywhere, but there's also a wizard game (on dry land) that the kids love.  Wielding magic wands, they race and compete, hoping to see their names appear on the leader boards broadcasted on every television throughout the hotel.

I had no choice but to be on board with this vacation...again, since Mark blurted it out before thinking.  He rarely does that, so I wasn't going to try to change any plans.  The kids were already planning their water park path and wizard domain mastery the second YFP left his lips. 

All summer, the kids, even little Marshall, would tell us how many days were left until YFP.  They could not wait until the big day arrived.  Mark used it as sort of a behavior bribery tool.  He'd say, "Kids who don't behave will have to stay behind when everyone else goes to YFP."  You know, like we do at Christmas when we threaten that Santa won't come if kids don't straighten up, but he always does anyway.  It was just like that, because obviously there was a lot of misbehavior this summer, yet, somehow, four kids still went on the trip to YFP. 

We did make this trip a little longer than our normal ones, and we even visited a YFP that was several hours away.  We broke up the driving a bit by spending one night in another city and exploring a fun place there as well. 

This vacation was all about the kids. 

We planned everything to make them happy and create fond childhood memories...just what we learned in parenting school would make us superstar parents.

Did they have a wonderful time swimming and splashing and zipping down slides?  Absolutely!

Did they appreciate all the time and money we spent to make it happen for them?  I think so, and they even said thank you!

Did they end up crying and whining and fighting and screaming and just losing it?  We all did!

I bet that families have been going through the same types of craziness on vacations since the concept was invented.   Kids fought over who would sit in which seats,  everywhere we went.  We ate out so many times that our bodies were craving fresh food, but the last place we chose had so many flies buzzing around that we were afraid to take anything from the salad bar.  I had to settle on buying 8 packs of apples from the Drive-thru at McDonald's.  We were in each others' personal space for so many straight days that just the mere sound or smell of another person was enough to make us nuts. 

Something that really made me feel better was a conversation I overheard another family having as they left a restaurant together. 

A restaurant with a train theme. 

A restaurant where the food is delivered to the tables by moving toy trains...is that not a child's dream restaurant or what? 

The mother was saying to her complaining son, who was probably about eight or nine, "We have just spent several days making sure you are having a good time. We played all day at the arcade for you. You have been at the waterpark for days.  You have been playing games all the time. You have been eating all kinds of food you like.  We have spent a lot of money to make this trip what you want it to be, but you are still crying.  Why?"  I didn't hear the kid's response, but I didn't need to hear it.  It was a little glimpse into our family from the outside.

Mark usually becomes annoyed by my eavesdropping when we're in public. I can't help it, I'm just extra observant.  It's a gift slash curse.  I picked up this whole convo in a matter of seconds as our two families passed by each other on the sidewalk.  I whispered it to Mark, just to validate to him that we were not the only ones feeling the way we were feeling at that point in our vacation.  Whew!

 

Of course, we all had a ton of fun on our trip, too.  We stayed in beautiful hotels with everything we needed.  We took the kids to places that we had visited as children ourselves, so we were able to recreate memories with them that we had with our own parents.  We howled and laughed and screamed with excitement (and a little fear) on the thrilling waterslides that made us feel like kids again.  We joyfully watched all four of our children laugh and play in the water together, inside during the rainy day and outside under the warm sun.  We forgot about work and school and commitments and were together as our special family of six...the family that only we have and only we know.

By the time we made it to a pit stop at Mark's parents' house on the way home, all his mom could tell us was, "you guys look so tired."  She wanted us to stay the night at their house to rest.  It was a lovely offer, but we just wanted to go home.  The kids just wanted to be home.  We all just wanted to be in our own beds, in our own space.  Yes, we love each other, and although we wanted this vacation to come so badly, we also really wanted it to end.  Ironically, now that it is all over, and there is no more anticipation, it feels strange.

We told Mark's mom that we were so tired because we were just going and going the entire time.  She said, "When kids are this age, vacations will always be about them. You will need a vacation from your vacation."  I know she's right, and I wonder how our own parents and grandparents managed their family vacations:  some with even more kids and less money. 

I'm thankful for my first class problem of having a vacation with my family that was so jam-packed with awesomeness, that our kids' only troubles were being overloaded with sensations and overcome with emotions they didn't know how to handle themselves.  Now that we have been home for over 24 hours, and the children have had time to decompress and wash off the hotel grime and waterpark slime, are we ready to tackle what is next?  Are we ready for school?  It starts in a three days! 

Hmm, I wonder why the kids didn't make a white board countdown for the first day of school.

 

 

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