Vacation!

Bear with me. I have nothing to blog about so I'm blogging about my vacation. Yep. One of "those" moms whose only life is their kids and husband. Is it that bad a life?

Vacations. For us, it always seems to take a few days to really start getting into vacation mode. I'm not exactly sure why that is, perhaps just to unwind from the stress of packing, making sure one has all the necessary things for 3 kids, all appliances off, house locked up, mail stopped, etc. etc. There's quite a bit to do just to go on vacation! And the first night I still awoke wondering if I'd done this, locked that and turned off the A/C. (it's okay; I know I did)

The first day, all 7 hours of driving, my kids did amazingly well. Even though we have a minivan, at first they all wanted to sit together in the very back row. This lasted about 2 hours and I don't recall what happened but for the rest of the trip they were a bit more spread out. Got to Carlsbad, kids played on the beach, seemed very tired and yet they could not get to bed! Really! What happened to my kids that go to sleep right away?

Of course, the next day, which was supposed to be Legoland but we altered our plans so we'd not have to sit in their 90 minute lines that the other parents who'd visited the day before recounted horror stories about. Maybe they were just trying to scare off a few people, but I heeded their warnings and proposed we drive back to Carlsbad later in the week. My kids seemed okay with that but that morning was a very difficult morning. My middle child got no less than 3 time outs. As we explored the small beach towns 2 out of the 3 fell asleep; a bit of gentle encouragement that they were just exhausted and perhaps the whole trip would not be fraught with meltdowns, disobedience and complaints.

I am not a person who relaxes well. People even joke that I should learn to enjoy a glass of wine now and then. To just stop and enjoy things. Well, I don't like the taste of wine but I am trying slow down and enjoy this precious week with my family.

Last night, our first night in the desert, we went to dinner, purchased groceries, laundry detergent, toothbrushes for the kids (yep..... I did forget a few items) and all that stuff to make living here for a week more pleasant, like a case of 24 diet cokes for me and a 6 pack of Fat Tire beer for David. My kids were surprisingly good even though it was now nearly 9 at night. Since they were doing so well, we decided to explore where David hoped to meet some bicyclists for a group ride at 6:30am the following morning. When my kids saw the skateboard park they just HAD to check it out, and I think David did as well. (I married a skateboarder) While there they encountered the biggest bug they'd ever seen! David took a photo with is iphone. It was ugly. Have no idea what type of beetle it was, but my kids could not stop talking about it.

Got back to our accommodations and unloaded the car of all the groceries, my kids still giggling away at the gigantic bug they'd seen, a mix of awe, excitement and fear. I did not even have to tell them to put their pajamas on or remind them of the bedtime routine. They were tired and happy and went to bed right away.

Now THIS is vacation