Family Vacation

Well...I made it!  I survived our annual family vacation.  I find it ironic that I always get so excited to go on vacation and by the time I get back home, I feel like a survivor.  I recently read a quote by Jerry Seinfeld that I think is pretty accurate of life: "There is no such thing as fun for the whole family."  Isn't this true?!  I mean, think about it, when you travel as a family, you have people of all ages and sexes.  How on earth would anyone expect that there would be one place you could go that would be everyone's perfection?  Yet, as parents, we want to find this perfect haven - both for a get away from our daily routine as well as something the kids will love.

The beach comes pretty close to perfection for a vacation spot for our family.  I have three daughters who are pretty low key.  We have always loved just hanging at the beach, playing in the sand or in the ocean, walking along the beach, reading books, etc.  Hence, I was a little surprised on this trip when my youngest wanted to spend all of her time in the pool and not on the beach!  (Kudos to my husband for indulging this child throughout this vacation).

This was the first time I rented a condo through VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner).  I was very pleased with our experience.  You can get a much bigger place for a lot less money than a typical hotel room; not to mention that we would have needed 2 hotel rooms for our party of 7.  We had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 4 TVs, 2 balconies (one beach side and one bay side), a living room, kitchen, and even a washer and dryer.  There was an outdoor pool and an indoor pool.  And most importantly, we were located on the beach!  We went before the full regular summer season started, so we did not have any traffic issues or crowded beaches or activities.  Overall, this Ocean City, Maryland vacation was a very good place to take the family, especially being there prior to the big crowds.

On a side note - I learned a lesson the hard way 5 years ago, when I planned my first vacation after having my third daughter.  We went to Virginia Beach and stayed on the ocean.  (BTW - that is also when I learned that there is a difference between 'ocean view' and 'ocean front'...our hotel was on the ocean...and we would have had a pretty nice "view" of the ocean (from the side of the hotel) if only the elevator shaft wasn't there, blocking said view.  That trip taught me that when you are traveling with three kids - between the ages of 1 and 5 (although I don't really think age is the key here - albeit younger is easier) you should always get a suite - something with two bedrooms or at the very least one bedroom with a separate living room for watching TV.  Let's just say hubby and the kids did not mix too well come evening/bed time; which made for quite the miserable experience for me...the entire week.  (Like I said - chalk that one up to a life lesson learned...that will never be repeated!)  Hotel room drama aside, Virginia Beach was also a very nice, family vacation location (I loved the Boardwalk).

For the record, I was by far the worst person during the 8 hour car ride to Ocean City.  I am NOT a traveler; I am a home body.  Always have been, suspect always will be (although I do love the ocean...might have to make that my home eventually).  I was at a seminar recently where the instructor said that we are hard-wired by the time we are 10 years old.  So instead of trying to change who you are, you should build on your strengths to become a successful person.  Anyways, I was the only one car sick after the first HOUR of driving; it made for a VERY long 10 hour trip.  I was very impressed with the kids and my mom (who also gets car sick); we were crammed in like sardines!  Every time we stopped, we had to partially unload the minivan so that the kids could get out of the back of it.  None of the kids complained about not having space and no one asked "Are we there yet?"! 

Here are some pics from our trip:



Stuff we had to move to the front seats every time we stopped so the kids could get out of the back!





Literally packed to the top!

I have to show you the cutest thing that the Ohio Turnpike service stations offer for moms with young kids: Mommy and Me Potties!!  I love whomever came up with this genius idea (it had to be a mom who experienced the pleasure of trying to cram into a single stall with a young child...).

We made it through the eight hour drive (it became a ten hour trip with our stops) and this was our view from our hotel room:

There were some pretty flowers growing on the beach:

  

My bedroom had a wall of windows that faced the ocean.  I had the pleasure of seeing the sunrise two mornings in a row (it was beautiful!):

Of course, who could go on vacation without enjoying yummy candy: fudge, caramel apples, truffles, gummies!  There were Candy Kitchen's on almost every block!

As luck would have it, tropical storm Andrea came to Ocean City on Friday of our vacation week.  Here was the view from the hotel the first half of the day:

At one point, the fog (or cloud cover - not sure which) actually came up to our window so we couldn't even see the beach:

The next day brought fun waves:

And of course, to throw in a little excitement on our vacation, my husband hit the driver's side door on the cement pillar while backing out of the parking spot in the condo's parking garage.

Alas, I did reach my state of bliss a couple of times throughout the week (before Andrea hit):



Ahhh...The Good Life: Sun, surf, and a good book!


Missing the Beach Already,
Me


P.S. I am very happy to report that, despite all of the nasty little sicknesses that were plaguing our household the entire last month of school, everyone was healthy for this trip, which was truly a miracle in itself.


Motivational Moment:

There are many good hearted people in this world.  Many of us encounter them in our every day life. It can be simple, small acts of kindness, such as a smile or a kind word, holding a door open for someone, picking something up for someone who dropped it, etc.  There are also many hero's that save people's lives, like firefighters, police, EMTs, organ donors, (to name a few) and all the hero's that surface during tragedies caused by people or mother nature.

This Motivational Moment is a shout out to a very kind woman who happens to love kittens and takes in foster kitties when needed.  My parents have a large garage on their property and many times throughout the years, momma cats have had kittens in there.  Usually the momma stays around to nurse her babies and then my mom finds homes for the kittens and gets the momma spayed (if she can catch her).

About 6 weeks ago, three kittens were left stranded in the garage (the momma cat disappeared for whatever reason).  My mom took the ~9 day old kittens to the vet and found out how to care for them and nurse them around the clock.  Needless to say, this was exhausting for my mom.  I told her to post pics of the kittens at the local vets as well as local pet food stores asking if anyone had a nursing momma cat that could adopt these orphaned kittens. 

As luck would have it, a wonderful woman, who had a momma cat at home who was just about done nursing her litter, noticed the sign at the vet's and contacted my mom.  She agreed to take the kittens to her momma cat to see if she would care for them.  This woman ended up keeping the kittens, much to my delight.  Tonight (which was about four weeks later) she brought the kittens over for a visit.  It turns out the momma cat was already too dried up to nurse the kittens, so this woman had to feed the kittens formula.  The momma cat did clean them and watch over them and love them.  I couldn't thank this woman enough for taking this big burden off of my mom and for caring for the kittens herself.  Here are some pics from tonight's visit.

To all those people who perform small and large acts of kindness - you rock!  Keep spreading your joy.  To those who don't, get busy being kind; you'll be happier because of it.