We went on a little mini-vacation to visit G's cousins in the big city. It was wonderful, except for the parts that were awful, as all vacations with kids go.
The weather was perfect. The cousins were gracious, generous, and very flexible hosts. The trips up and back were drama-free. Lots of delicious food and probably a bit too much delicious booze was consumed. The boys loved the attention; I loved having an extra pair (or three) of hands and legs to hold and/or run after the boys.
The kids didn't sleep enough nor did we; there were several fatigue-induced meltdowns had by kids and adults alike. We tried to do way too much the first day and the lack of downtime led to impressive over-stimulation and truly frustrating behavior. (I'm HUNNNNGGGGGRRRRRYYYY. I WANT PIIIIZZZAAAA. I don't like this pizza, I don't want pizza, I want a snack. I want crackers. No not those crackers. OOH HOT DOGS. I don't like this hot dog. WAAAAAHHHHHH.)
Friday night, when both kids were awake at 11PM and L was walking around in the dark enjoying the FREEDOM on his first night not in a crib and fell down a short flight of stairs to bonk his head on the hard kitchen floor...I regretted the whole thing.
Saturday morning, when the cousins had dragged me to an uber-trendy techno-music fueled spin class and G was left with the boys who had slept a mere 7 hours that night and had thrown no less than 5 fits each in the 2 hours I was gone....G was ready to pack up and go home.
But Friday afternoon, as we had beers on the deck of the ferry while all the kids sat and munched popcorn and turned their faces up to the wind, and Saturday afternoon, while we sat in the park and had amazing wine and cheese while the boys threw balls and frisbees, and Saturday night when L was acting like he actually took a few sips of the margarita he had grabbed from G because he was dancing and singing and hamming it up and B was stuffing his face with tortilla chips and too-spicy guacamole, and on so many other occasions, we were so so glad we came and were planning when we could do it again.
Its never all good or all bad. Sometimes its even hard to separate the good from the bad moments, things can turn on a dime from second to second. Just throw it all in there and blend it up, pour it in a glass and chug it down.
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ReplyDeleteAh, the joys of traveling with children! I always go into trips with the wee woman with very, VERY low expectations. At least, then, I'm never disappointed. I'm glad to hear there were some good points- that makes up for the sleep deprivation... sort of...
ReplyDelete"It was wonderful, except the parts that were awful." Isn't that ALWAYS how it is traveling with kids? I just posted those wonderful pictures of our little weekend trip and yet there were so many awful moments that didn't get memorialized. Traveling with children is all about ups and downs, give and take. I'm glad there were enough good moments to balance out the bad.
ReplyDeleteExactly - there are good and bad moments in the same day, often in the same hour. Or minute. It defies easy narratives.
ReplyDeleteSounds a lot like our recent vacation to the shore. Some awful AWFUL moments where we thought about packing up and going home, but a lot of fun too. Thankfully she slept well. Thank goodness she still fit in the Pack N Play. Don't want to imagine the hell of a toddler bed yet! I think we may even try to go back next year.
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