The Monetary Value of a Good Vacation

Vacations (the right kind of vacations) are really good for your life.  If the benefits of a good vacation could just be assigned some kind of monetary value, then we all could feel less guilt about the time, effort and money that we spend on them.  Since I've recently been in the position to ponder such ponderings--I thought I'd do everyone a favor by laying out the true dollar value --as I see them-- right here: 

Being on vacation makes me remember why I had kids in the first place.  I've always dreamed of taking my own kids on vacations since taking so many as a child.  Even though most of our vacations were accompanied by the soundtrack of my mother reading aloud travel guide books to us--I still hold fond memories of the trips.  (Haha-- just teasing mom.  I'm glad you read us tourguide books and in fact it's probably all your fault I want to homeschool my kids!)

Remembering why I had kids is worth a good $30.  Ten bucks a piece isn't bad --especially since they did cause some trouble on the trip as well.   ("Don't tempt me to leave you kids at Grandma's house--I just might do it!")

Being on vacation also reminds my of why I love my husband.  Now--I promise all the good things about vacation won't be sappy --just the first two--because it's true.  Being on vacation--mimicking the carefree attitudes of our courtship years really reminds me of what I saw in Jeremy that made me choose to stick with him. 

Saving the marriage has got to be worth a good $50 by itself.  (Yeah that's five Hamiltons.)  Although my grocery budget for beef jerky would sure go down. . .

Speaking of groceries-- going on vacation gives me the much needed opportunity to clean out my fridge.   Seriously, I was very proud of how little food was left in the fridge when we got back from vacation.  A vacation is the perfect opportunity to throw out all the old food and don't forget any spoiled produce on the counter either (like the "one time" I did).  And I wiped it all out before putting any new food back in it, and I felt like a very good homemaker.

Good homemaker feelings $20.  It really helped boost my spirits (until I looked in the laundry room--"good feelings gone").

Being gone from my home makes me appreciate it more.  I come back and it feels like "home."  No matter how much I really am ready to move on--it feels good to walk back in the doors of "our house"  as disorganized our belongings and strangely laid-out the floor plan is. 

Coming home again $100--never underestimate the importance of being happy where you're at--at least for the time being. 

But perhaps the greatest reason for going on vacation is the opportunity to get away from it all and experience something new.  It gives you time to think, and gives you a different perspective on life.  We read books on our car trips bringing us more new ideas to think and talk about.  (Hello Ken Robinson?)  Plus our trips are full of adventures, both planned and unplanned, both pleasant and unpleasant.  So I guess what I'm saying is that the very most important thing that this all boils down to is: more. blog. fodder.

Yes, yes, yes, because a blogger who spends too much time in the blogosphere and never thinks of anything else, or reads anything else or does anything else eventually runs out of anything new and relevant to say.  And everyone knows that the ability to articulate new and interesting and relevant ideas in the blogging world is, in fact-- p_r_i_c_e_l_e_s_s!

So don't let the bank-man get you down.  Know that each dollar spent on a family vacation is worth is weight in gold in the virtual world of internet storytelling. 

Reunion-Top and Bottom

San Diego 2010 Top (and bottom) 10!


Wonderful- My Grandmother providing travel and accommodations for our whole family

Horrible- My sunburn (Legs only-- I kept three boys and my face and body sunburn-free all week I just forgot about my legs that first day. . . ouch!)

Awesome- The public reaction anytime we were together as a whole group: "How many of you are there?" (84) "And how many under the age of 5?" (Don't know--they won't stand still long enough for us to count)

Annoying- My brother Mark trying to convince our children that if they eat green things (celery, lettuce, or whatever) that trees will grow inside their body.

Invigorating- Haircut by my cousin--Hooray!

Embarrassing- Not ever finding time to paint my toenails for the beach--Oh well.

Appreciated- My dad taking the "early risers" to walk the beach every morning.

Tolerated- Sand in my bed (and on the floor, and in the diaper bag, and in our food, and in the cars, and. . .)

Cherished- Hanging out with my family in the Legoland parking lot after closing time, eating dinner and creating a jovial ruckus.

Tragic- One week not being nearly long enough to spend with them.


Bonus #11 is both at the top and bottom:

Frustrating--but Hilarious- Owen flat out refusing to put weight on his hurt ankle on our last day. We couldn't fight with him, we certainly couldn't carry him, and his ankle really was hurt. So he was carted happily around the airport in a wheelchair!

Reunion--Giant Hole in the Sand

Me (and my 84 closest relatives) were on the beach last week for a family reunion.

We aren't from California. But it's only a 7 hour drive from Arizona, and being on the beach is way nicer then getting together in southern Arizona in the middle of July.

This is me and my cousins back in the day. I'm the little one in pigtails down in front--not paying attention to the camera at all.

We thought it might be fun for this reunion to recreate that photo of 20 years ago. We're all a bit bigger, so the hole had to be much bigger.

But we made it.

(There I am--front and center.)

And while crouched down in a giant hole in the sand, with 14 people who I have grown up with over the years, recreating a silly picture, laughing our heads off, and yelling about how much our thighs were burning from squatting down there-- I knew it was true:

I love my family!

All 84 and then some. . .

SIX

This weekend we left the boys in the capable and enthusiastic hands of their Nonny, and Jeremy and I headed out to celebrate our sixth anniversary of marriage.

We drove to Topeka and checked in to our bed and breakfast: The Woodward.


Jeremy didn't know quite how to respond to the "Head Butler's" request to carry our bags. (We're only staying one night--they aren't heavy!)



We looked around the mansion a bit, and then helped ourselves to the dessert bar before heading out to dinner. (You have to make the most of time spent without kids around!)

For dinner we went to Chez Yasu a little French restaurant we'd found a recommendation for. At 5:45 Friday night we got the last table available for the rest of the weekend. We were basically at a single table pushed up next to a window in the foyer, but we didn't care--we were grateful to have gotten a table at all. And it was worth it. We ate every course (except wine) and stuffed ourselves to the brim.

Jeremy will be mad at me for not saying more about the food, but I'm really not a food writer. I'll just say it was all delicious and involved scallops, mushrooms, lemon, lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette, goat cheese, duck breast, peppercorns, veal, capers, strawberries, chocolate, cream, and of course bread. I refused to leave until I'd eaten every piece of the crusty bread in the basket (our second).

We got to watch some of the Olympics opening ceremonies because we specifically got a room with a TV in. Not that we knew it was going to be the Olympics when we scheduled it, but we're just cable-deprived. (We're also excited about watching cable in the hospital room when I have the baby too--pathetic!)

We had a list for the morning of Topeka shopping we wanted to do. It included Toys-R-Us for birthday shopping, a Games Workshop store that never actually materialized, and Daddy Cakes cupcake shop!



Online it said they were open 11-7 or until they run out, so we wanted to go early. In this picture you can see that it's only 11:20. We'd already been waiting 5 minutes at the point I took this picture and we waited longer. There were 8 people in front of us in line when we got there, and they were already sold out of one kind of cupcake!!!



It's a funny little stand-alone shop in the middle of a strip mall, but it was really fun.



We bought six cupcakes (I could say one for each year, but we weren't that clever at the time.) And we ate bites out of each of them them on the drive home instead of stopping for lunch. (We were celebrating!)

Our favorites were probably the "Grashopper:" a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate genache, topped with mint flavored frosting, and a sprinkling of crumbled Andes mints; and the "Triple Threat:" a chocolate cupcake with chunks of chocolate in it and cherry filling, topped with almond flavored frosting and sprinkled with coarse sugar and sliced almonds.



Of course we had plenty of help finishing the cupcakes when we got home.

Really, it was a great little getaway.



Jeremy got me a new pillow for my poor pregnant body. And he designed and had this pillowcase printed up at a place in town. It's modern and clever. Jeremy's gift was a new gaming book. We've never been super big on anniversary gift-giving. Probably because we've not really had the money to go out and do something together and buy presents. We prefer the going out and doing something fun.

(Thanks for giving us the opportunity mom! See you when the baby comes!)

Because Why Not?

Gentle Dentle Care

What a vacation!

The last day of our trip was spent in the dental chairs at Dad's office (It's been almost two year's since we were in town, after all!) Owen thought the whole thing was pretty fun at first.

Jonas wanted in on the action too.

When it came to actually laying back in the chair with all the instruments around it--Owen was no longer interested. In fact, there was a melt-down. But in the end, we parents know what's best (right?) so we convinced him to give in. He went home happy with a little bag full of dental office souvenirs, prizes and stickers.

I went home with this lovely souvenir on my cheek. I asked Dad if it's from the shot or just pressure in my mouth or something. "Nope, definitely from the suction!" He said joking. (That would mean it was Mom's fault.) But I don't mind, it'll go away soon, and my tooth feels fine.

Unlike poor Jeremy. His souvenir is a sore mouth.

Dad, Jeremy want's to know when his mouth will stop hurting!

Traveling with Children

Here's my boys having a blast on the airplane.

I just deleted my snarky post directed to a non-understanding person we flew with. I realized that if I wouldn't say it out loud, I shouldn't type it online either.

(Thank you anti-cyberbullying public service announcement, I've learned my lesson.)

Michigan Vacation

Great Expectations

We took the boys to Historic Nauvoo. We had pretty reasonable expectations about the boys enjoying the trip. It's a town restored to it's 1840's glory, staffed by charming elderly volunteer couples in period clothing, talking about and demonstrating everything about the lives of these people from driving in horse-drawn wagons, to baking bread in a brick "bustle" oven, to children's games, to blacksmithery. Seriously. . . What's not to like?

To make it even better, all along the way there are little souvenirs you can keep. Tiny hand-dipped paraffin candles, a slice of wheat bread to eat, a mini horseshoe from the blacksmith demonstration, a gingerbread cookie, and your very own brick made from local clay. What fun. . . right? . . .right Owen?

I knew the boys wouldn't like walking through historic house tours, or watching the hour-long video in the visitors center, but we really struggled to get Owen to even tolerate anything we took him to! Consequently we were doing quite a bit of parental soul-searching about family vacations. Was the trip worth it?

Will Owen remember anything about Nauvoo? Probably not, but I don't remember much of anything from when I was 3 ½ either.

But will Owen remember anything about the trip? I think so. I hope so.


We've asked him, "What was your favorite part about the trip?" He said it was the Hotel. Is that so bad?

I think it's fun to stay in hotels too. We went swimming in their pool, watched their cable TV, and even ate dinner at their buffet. Owen got to pick out his own mini-box of cereal each morning, and got to eat Dora the Explorer snacks that he picked out at the grocery store, specially for our trip.

Hopefully somewhere in those memories of the parts he liked he will remember that his family was there too. Hopefully he will equate his good feelings to spending time with his family. Hopefully he will get the feeling that his parents cared enough about him to take time out from everyday life to do something that we thought he would really enjoy. Because we love our boys, and that's what it's really about.