so we’re on vacation this week. Well, as much of a vacation as it can be when you quite literally pack your entire house into 2 vehicles, drive about 3 hours away to the beach, unpack and do all the same stuff there for 7 days. I joke, but it’s true. It’s not exactly the relaxing sort of vacation one really needs, but a vacation it is and we are so fortunate to be able to do this every year.
I do have to say that vacations with a large family feel sort of like a Chevy Chase vacation. Everything feels sort of chaotic and such a mess and a cluster just trying to do anything at all, all together and timely. No one magically behaves or gets along just because we happen to be on vacation. It’s a comedy of errors, for sure.
We have certain things we do every year that are tradition: feeding the fish in the huge pond in the golf course just outside our door, feeding the squirrels that are super friendly and hang out on our deck, feeding the local family of ducks, visiting the craft fair that is the first Saturday in August and always falls on our weeek down here, of course the beach and the boardwalk, and the rides at the end of the boardwalk.
Oh, the rides. This is one part of vacation that I really hate. The boardwalk rides have been there forever. There is a huge semi-enclosed space of all the kiddie rides, and it is loud, and hot, and feels very germy and dirty to me. We started going many years ago, and the kids love it, but it’s al just too much for me. I hate being hot. I hate being in that kind of a crowd. I hate leaving feeling way over-stimulated. I used to love amusement parks, but now I can’t even tolerate a merry-go-round. Thankfully, my husband has some weird attachment to the rides at the end of the boardwalk and decided a couple years ago that I didn’t have to go with them anymore. I don’t even feel bad about it, because I literally do every other thing they ever want to do, but it’s my vacation too. And lest anyone thing I get off easy, it just means I’m available to cook dinner so it’s ready when everyone else gets back home!
Ok. New rule. Next time they go to the rides, you get to go have a coffee somewhere on your own, or indulge in a massage or facial, or do something YOU enjoy. They can order takeaways!
ReplyDelete(I can relate - I hate being hot, being in too much of a crowd like that, the noise etc.)
That sounds like the perfect solution. Your husband brings the kids to the amusement park and you have some time to yourself and cook dinner! I'm not a big fan of crowds either. I find them draining.
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a great vacation! The rides at the end of the boardwalk sound hideous... I'd be worried about how long they've existed and when the last time was there was any maintenance. And I'd probably get the seat with cotton candy that fell over and have a sticky butt. Ugh. I agree with Mali! Take at least some of that time to yourself to sit with a book or a magazine and just enjoy the quiet and brief moment of you-time. It can be a tiny moment of Zen in the otherwise chaotic week! :)
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