Vacation: all I ever wanted

We have recently come back from our family vacation. It was nothing spectacular or any grand location, just our usual beach house just outside our usual beach town, but it was the best vacation I think we have probably ever had.

In past years it has just been difficult...the last couple years were teenage attitudes causing so much strife, or sick kids or babies who couldn’t tolerate a more relaxed schedule and late nights, or any number of other things that just made it all feel super stressful getting everyone together and getting out the door each day and not wasting time. I don’t know which combination of things worked together, but it definitely felt like less effort despite doing all the same things. Don’t get me wrong, there was still bickering and the breaking up of sibling fights and the littles still had meltdowns at certain points, but it felt like much less than usual. It could also be that I just expect everything to always be a shitshow, so my expectations are lower than low, so in turn I got to be pleasantly surprised when things went smoother.

We managed to get out the door early on travel day so we arrived early despite still hitting traffic and got a few usual stops done before checking in, so that we were able to have the late afternoon and evening free which hasn’t happened in years past. We swam in an awesome family pool every single morning (where my 3 year old decided to swim without floaties at all!) and went to the beach every day. We ate ice cream every day, sometimes twice, and played on a newly built playground in our vacation community. We fed the fish and the ducks and our little porch squirrels, and we spent plenty of time doing nothing in particular. On the beach I watched the kids play in the surf and sand and breathed in the salty air and watched the waves crash and just enjoyed what was in front of me. We watched a family of dolphins swim incredibly close to the shore, about a wave break away from us. We collected tons of great shells during walks on the beach. We scoped out the sand at sundown for left and abandoned beach toys, and watched the sun set on the beach every night. We fed the seagulls more than their fair share of bread and listened to them call out and yell at each other. We walked the boardwalk in the rain and ate delicious French fries with vinegar. We ate dinner for lunch and ate sandwiches for dinner on the beach every night. We played Punch Buggy on every car ride. We slept in, took naps, and made homemade pizza (with fresh dough from Trader Joes) and a delicious mexican meal of tacos and spanish rice and a 7-layer dip. We left our towels on the floor and our toys strewed around, and I lived out of a suitcase for 7 days and it was heaven. We did almost all those things as a group of 7 everyday, which is a real treat. The only time we weren’t together for is the boardwalk rides that my husband graciously lets me skip because it is my least favorite thing, so I had a couple quiet hours where I wrote my last blog post.

When the week was over we were all ready to go home, which was also new. In years past we felt like we didn’t get enough time but this year everyone was vacation tired and ready to hit the road. We came back renewed and rejuvenated, relaxed, and revived. It was beautiful and wonderful, all of us together. Exactly as it should be.