The vacation from vacation

It goes without saying that not everything we do turns out like sunshine and buttercups.  Yes, we have two amazing kids, yes, we manage to take some great day trips to cool places and yes, we have farmers markets year round that would make your eyes bulge.  But, we can royally mess up a vacation if given the chance! I may write mostly about the good (like this amazing day) but sometimes you have to document the bad too to get the full picture.

As 4th of July weekend approached, Chris and I decided we would try and go away for 4 days to do some exploring in CA.  We added a topper to the truck so the dogs could ride more comfortably, packed up ourselves and the animals and set off to a destination we hand picked.  The criteria for our amazing destination: Chris saw a TV show about the town and it looked cool (note to self, set higher criteria next time).  We left on Wednesday night right at bedtime figuring the boys would sleep in the car.  The drive was pretty uneventful and we made it to our destination at around 3 am, ready to get a hotel room and sleep the rest of the night.  We were only able to reserve a standard room for this first night so I was intrigued to see how the boys would fall asleep knowing we were feet away from them in our bed.  It was quite hilarious really.  After they ransacked the room for about an hour, we settled down, put them in their Pack n Plays and said goodnight.  Then we laid there completely still and waited to see what would happen.  They stood at the rails, yelled at us, threw their toys at us, giggled with each other, and then eventually one of them (I'm not sure which one because I was trying to to move!) laid down, then the other, and they fell asleep.  They slept until 10 which was awesome for us! When we woke up and explored our destination by daylight, we were not impressed.  We were so not impressed that we had trouble wanting to stay away for 3 more days knowing that the town and the accommodations we less than ideal.  Being a holiday weekend, jumping to another town was not possible because everything was booked solid (especially pet friendly places).  So, swallowing our pride, we left on Friday and pieced the 6 hour drive home between naps and some staggered stops to stretch our legs.  Yep, we ditched our vacation and I have no regrets!

Although the overall experience was less than ideal, we did come away with some important lessons.  First, we proved we could get out of the house.  For a long time I have been a bit fearful of traveling with the boys.  We did a lot of travel when they were smaller and I consider us pretty adventurous, but now that they are older, I could not anticipate how they would adapt to extreme change or even how they would roll with sleeping in a Pack n Play.  In short, they did great. Yes, they ransacked the hotel rooms, touched the exact items I would have preferred they not touched (really, right for the remote and phone, really?!) but they also slept in the Pack n Plays like champs.  They ate in restaurants without too much of an issue and they handled the long car ride pretty well.  I am so impressed with them and am inspired to try another road trip to an actual vacation destination.

We did have some fun (of course).  We spent an evening on the beach with the dogs.  We had the beach to ourselves, something that never gets old to me!

 

We also found a little zoo to explore.  I am not a huge fan of zoos, but they are a great place to let your kids walk around and explore, especially when you are in a strange place and do not know the lay of the land.  This one was super small and very empty so that was also a plus.

(Dressing your kids in stupid hats is always ok with me, especially when you can not find any of your own hats that you packed.)


I would not say that the weekend was cursed per se, but it certainly did not highlight our finest moments.  On Saturday in an effort to redeem some vacation feel, we tried to take the boys on an inaugural bike ride.  It might look like we had a good time, but really they screamed and hit each other the whole time.  I guess we should have gotten a bike trailer with an isolation curtain?

 (I love that Brody looks so mad in this picture because he was actually pretty happy the whole time.  Contrary to this media image, it was Brady who cried and squawked the entire ride.) 

On Sunday, we went berry picking.  We really wanted to show the boys where food comes from and we figured any activity where you can eat while your outside is a winner.  A few days prior we were at my Aunt's house and the boys were able to pick plums off of her fruit trees.  They thought this was the most amazing thing ever so I figured they were ripe for this opportunity (ha!).  Well, I think they would have had a great time but it turns out the the previous week's heat wave fried all the berries so there were approximately 5 berries to be picked in the whole place.  The boys were none the wiser to this fact though and still really liked the experience. I will be happy to take them again in the future (you know, when we are not riding the wave of bad luck).

All in all, it was certainly a weekend to remember!  I'm glad to say our luck seems to be better and our last few weekends have been more normal.  Happy 19 months boys!