What We Did on Our Spring Vacation

Last week, we took our first vacation as a family of five. With the exception of a baby who did not like the rolling hills of the South, everything went very smoothly and we had a wonderful time. I am purposefully listing what we did well so that I don't forget things next time!
1. Car Ride down - Before leaving, I created two baskets of car goodies. I included some familiar favorites as well as a few new items from the dollar section at Target. One of my best items was a $5 Scooby Doo movie that the boys watched at least 5 times. I put one basket between the boys when we left and then switched the baskets halfway through our trip.


2. Rented a house - We have become big fans of renting a house when we go on family trips. We end up with at least 2 rooms, a kitchen and a living room so that we aren't tripping over each other in a hotel room. Once the boys woke up, Aaron (who is an early bird) played with them in the living room while Olivia and I caught up on our sleep.


3. Invited the grandparents- Aaron's parents live 500 miles away, so this trip was great because we got to visit with them and take a vacation at the same time. As a bonus perk, adults actually outnumbered kids!

Olivia chatting with MoMo and Papa on the side porch

4. Met up with the great-grandparents - Aaron's grandparents drove about 6 hours to come visit us. They decided to stay 2 nights at a house on the same property. It was wonderful to have a chance for the boys to spend time with them in a comfortable environment where they could run around and be themselves while making memories with family.

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa looking for rocks for Ben to throw into the catfish pond

5. Grilled every night - Aaron finds grilling to be very relaxing and I find having someone else cook for me to be very relaxing! We ate some amazing meals and stuffed ourselves silly!

6. Day trip - I promised Aaron that I would only book one day trip so that we were not running around like crazy while we were needing to relax. We took a little trip to Mammoth Caves which is only an hour away from the rental house. We walked on the hiking trails (the boys found chipmunks and a huge lizard that they were able to chase) and took a tour of one of the caves.

My only Mammoth Caves picture - Aaron had just returned from yet another trip to the van for something we had forgotten.  Keeping 3 children from falling into the cave crevices trumped picture-taking. 

7. A big Final treat - The boys love to learn about the ocean, so I tried to find an aquarium to visit while we were in Tennessee. Instead of an aquarium, I found something even better - a restaurant called The Aquarium! We went for dessert and were treated to a gigantic aquarium in the middle of the restaurant with all of the boys' favorite sea life. They saw sharks, sting rays, starfish, eels and every tropical fish they could imagine.

8. Threw the schedule completely out the window - I love routine, but during our trip I managed to let it go. Bedtime was later than usual and nap times were flexible. I'm glad we did, because it led to a really great memory of catching fireflies with the boys while Aaron's grandparents watched on the side porch and told memories of doing the same thing while they were kids.

9.  Spend time outside- This was one of the first weeks of summer weather that we've really experienced.  The whole family spent most of our time outside.

10.  Kept the tv off - The boys kept up with the Tigers on the computer and watched highlights, but for the most part, they watched very little tv.

11.  Let the boys do somethings that they aren't often allowed to do at home.

Ben playing with the water coming from the gutters during a rain shower.

12.    Kept some rules the same.

If you don't eat your dinner, you don't eat a Smore.

13.  Enjoyed just being with our kids.

Money Sense

While out to dinner tonight, our waitress gave the boys little buckets of crayons and pizza pictures to color.  As soon as Luke looked in his bucket, he found a little rubber pencil topper in the shape of a walrus.  It was something you might find in one of those little quarter machines outside of grocery stores or the mall.  Needless to say, it was pretty much the coolest toy that he had seen in his entire life.

Here is the conversation that followed:

Luke:  Can I bring this home?

Me: No, that isn't ours.  We'll leave it here for the next kid to play with while he waits for his pizza.

10 minute break to eat breadsticks

Waitress:  Is there anything else I can get for you?

Me: No, we're all set.

Luke (as waitress was walking away):  I'll pay $40 for the walrus.  (Waitress didn't hear.)

Me:  Do you have $40?

Luke: No, but I would pay $50.

Me:  Where are you going to get $50?

Luke looks at Aaron.

Aaron:  Sorry, buddy. 

Luke:  Well, okay.  Does anyone want to play Alligator House?

Aaron:  How do you play?

Luke:  I'll tell you for $40.

Why we eat at home

As a kid, we didn't go out to eat too often.  My dad is an awesome cook and since he was home from work two hours before my mom, he was usually in charge of making dinner.  We ate together as a family almost every night.  I never had to ask what time to be home, because dinner was going to be at 5:30.  If you were late, you were not promised leftovers and could possibly end up with a bowl of cereal (at least, this is what we were told . . . . Dinner in my family was not something to be messed around with or missed!  At 5:30, we needed to be fed!)

Dinner as a family is one of the traditions that has been carried over into our little family.  We eat as soon as Aaron comes in the door from work.  If he is more than 5 minutes late, he knows that we may have made him a plate and started without him.  I try my best to have a decent meal (with a veggie!) each night and we almost always eat together.  We do end up having pizza about once every week or two and fast food occasionally makes it into our house for lunch, but going out is very rare.  When we do go out to eat, we will go to IHOP, Pizza Hut or Red Robin.



Typical summer lunch at our house

Tonight was one of those rare nights.  The kids and I went to Greenfield Village with a group of friends this morning.  It was very sunny and very hot.  We had a great time, but were completely cooked by the end of the excursion.  I had no motivation to make dinner, so we decided to take everyone out for pizza at a quaint,little Italian restaurant.  It is actually a little place that Aaron and I frequented before we had kids. 

The kids did great, however, at one point, Luke (after being reminded for the thirty-fifth time to not talk in an outside voice) asked (in an outside voice), "Where are all the televisions?"

Maybe we need to do this more often . . .