The busyness of summer leaves little time to sit back, reflect, and blog! I have been writing blog posts in my head, many of them continue to reside there, never making a debut on GoMamaO.com. Alas, here’s a stolen moment online to share 5 lessons from summer vacation:

  1. You WILL forget something! This goes for something on the way to your destination OR leaving something behind. Check & check to both of these scenarios. When we went camping, we were packed and ready to leave on time. Here’s the expert packing job by Daddy O. below:
    SUV packed up for camping
    All packed up with everything we need for camping…or so we thought.

    One and a half hours into our journey we realized we had forgotten our air mattress and tarp. UGH!  On to Plan B (or #3 below).

  2. Kids will get antsy in the car. No Matter What! Sometimes they even want the thing you forget. On our last road trip, we just brought our portable DVD player, which is a huge hit. The Fox and the Hound and The Fox and the Hound II were new found Disney favorites.
  3. Improvise. Go with the Flow. Since we forgot our air mattress and tarp, we made a stop at Wal-mart before getting to the campsite. We opted NOT to buy a tarp and fortunately were fine without it. As for kids getting antsy in the car, Daddy O. resorted to playing the Star Wars soundtrack that he has on his phone. It really is quite entertaining (thank you to the composer, John Williams!), though my son interrupts every minute or so, asking “Daddy, what’s happening now?”
  4. Bend the rules. Similar to #3, we have to just let go a bit & let the day take us where it may. During camping the kids just have to stay up later because it still is light out, and they want to enjoy the campfire with s’mores. Daddy O. took big sister swimming past her bedtime on a recent hotel stay, and I took both kids for a quick morning swim before starting our day. In all cases, we managed with less sleep and some good naps in the car (myself included)!
  5. Relax and have fun! Sometimes I get frustrated that we are not “on time” or stressed that plans are not unfolding as I had expected, so I have to remind myself to just chill out! Our kids no longer nap, so we can handle doing more on vacation. On our last trip, we had some downtime at the hotel to rest before dinner, and it was just what we needed to re-charge. When we arrived at the restaurant, a bit later than I had hoped, we had to wait about 20 minutes…which wasn’t ideal. Fortunately, we were able to walk around outside and explore the riverfront to make time quickly. We ordered the kids’ meals right away to stave off any hunger induced whining. And Daddy O and I enjoyed a microbrew while we waited for our food…and we did relax & enjoy our family vacation time.

What lessons have you learned from vacation? How do you pack in summer fun & balance it with chill out time at home?

Cheers & happy summer!