Fool's Errand (def): Family Vacation
Welcome back everyone! With the short week, I’m skipping a new poll so you’ve still got time to vote in the pediatrician poll. Hope your Fourth of July was fun; we took a long, four-day weekend and went – nowhere.
Honestly, the idea of traveling on what was probably the most-vacationed weekend of the summer was too much for us. Add to that the whole throwing-off-Maddie’s-schedule thing, and oh yes, the whole money thing, and we decided a four-day weekend at home sounded really awesome.
With so much free time, it’s amazing to me how little the days felt different from any normal day. I realize now that with parenthood comes that paradigm of No Days Off Ever, even on vacation. Have a whole day with no commitments? Good for you. Think you’re going to sleep in until noon? Jessica Simpson has a better chance of winning an Emmy for her stellar but puzzlingly short-lived variety show. Since every day is a vacation day for Maddie, she’s pretty happy to keep going with the status quo schedule-wise. Every night we’d pathetically say, “Night night sweetheart. You can sleep in tomorrow – no need to get up at your regular time.” She’s smile at our thoughtfulness, wave cheerfully, and self-sacrificially get up at her normal time the next morning anyway.
So really what a day off now means is Less Time Taken Up With Life, More Time For Maddie. She adores it, and I’m longing for a nice old-fashioned errand to run that would take up a good half-hour before her next nap. “Oh, look, out of anchovy paste! Can’t make cereal without that! I’ll just run to the grocery store real quick . . .”
To be fair, though, Vacation also means more help from daddy, and that totally rocks. I’m pretty sure his definition of vacation is not “cessation from a desk job in order to work like a slave for my one-year-old”, but these extra five pounds I’m carrying are not my definition of “you get your post-pregnancy figure back in six months”. Your old figure, with interest, apparently.
At any rate, we’ve started talking about trying to take a mini-vacation some time this summer: just a long weekend somewhere driveable where we know no one, and can therefore happily stick to Maddie’s schedule without looking like Paranoid New Parents. “It’s 11:05! It’s time for her nap! Retreat from the beach – go! Go! Go!”
I’m casting about searching for a place that’s on the beach and cheap, and oh yeah, family friendly. Remember how those words used to be enough to make you cross a potential hotel off your list? Now that phrase is manna from heaven. Does it have a pool? Do they provide sturdy pack n plays? Family restaurant? And the gold prize – a playground?
And as I’m compiling criteria, I begin to realize the list looks strangely familiar. Park in walking distance – access to water – sleeping arrangements as much like home as possible – ability to control her food – wait, I know this place!
Yeah, it’s called home. We’re working our butts off to recreate our home environment – and the corresponding schedule – as closely as possible.
With the added bonus of paying for it.
Maybe I’ll just call my girlfriend Abby, and our families can swap houses for a week to get a change of scenery.
Though she’s got one more bedroom than we have – we may have to pay extra for that.
Honestly, the idea of traveling on what was probably the most-vacationed weekend of the summer was too much for us. Add to that the whole throwing-off-Maddie’s-schedule thing, and oh yes, the whole money thing, and we decided a four-day weekend at home sounded really awesome.
With so much free time, it’s amazing to me how little the days felt different from any normal day. I realize now that with parenthood comes that paradigm of No Days Off Ever, even on vacation. Have a whole day with no commitments? Good for you. Think you’re going to sleep in until noon? Jessica Simpson has a better chance of winning an Emmy for her stellar but puzzlingly short-lived variety show. Since every day is a vacation day for Maddie, she’s pretty happy to keep going with the status quo schedule-wise. Every night we’d pathetically say, “Night night sweetheart. You can sleep in tomorrow – no need to get up at your regular time.” She’s smile at our thoughtfulness, wave cheerfully, and self-sacrificially get up at her normal time the next morning anyway.
So really what a day off now means is Less Time Taken Up With Life, More Time For Maddie. She adores it, and I’m longing for a nice old-fashioned errand to run that would take up a good half-hour before her next nap. “Oh, look, out of anchovy paste! Can’t make cereal without that! I’ll just run to the grocery store real quick . . .”
To be fair, though, Vacation also means more help from daddy, and that totally rocks. I’m pretty sure his definition of vacation is not “cessation from a desk job in order to work like a slave for my one-year-old”, but these extra five pounds I’m carrying are not my definition of “you get your post-pregnancy figure back in six months”. Your old figure, with interest, apparently.
At any rate, we’ve started talking about trying to take a mini-vacation some time this summer: just a long weekend somewhere driveable where we know no one, and can therefore happily stick to Maddie’s schedule without looking like Paranoid New Parents. “It’s 11:05! It’s time for her nap! Retreat from the beach – go! Go! Go!”
I’m casting about searching for a place that’s on the beach and cheap, and oh yeah, family friendly. Remember how those words used to be enough to make you cross a potential hotel off your list? Now that phrase is manna from heaven. Does it have a pool? Do they provide sturdy pack n plays? Family restaurant? And the gold prize – a playground?
And as I’m compiling criteria, I begin to realize the list looks strangely familiar. Park in walking distance – access to water – sleeping arrangements as much like home as possible – ability to control her food – wait, I know this place!
Yeah, it’s called home. We’re working our butts off to recreate our home environment – and the corresponding schedule – as closely as possible.
With the added bonus of paying for it.
Maybe I’ll just call my girlfriend Abby, and our families can swap houses for a week to get a change of scenery.
Though she’s got one more bedroom than we have – we may have to pay extra for that.
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Mommy Musings
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