Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Pros and Cons

There are good and bad sides to going on long vacations. Here are some of them for me on this trip:

PROS:
*I get to see so many of my family members and some friends I hadn't seen in a long time.
*I get to see almost the whole country--how fun is that?
*I don't have to cook. Yippee! Although I should probably volunteer to make dinner at least one of these nights while I'm here with my parents, huh?
*My kids(and I) get spoiled by relatives who only see us a couple of times a year.
*My kids get to play with their cousins--and they're finally old enough to communicate with each other.
*Long talks with my mom in the car while the kids sleep or watch a movie.

CONS:
*I miss Andrew! Usually when we go on a long trip like this, he flies out during part of it to be with us, but not this time.
*My kids get out of their daily routine, which is usually fine, but sometimes leads to excessive grumpiness and/or whining.
*I hate not having a partner to help me discipline the kids. They were both so good in the car, but Brandon has really been pushing the limits since we got to Utah. It's nice to take turns on giving time-outs with Andrew. And although my family members help me out with the kids in so many other ways, disciplining pretty much falls on me. Which makes sense, but can be tiring.

I know there are a ton of others, but it's getting late so I'll stop. What do you love/hate when you go on vacation?

2 comments:

Laurie said...

We never go on vacation. In fact, we haven't been on any trip that required more than a 2 hour drive with Clayton since he was born! We are not adventuresome with small children, especially those with his temperament. I still don't want to get on a plane with him. But that's o.k. because our family lives here, except for one sister who lives in SLC (but she visits so often that we almost don't have a chance to visit her). Oh, and two sibs that live in Provo during school yr.

HOWEVER, I can completely relate about the challenge of disciplining, etc when we are at the parents'. It is so much harder for me to keep the boys in their routine at my parents' house and to maintain rules b/c we're out of our environment and my mom has a different style. EG If we want him to eat healthy, it's very difficult there. It's also hard to be disciplining in front of my four siblings who don't have kids yet. I feel like all eyes and judgments are on me. We love to visit there a lot though (10 minute drive). So it's finding a balance all the time of keeping our rules but not making it miserable for everyone.

Anonymous said...

Hi there world travelers - I've been missing the 3 of you and thinking of you often. That's the hardest part of visits for me - I miss the grandkids more after I've visited them!

My favorite part about vacations is leaving behind all my adult responsibilities and just living in the moment. I could do it at home too if I would figure out how, but so far I can't! I got some pictures of your visit developed - I'll try to get them emailed to you when you get home!


Love you,
Hope you have a fun 24th!
Grandma Sweat