I haven't been on a real vacation in over 2 years. (Single night campouts do not count here.) And I was 6 months pregnant the last vacation which is, um, less fun.
I'm so excited!
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
The hardest part for our family vacation is getting the whole family packed and into the car... there's always a big fight... usually between my dear sweet wife yelling at the kids who haven't gone potty, don't have their shoes, won't get in the car, and Dad who arrives too late with the car and doesn't magically know what goes in the car and where it should be packed...
Now that we've recognized that we're pretty much garanteed to fight before we leave, we actually fight more lovingly... :)
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
My issue with vacations is that I overplan. That does take some of the fun out of it, but works to make things run smoothly.
We leave before 5am, so there is no fighting. No one is awake enough. The older boys basically wake up to being put on the toilet and told to pee. LOL.
We pack the vehicle the night before. Any squabbles take place then. Maybe I should learn to fight more lovingly...
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Santa Cruz, CA. Nearly on the beach. It will be bliss.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I was supposed to be on vacation all this week down the coast from Santa Cruz in Monterey but our plans fell through so I'm stuck at work. Life really sucks lemons sometimes.
Sadly, our mini-vacation was not nearly long enough. But, Cat and I have the opportunity to go on a trip ALONE together for a couple of days in August. That's assuming the finances support the decision. We actually had someone offer (we didn't ask) they offered to take our kids for us. How often does that happen?
Can you just drop off the kids and you and Cat go back to your house and have a vacation just living your life for a week without them? That'd be my wife and my ideal vacation... :)
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
17 days and counting. Time to start planning what we want to do while we're there. Is it wrong that one of my must-see places is the Ikea?
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
IKEA as a must see attraction? Surely there must be more meaningful ways you can spend your money on bolstering the local Nazifornia tourist trap economy...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
We're going to be there seven whole days. We're also looking at a boat ride around the San Fransico Bay, a trip to a zoo/carnival place, the beach, visiting Monterrey, visiting with family, the beach, the Santa Cruz boardwalk, and of course, the beach.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Maybe. Being that it's walking distance from where we're staying, maybe indeed.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Time for a pedicure! I still have the little Asian flowers on my big toes with jewels in the middle that the little Chinese man painted on BY HAND. So awesome.
To late for print travel guides now - better do some googling for interesting sites in the area.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Time to start the list-making process. I hate forgetting things, so lists soothe me.
Lists: where to go, what to take, food, cleaning, map printing, shopping lists
This weekend we are going to clean out the minivan. Yes, it's that messy that we need to start now.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Take all the "stuff" and put it in a cardboard box. Not stuff like your purse or things that you really need... but the other "stuff." Then dump all the garbage, wrappers, or whatever in the garbage. Close the box up and stick it somewhere until next Tuesday. Meanwhile, vacuum and wash the van. Then come home and do the windows and wipe out the inside.
Now, Tuesday rolls around and you go get the box. DO NOT open it. Whatever you can name that's inside the box, you can keep. Can't remember a freakin' thing in the box? Take it, still unopened and dump it in the garbage. Tada!!
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Coco, that's a great cleaning plan. Of course, I might deliberately 'forget' about any of the kids' stupid little toys in the box. That might be unethical.
Poncho, I'm just excited to have something to look forward to. I've been bummed out a bit more than typical lately.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
The question is will she be brave enough (and dare I say strong enough) to take a vacation from Bountiful and the chatbox.
Speaking of vacations, I suppose one of these days we'll get around to letting you folks see some of our mini-vacation's photos... though once again, Herr Photogenically Challenged Fatman did not turn out very well in pictures he is in... The rest of the family is fine, but I honestly look almost as wide as I am tall in the photos, and I don't look that way in the mirror!
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Shouldn't you be leaving for that vacation Hick? We're all looking forward to when you take it... nice and long...
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
What!? Don't you WANT to go on vacation!? I only want what you want!! Isn't there like this Article of Faith that Stephen Covey plagarized and called it, "Think Win-Win"?
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Poncho, I'm just excited to have something to look forward to. I've been bummed out a bit more than typical lately.
Sorry Hiccups, you're right it is nice to have something to look forward to, especially a vacation. It's been several years since our family has had a nice, looong vacation. They are good at boosting the morale.
Hiccups, I decided to join you in that "going on vacation happy dance." You remember the little trip I mentioned a few posts earlier about Cat and I going off alone together for a few days? Well, it looks like it may actually happen. WooHooo!
No kids, no kids, for almost three whole days! No kids, no kids, for almost three whole days! Everybody sing along!
We'll probably come back with that severe buyers remorse that vacations tend to cause, but at the moment- well, hey I really don't care! We will actually be able to go and relax!
Yay for you, Poncho! (Ok, yay, for cat, too ) That sounds like a wonderful break!
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
A week from tomorrow, we'll be on the road. I actually really like road trips. We usually try to be on the road by 5 am. We miss a lot of traffic and the kids sleep the first part of the trip that way. The map program says the trip will take 10 hours and 16 minutes. If that's right, we'd be there by 2:30 in the afternoon. Not bad at all. (It will probably be a little more than that just because of California traffic.) Part of what makes a successful roadtrip with the kids is having the right food on hand. I usually pack food so we don't have to waste time, money or digestive tract health by eating fast food. What foods do you like to take on road trips?
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
There's a special smokehouse we get jerky from whenever we leave town for a roadtrip. They have original, teriyaki, cajun, buffalo... all kinds of stuff and it's so totally better than the grocery store. MrCoco likes trail mix and nuts... Cookies... Fruit... Sounds like fun!
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
In 48 hours we'll be zooming through Winnemucca, NV.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Ok, looks like verything is packed & done. We leave very early in the morning. Have a great week everyone!
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
We're back. We had a lot of fun. We went to the beach and boardwalk several times. The boys did some carnival rides and my oldest had a blast on the rock climbing wall. We did a boat tour around the bay. The sealions are very friendly and like to watch the people as much as the people liked to watch them. We got a lot of sun. We went to the Children's Discovery museum, which was a total blast. We went to a cute little zoo. We rode around on the light rail train, which doesn't really sound like fun, but the boys enjoyed it. I got my trip to IKEA and picked up a few small things. We went to a lot of restaurants. We went on a lot walks. We are tired and there's a lot of laundry to be done. It was a very successful trip.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Our vacation is just barely getting starting but here I am stuck with nothing to do...
We checked into our hotel, ate some yummy sandwiches we made with stuff we brought from home... went and saw a few friends in SL and came back... we had just started our scripture study together... I was the one reading when all of a sudden hubby started to breathe very deeply and quietly... Yep.. he fell sound asleep... I am pretty sure that wasn't a "statement"... still, I thought maybe he would wake up after a short nap... but no such luck...
In all fairness to him... He had a tough week before we left... two partial days of driving... I think the poor guy is just worn out! So I poked my head in to see what is up... Glad to see that your vacation was good hiccups... After only 2 days I can honestly say that ours is going wonderfully... The driving part of our trip has been a joy and blessing... We have talked ourselves horse... he he, OH...
I still have the little Asian flowers on my big toes with jewels in the middle that the little Chinese man painted on BY HAND. So awesome.
