Hit the road Jack

If there was one thing that I could go back in time and change about my life raising my kids, I would have vacationed more.  No seriously.  I’m not a big traveler because I don’t particularly like flying so that did limit where I was willing to take the kids.  Mostly it was just being so busy getting through the everyday life struggles and challenges and work and school and oops, look at all those years just fly by!  Vacationing – even little vacations are such a great way to just drop the routine for a day or three and do something completely different and fun.  The focus shifts from all the regular stuff and onto relationships and enjoying each others company and reconnecting in a different way.  We all know how important it is for couples to do that once in awhile but it’s also important for families or parent-child relationships once in awhile too.  There should be more roasted marshmallows and dancing like an idiot on a beach by a campfire or telling ghost stories or lying under the stars trying to see all the constellations.  I was never very good at seeing them by the way no matter how hard my kids tried to point them out to me.  It’s easy to get caught up in your “job” of raising your kids but sometimes, even that job needs a bit of a break.

We’ve done some little things here and there.  Marine land, haunted houses, overnight camping trips and the occasional water park but I kind of wish there was more of that because there really wasn’t that many.  Those are special kinds of memories for kids.

Recently, my brother was telling me that him and his wife and son went on a trip and rented a cottage along the coastline.  It was a different type of vacation for them and they just wanted to get away for awhile.  When you ask my nephew what is his favourite vacation he’ll tell you that is the one.  There was no cable and no satellite and no amusement park nearby.  It was just a little village and miles of rocky shoreline where you could hang out and skip rocks.  One day, they wandered into the village and found a glass blowing shop and all three of them made their own treasure to take home.  They’re really quite nice.  My nephew is still begging to go back and loves that little glass starfish he made more than anything.  Those are memories he will treasure for a lifetime.