Vacation Mom Still Hanging On

After a week’s vacation in Florida, we are home, sweet home. It’s warm! It’s spring! We have a new deck to enjoy. The kids are excited to see their friends, stuffed animals and toys. In fact, within minutes of handling their Magna-tiles, the boys asked me to take a picture of the latest creation for my blog. There you have it.

I know (from serious vacationing experience) how easy it is to get back in the grind of our usual routines and forget the vacation spirit. Luckily, my vacation self lives on after touching down in Connecticut because (1) my grandma helped me with three loads of laundry on our last day in Florida, (2) my husband went to the grocery store this afternoon, while I (3) took a NAP!  The euphoria of this extended vacation inspired this list, part-journal/part-goal-setting:

What I Loved About My Vacation (and How I Can Bring A Little Vacation Into My Everyday)

1. Skim Latte and five-veggie egg white omelet every day for breakfast while gazing at the ocean.

• Hold the ocean…but SOMEONE should consider an espresso machine with frother for me for Mother’s Day??  Reserve some chopped up veggies while prepping dinner to throw in my eggs each day.

2. Watching my son interact with new friends on the beach. You have to join forces to stop the tide, you know.

• Get excited (in the worry free way) to have kids start preschool and kindergarten next year – new friends and adventures.

3. Find that Noah likes collecting shells and stringing things together as much as I do. He does, however like, dumping sand on our finest finds far more than I do. Finding these in his sand pile was a major search and rescue operation.

• Remember Noah loves collecting just for the sake of collecting — not (like me) for the sake of keeping. He also likes gluing for the sake of gluing, not for the sake of designing.

4. Having/making time to create with my kids wherever we are and with whatever we’ve got.

Fruit Loop Necklace, by Noah, modeled by Nana Bonnie. Inspired by the hotel breakfast buffet.

Noah’s Shell Bracelet (also a great sounding instrument). Credit to Nature for leaving such perfect holes in so many pretty shells.  

Shell Fishies on Paint Chips.

• I haven’t colored or glued this much in a long time. It kept Noah and me very busy and happy. Its good for us anytime.

5. Changing into pajamas and climbing into a clean crisp bed with Noah for a post-beach nap.

• Hmm, omitting the beach, this can be done, at least once a week: Make my bed nicely in the morning. Change into PJs for a nap. Climb into bed. Of course, I could do a million things during nap time, but nothing as sweet and restorative as this.

6. Feeling free to play aimlessly with my kids, like  singing “We Are The Champions “ and making up new varieties of Goldilocks & The Three Bears (that’s Goldilocks and The Three Frogs, The Three Ponies, The Three Chickens, etc.) while visiting the restaurant bathroom two, three, even four times during one meal. When you are in a restroom stall, there’s really nothing else to do, but entertain.

• How long will these boys beg to hear me sing and tell stories? For now, I bet I can throw them a deal: one story or song every time they poop, and they help me empty the dishwasher or spray down the kitchen counter. What’s that book on writing called? Bird by Bird. Well, my kids will learn to read; Poop by Poop.

7. Enjoying a fun dinner out with friends who live literally three houses away from us (at home), while my parents babysit.

• Just re-book parents and friends for dinner – perhaps just 1500 miles closer to home. Easy, And wherever it is, I will relish in not taking ANYONE to the bathroom for an entire meal.
• Be endlessly grateful that our parents love our kids like crazy. And vice-versa. And that they will spend gobs of time with them at home AND on vacation.

8. Bringing pizza in to my Grandma Pearl’s house. Do you know any 80-somethings who set a table as trendy as this one, with SANGRIA??!! For pizza?!

• Add a little Gigi flair to the table once in a while.

9. Watching the boys have a blast weeding and tidying Gigi’s garden.

Note the bag. Gigi even gardens with a bag from Bloomingdales!

• Weeding?! I have weeds. And don’t forget how much fun you can have with kids and a paper bag. No fancy projects needed.

10. Seeing my kids cuddle in Gigi’s bed as she goes through junk drawers and old photographs and remembering doing the same as a kid. Trinkets from Gigi – globes, calculators, magnets and ballet slippers – are as good as gold. Even better…spotting Noah climbing into Gigi’s bed this morning for one more book before our early AM departure.

• Happily count on seeing Grandma when she comes to visit in May and August – and making sure to find lots more occasions to be together.