Family Vacation: Test Run

This past weekend, we took a 3 day trip to San Diego, and did the whole family vacation thing; Sea World, hotel swimming pools, the beach, and we inhaled absurd amounts of "vacation treats" such as cream cheese filled pretzels, strawberry covered funnel cakes, and of course a few frappacinos. We realized this was sort of our first official family vaca. with all 4 kids. Usually our trips revolve around family visits, but this was like an actual spring break expedition. So I'm considering it my test run. Here's what I learned.

1. Our hotel room was awesome because it had our bedroom closed off to the kids. This is a must unless you and your hubby want to go to sleep when they go to sleep at 8:30.

2. Next time, I'm bringing all the contents of my medicine cabinet in my purse. We were in the sun a lot, and at one point, I got a headache. At one point, Lorelei's eyes hurt from the chlorine, at one point Maylin threw up in the van from heatstroke..... etc. Next time, I'll be more prepared.

3. We're still two years away from actually being able to relax by the the pool or the ocean. Morgan will be 2 in June, and she's just not water safe yet. I'm getting closer, but I definitely gained a few gray hairs by the pool this weekend, trying to supervise 4 overly-excited children who thought they were Olympic swimmers already, despite being unable to coordinate kicking and paddling at the same time.

4. Truthfully, theme parks are for grown ups and pre-teens. We're sitting at the dolphin show pointing out the magnificent and amazing animals that can jump in the air and wave with their fins, and all my girls cared about was the lemonade slushy they were fighting over.

5. Lastly, I learned that vacations are just like life. The kids still get cranky, they still wet their pants, and they still fight in the backseat. The only difference is there's more sugar involved, and I've got back up because Dan's with us and not at work (which makes a world of difference for all of us psychologically). But, it's what you make of it, and because I pretty much knew all that beforehand, I actually had fun (which is quite a feat for me these days). The weather was beautiful, God's creatures are truly amazing (manatees are awesome), and I really felt blessed to be able to even go on a family vacation with my girls and buy them Sea World trinkets that they will either break or lose before the week has ended.

Seriously, life is good.

*Footnote: I'd be a total jerk if I didn't mention, Jen got us the tickets (thank you Jen for the "discount")and we got to meet up with her, Neil, and Liam for the Shamu show, etc. Jen, we were so happy to see you, and Liam was a doll. Thanks for everything!