What I Did on my Summer Vacation: Double-Dating in England

The kids are back in school (phew) and I have a moment to breathe in the serenity of a quiet (for now) home.  The last time I felt this relaxed was- oh, just a few weeks ago.  I had to look through my old posts to confirm the unbelievable - I hadn't yet blogged about the greatest, most fantastic part of my summer.  My instagram peeps got to see the best of the photos but now I realize that I never actually wrote a record of it.  So here goes...


What I did on my summer vacation…





A few years back, my friend and her husband hatched a great plan for a dual-family vacation.  We were going to do something EPIC for our husbands 40th birthday and go to Europe.  All 6 of us and 10 of them.  It was going to be crazy - rent a villa, invite some more friends, and just hang out in the south of France or somewhere equally cool for a few weeks.

We got passports for all the kids.

We looked at amazing places to rent.

We looked at plane tickets.

Then we booked a place in California.

It turned out to be a wonderful vacation, but it certainly wasn't the European Get-Away of our dreams.

Fast-forward to spring, and these same friends are at it again talking this time about a couples trip to England.  Now England is one of my favorite places. I love

Journeying with Friends: How and why vacationing with friends is the way to go

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the difference between a family trip and a vacation (read here).  It was in anticipation of our summer trip to the beach with some friends.  Now that we have returned from such vacation, I have to make an addendum to my initial post.  There is a third type of trip/adventure/vacation.  A journey with friends.  And I have to say, this is the best way to vacation!

So here are the key features and the benefits of such a trip.

This summer did you go on a Family Trip or a Vacation?

A few months back I posted the first little essay in what was to be a series on our summer vacation… It was all about getting a passport for a glorious although undetermined trip to somewhere exotic.  Well the reservations are made and the exotic place is…

OXNARD, CA

Just 6 hours away.  No passport required.  No air travel required.  No customs required.  About 1/10th the price of the plane tickets elsewhere. 

So it isn't very exotic, but right about now I am ready to go anywhere to escape the triple digits.  For those reading from some place outside of Arizona - yes it is a dry heat - but 113 is just not pleasant.  

As I get ready for this grand vacation I have to remind myself that it is really a Family Trip not a Vacation.

According to Merriam-Webster 

A vacation is

"a respite or time of respite from something". 

A trip is 

"to journey to somewhere".

A time of respite (vacation)  versus a journey to somewhere (trip)

My kids travel well.  I am sure it has to do with the fact that we let them play with all sorts of fun electronic devises while we drive.  I am not ashamed to plug them in for a few hours.  The devices only last 2 of the 6 hours - we don't let them play the whole time,  but they feel like this is the only time we say "yes" whenever they ask so they have a good attitude generally.  And then the batteries die.  Please don't tell them about car chargers.  We also bring way too much other stuff- snacks, music, treasure box, books, Madlibs… they are all fun and wonderful things that we work into the mix to make the time fly by.  

It is a lot of work and leaves me with very little leg room. The car it packed to the windows.  Most of the drive I am sitting

Character building adventure vacations

This year our character building adventure vacation was mild. And it was actually a good 6 years or so since we have been on one so I was anticipating all sorts of trouble.  Each year my parents and sister and her family head to Lake Powell.  Lake Powell is beautiful, fabulous, fantastic, and the source of most of my childhood vacation memories. 

The Great Escape: Phase One - Passports

I think the State Department has employed underhanded techniques in order to reduce the number of idiots from traveling internationally.  Idiots and large families that is.  Getting the passports is the first gauntlet to pass and we almost didn’t pass the idiot test.