"Vacationing" With Kids

Last night, I decided to do something spontaneous and bring my kids to a family-friendly resort about an hour away from our house. We’d never been there before and it just looked really cool – pool, splash park, playground, food trucks, etc. Since I don’t work on Fridays, it seemed like the perfect time to surprise them with some summer fun. Now we’re here and I’m sitting with my 5 year old son (watching the iPad) as his brother naps in the other room of the suite.

There have been both wonderful and extremely frustrating/stressful moments so far. Let me first say that this is the first time I’ve gone away with my kids (other than to my parents' house) without my husband. When we arrived, the place was beautiful and the kids were very excited to explore. Literally as soon as we checked in, the kids were innocently exploring the lobby and doing things like unhooking those velvet ropes that form lines for people to check-in. So, I’m going between politely listening to the women behind the counter direct me to our room, while I’m also whisper yelling at my kids “Come back here!” and “Do we have to leave already?!”

We eventually get up to the room after dragging 2 trips-worth of kid junk from the car and I breathe a sigh of relief. Contained! It’s 7:30 p.m. but I decide to let the kids watch a movie and have some popcorn since it’s a mini vacation. They’re happy as clams and all is well. Now, I thought I was smart (and a little fancy) to get a suite with a separate bedroom so that we could all actually sleep. I think you know where this is going. I tried to get the boys to share a bed, but that turned into wrestle mania. After maybe a dozen warnings, I eventually fell asleep to the sound of giggles and “Mom, we have to tell you something”-s at 11:00ish (I realize this just sounds like a lot of complaining about my kids, but I swear I have a point).

This morning, they came into my room at 5:48 a.m. wide awake and raring to go. I somehow kept them quiet-ish in the room until 8:00am and then it was breakfast and down to the pool. When we get to the pool, everything almost instantly changed. Happiness! Joy! So excited and grateful to have the day off with nothing to do but play with my littles and swim! This place has a great vibe – they have awesome music piping into the pool area, everyone around me is relaxed and happy, and it’s basically all families so everyone gets it when you have a moment of exasperation with your kids. Lots of nods and sympathetic smiles between moms here. Overall, the afternoon was pretty much bliss and I had to remind myself that, of course, a trip like this is going to have ups and downs.

Now back to the present, in our hotel room with my son sleeping in the other room. There’s literally almost nothing to do not involving screens since all I have in here is my computer, phone and ipad (everything else is currently being held hostage in the nap room). I allowed myself to quickly check social media on my computer, just to give some “happy birthdays” and “great pics!” to my friends. I don’t want to be totally disconnected, but I must say that I have cut down my use of social media by about 95%. That’s been a huge win so far.

I've been feeling really bored and antsy for the past hour. It never even crossed my mind to just lay back and enjoy the peace and quiet that I almost never get. Doing “nothing” still feels so hard. I suppose I’m still detoxing from all of the constant overstimulation that I’m trying to remove. I just hope that, at some point, I go back to the person I used to be who never got bored, even with nothing to do.