I was starting to feel guilty that we had never taken the boys with us on vacation so I talked Chris into a quick trip to Palm Springs the week before Carter’s second birthday so we wouldn’t have to pay for his plane ticket. See, I can be financially responsible when I want to! Vacation Amy is the best kind of Amy so I was REALLY looking forward to seeing her come out of winter hibernation. Let me just tell you though, traveling with toddlers is no vacation at all – it’s a trip. Bartenderrrrrrrrrrrrr, on second thought, make me another spicy margarita for the walk home, would ya?
I made the mistake of under-planning because that’s how Vacation Amy rolls, so when the boys woke up around 5 every morning and nothing opened until 9 or 10, we were all a bit bored of each other. It didn’t help that Deklan lost his beloved blankey the first day we were there somewhere between the grocery store and searching for cowboy things in the desert. Naturally I got blamed for it even though I wasn’t the one carrying it and distinctly remember asking him several times if he really needed to bring it with him everywhere he went. As the falsely accused responsible party though, I took it upon myself to go on a daily morning search and rescue mission – alone. I would start with the Starbucks inside the grocery store, then check the Redbox for new rentals before walking down the strip mall to the Rite Aid where I took my time browsing for another cheap toy to play with in the hotel room until it was warm enough to swim, and just for good measure I took a scenic drive around town with the windows down and music blaring several times before returning with the disappointing news that blankey had still not been found. To say Deklan was devastated would be an understatement. The kid has dragged this thing around every day since he was a baby. Even I shed a little tear over not being able to pull it out of storage someday to show his wife how he would sucky (that’s his word, not mine) on it like a weirdo. Now that Deklan has come to terms with blankey’s permanent relocation to California, we will be holding a celebration of life service in his honor in the coming weeks so stay tuned.
Aside from our life altering loss, the rest of the trip got a little better with each day once we started to find ways to fill our time. We spent most of the mornings building forts, taking bubble baths in the jacuzzi tub, watching last night’s Redbox movie one more time before we exchanged it, driving as close to the mountains as we could get, and breaking up countless fights. In the afternoons it was usually warm enough to swim – for a Minnesotan anyway. We also found an adorable zoo where we fed giraffes and rode a camel, and a small children’s museum that served its purpose of killing time. Most meals out in public were a disaster and Deklan cried every day – multiple times a day – that he wanted to go home. To be quite honest, I felt the same way at times. I had low expectations going into this trip that it was going to be anywhere near picture perfect, but I thought the boys would at least enjoy it. And they did at times, as did I, so it wasn’t a complete disaster. If nothing else it was 5 days of uninterrupted time we spent together just the 4 of us. That in itself is a rarity with our schedules so we soldiered on.
No offense, Honey, but I’m really glad you chose a career in sales.
And let’s hope Junior here does the same…
The “Vacation Por Favor” tee is a little ironic, don’t you think…
This guy on the other hand, acts like his whole life is a vacation.
The temperature was in the mid 60’s but it was 60 degrees warmer than home so we swam anyway. I’ll admit I was pretty jealous the first day of all the other moms who had the luxury of sitting bundled up poolside while their older children braved it alone. The boys were having so much fun they refused to get out despite their chattering teeth. When we had finally had enough one of the staff members ran over to me with fresh towels as I was exiting the pool and told the boys how lucky they were to have such a fun mom. And you know what? I thought to myself, “damn right I am!” and just like that I stopped wishing I was on the sidelines because we were here to make memories! And Snap Stories. Because let’s get real and then serious, the smiling photos above only tell half the story…
When we got home Deklan said, “Mom, I guess I just though California was going to be fun.” Assuming I misunderstood I said, “So you’re saying you didn’t have fun?” To which he responded with a resounding no. And then we both agreed that next time mommy and daddy will just go on vacation without him.
It’s good to be home.
