Mama-on-days: Unplugging and the Family Vacation

The Challenge:  Unplug and enjoy a family lake vacation.

The Experience:  This was my first family vacation since I’ve been blogging.  I know that I’ve been spending more time creating projects and writing up posts and made a conscious decision to unplug for my vacation.

This ended up being harder than I would have thought.  It’s pretty easy to get conditioned to the noises my phone makes.  I hear a little ding and run over to my phone to see if I’d gotten any emails.  (Pavlov’s speech therapist.)  I also had set up a giveaway while I was gone and wanted to make sure I was able to update posts while I was away.  Luckily, Facebook has a PAGES app that lets you schedule your posts.

Still, It took about 2 days for me to completely unplug from the phone, facebook and the internet.  (Mostly, but if you need to find a good pancake house, you still need to check the internet.  Okay, there was a yellow pages in the room.  But still-internet wins for that one.)  Next time I might disable my email and Facebook before going on a trip.

We had a great time.  In honor of vacations in general I thought I’d post a list about my experience:

7 Mommy things I learned on Vacation:  

1.  Communicate your intentions to unplug with your other family members.
The day before we left, I had packed my clothes, toiletries, snacks for the room, games, magazines and some toys and clothes for the Biscuit.  My husband had packed a Blu-Ray player and 10 movies.  It gets better.  We get to the hotel room and he can’t plug in the player because the TV in the room is too old.  HA!  I think-I WIN!  Reading and game playing it is.  I woke up the next day to find he’d found an all night Walmart and purchased a small TV for the room.  Lesson 1.5:  Never take a family vacation around your husband’s birthday-he will try to get away with everything.

2.  Never, ever, ever order BK’s french toast sticks for your four year old.  And then let him eat it in the car because you are running late for your ranch tour.  It will not end well.  #flypaperpreschooler

3.  You think it’s funny when you said it on vacation.  It won’t be funny when he says it at Daycare.  We were staying at a resort called Cragun’s.  So for  a majority of the trip, we kept saying:

Except one time to be funny, I said, “Release the butt-kraken”  *sigh*  I work with kids.  I KNOW better.  That became the biscuit’s favorite saying.  (It was pretty funny, though….)

4.  Unplugging does not mean you can’t plop your 4 year old down with the iPad at the end of the table and attempt to have a romantic date with your hubby.  Right?

5.  Sometimes your kids will surprise you with their talents.  I woke up from a nap to find that the biscuit reorganizing and folding the clothes in his drawer.  He worked meticulously for about a half an hour.  Did I mention he’s 4?  Or that I don’t fold?  He then said when he grew up he was going to be a folder.  But then he changed it back to Firefighter.

6.  A quarter spent on a fake mustache is a quarter well spent.

7.  Seeing your child’s wonder and astonishment at catching his first fish will make up for the 13 hours of whining which preceded it.

What is your favorite type of vacation?

Next Week’s Challenge:  Finish the family binder