The One Where I Gush About Vacation

The sky as we crossed the AZ border last night

Now that we're home safe and sound, our trip has officially come to an end, and I can say this without fear of jinxing anything (such a silly feeling isn't it?  But there it is):

I am blown away by how smoothly the past three weeks have gone.  Blown away.  It truly was a dream vacation for us, and I honestly don't even have words for how thankful I am for all of it!

First, the driving (hundreds of hours of driving) went without a hitch.  Hundreds of hours.   Six people.   Without a hitch.  99.8 of the trip, we truly and thoroughly enjoyed our time together in the car.  There were no popped tires, and no busted transmissions.  Even the traffic jams were minimal.

Second, everyone was healthy... the entire time!!  We know first hand the crimp that a nasty cold or - even worse - a stomach bug, can put on a vacation.   This time there was nary a sniffle.

Third, to paraphrase Dr Seuss.. "Oh the places we went!"  How often are we going to get to enjoy the red rocks of Zion, the mountains of Colorado, Niagara Falls, Cape Cod, and Washington DC all in same trip?

Finally, the people.  It was a much needed reconnection for the six of us,  one that I'll be forever grateful that we got the opportunity to experience.  It was also incredible to be able to visit with so many wonderful people, both inside and outside of our family, and I am humbled and thankful to have experienced so much warmth and generosity... from people opening and sharing their homes and their meals and their companionship and their time.   I truly feel an embarrassment of riches right now.

It wasn't a perfect trip, but it was perfect for us.  It was EXHAUSTING at times, without a doubt, but it was worth every hour of lost sleep and every minute on the road.  I had grand plans to use some of the time in the car to work on writing some blogs, to catch up on my reading, to study for my personal training test, to edit my Nano book from last year.   I did none of that.... and that's okay!!  As it turned out, what I needed wasn't more time to do more stuff, but more time to do nothing.  The time in the car was like 3 solid weeks of meditation, and it has refreshed and revitalized me more than I can say. 

I blogged about each day of the trip mainly because I wanted to have it for myself, to remember.  I don't do scrapbooks, only sporadically keep a journal, and am terrible about getting pictures printed.  But I can blog.  So here they all are, if you'd like to read any or all:

Our Great Summer Road Trip:  Day One
Day Two:  Small Town Fun
Day Three:  Driving, Driving, and More Driving
Day Four:  New Friends
Day Five:  I'm Tired
Day Six:  Niagara Falls
Day Seven: And on the 7th day, they rested
Day Eight: Pizza and Waterfalls
Day Nine: The Big Apple
Day Ten:  Grandma
Day Eleven:  Back in Massachusetts
Day Twelve:  Cape Cod
Day Thirteen:  The Beach
Day Fourteen:  Goats and Fishes
Day Fifteen:  Clamming, Piers, and Candy
Day Sixteen:  Long Drives and Good Friends
Day Seventeen:  My Souvenir
Day Eighteen:  Washington, DC
Day Nineteen:  I Told You So
Day Twenty:  Final Days
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Thank you to everyone who helped make our trip so memorable!



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Day Seventeen: My Souvenir

The kids have been collecting little souvenirs as we've traveled: a couple of stuffed animals and seashells for Tegan, new baseball caps for the boys. Today, thanks in large part to peer pressure a co-conspirator a supportive friend, I got my own souvenir: a little stud in my nose. I hadn't really planned to pierce my nose on the trip... I actually wanted to do it before the trip, but Mike talked me out of it, concerned about the possibility of dealing with complications/infections/problems when we were away from home. But the timing felt right, I was inspired by being with a kindred spirit, and I rose to the occasion.

In other news:

The boys are thoroughly enjoying being around other hardcore video-gamers.
Spencer mowed the lawn at his own request.
I relished a whole lot of baby-holding, as did the kids:

And we braved the heat and humidity for a short walk and bike ride down the street, where Everett rode a two-wheeler sans training wheels for the very first time.

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Day Sixteen: Long Drives and Good Friends

A shortish day of driving that again somehow seemed to take f.o.r.e.v.e.r. It was another smooth ride however (heinous porta-potty and a wasted hour looking for a geocache notwithstanding) and the kids continued to amaze with their patience. Everyone keeps asking what it's like with all six of us all crammed in the car, so many hours and so many days in a row: Don't we go crazy? Aren't the kids at each other's throats?

Here's the truth:

Tegan and Everett bicker a little bit now and then, because they're both in the far back seat, and because they're 3 and 7. Tegan (understandably) gets antsy when it's been a particularly long stretch, and Everett is the king of “Are we there yet?” as well as “I have to go to the bathroom.” He also discovered that he can stick his bare toes through the space at the bottom of Spencer's seat back directly in front of him, which he occasionally does just to try to bug Spencer. And it does bug him. Otherwise, they really do get along. They're watching movies on the DVD players (some of them upwards of 3 times), napping, taking pictures out the window, chatting, and playing “Would you Rather.” We're all enjoying the driving.

No matter how fun we manage to make it though, it does of course feel immensely relieving to arrive at our destination at the end of the day. Today was no exception. For the next two days we'll be in Virginia at the home of my good friend – and fellow unschooler – Alice, who was graciously waiting for us with good food, good drinks, and cute babies.

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Day Fifteen: Clamming, Piers, and Candy

We spent our final morning at the Cape digging for clams, a first for all five of us (Paxton decided to hang out back at the house with the non-clammers) Aside from the ever-present reminder that I was a long way from my epi pen, it was a neat experience that the kids especially enjoyed. Tegan even said that clamming was her favorite part of the trip, although in all fairness she has said that a lot of things are her favorite part of the trip. The bottom of the marsh was like quick-sand, and it was comical watching everyone trying to break the suction without losing their balance and falling with every step.

We spent the afternoon strolling around in Chatham, a lovely fishing/tourist/shopping town. We walked to the pier where we enjoyed the seals, watched the fisherman unloading their catch, and found our Massachusetts geocache (our tenth different state so far for the trip) We stopped at a traditional seaside candy store, where the kids loaded up on gummy sharks and worms, and Mike and I indulged in a few dark chocolate salted caramels. Those caramels might have been the highlight of my day.

We got the house closed up, said goodbye to Mike's brother's families - which was bittersweet - and headed back to his parents' house for the night.

Our one regret about our time in New England is that despite our original plans to visit some old friends – and some new ones too – our visits never materialized for a variety of reasons. Fitting everything in was one part of the trip that we really had trouble with, and it was frustrating and sad to have to change course at the last minute. There were simply not enough days to make it all work.

Still, we were happy and grateful for the chance to re-experience the Cape with the kids, and excited about the next part of the trip. Next up: Ashburn, Virginia.

Day Fourteen: Goats and Fishes

Since this was a trip for all of us, everyone got to have a say in what we saw and what we did. One of Tegan's general requests was to visit animals. We weren't able to make it to any zoos when we were in New York, so we decided to visit the little Zooquarium in Cape Cod. Fish, birds, zoo animals, and reptiles..... and the girl was happy.

We followed the zoo with another afternoon at the beach, a trip to Provincetown, more food (have I mentioned we're doing a lot of eating??) and mudslides over a few rounds of a board game called A to Z.



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Day Thirteen: The Beach

Our desert kids took to the beach like.. well, like fish to water.

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