Saturday, July 11, 2009

Lessons from my vacation:

Never trust a 6 year old to apply sunscreen to your back.

Nieces are cute, until they teach your child to repeat every word you say.

Bears like garbage.

Hiking is good exercise, and a far cry less boring than an elliptical machine.

I'm out of shape.

The May Queen is a champion hiker.

The prettiest rocks are in the national forest, and you are not allowed to take them.

But you can find some nice rocks in streams outside of the national forest.

I'm glad I don't have a DVD player in my van, but glad I have a portable one for long days of travel.

Camping in a trailer with a bathroom and a holding tank of water comes in handy when a construction crew hits a water main and water is shut off in the whole area, forcing the campground to lock the bathroom doors.

A decade later and in a different state, but they are still singing many of the same songs at camp.

The Happy Meal law of supply and demand: you will keep stopping at McDonald's and buying their crappy food in hopes of receiving the coveted SCRAT Ice Age toy, which obviously does not exist, and is only dangled before small children as an incentive to get them to ask to eat at McDonald's for every meal.

If you buy just the toy and not the Happy Meal, the toy will cost you $1.49.

Sliding down a natural rock slide in mountain water that is just this side of freezing numbs you enough that you almost don't notice all the bruises you're getting. ALMOST.

Just because you've recently spent nigh on $1300 to have your air conditioner fixed and it's working when you leave home doesn't mean it will be working when you arrive at your destination.

Traveling 14 hours (including stops) in one day in a van with no air conditioner through the south eastern United States will NOT kill you.

But the migraine at hour 13 comes pretty close.

Kittens grow quite a bit in 2 weeks.

Nothing says "welcome home" like endless laundry and a trip to the grocery store.

14 comments:

kayerj said...

welcome home :)

Kat said...

Wow! What a trip! It sounds exhausting but wonderful too. :)

Welcome back!

Mary Beth said...

Welcome home from the back of beyond! I am about to embark on a 14 hour drive at the end of the month to get to BlogHer, but I'm just traveling with my sister - no kids in sight.

Beck said...

EXHAUSTING!
We have learned to just buy the freaking coveted McDonald's toy already and stop randomly trying with Happy Meals. None of my kids even like Happy Meals, so everyone is happier now and I can have all of the miniature Madame Alexander dolls I want... I mean, my KIDS can have.

flutter said...

oh I am sensing a sunburn...

Chrissy said...

Oh, how fun! Now I want to know the stories behind all of these lessons....especially the bear. Welcome back!

Emily said...

Ditto on the sunscreen! (And don't trust them when they are eleven, either.)

Bummer about the air conditioner. But I'll bet when MQ is telling stories about her childhood to her children, she will recall these many hilights and also that the AC didn't work all the way home.

I hope you weren't driving through the migraine.

Welcome back.

alejna said...

Did you get little white handprints on an otherwise lobster-red back?

That sounds like quite a trip! Also some valuable lessons.

Controlling My Chaos said...

Two weeks is a long time to be away from home, but it sounds like you had a nice vacation. And you learned a lot, good and bad. :)

Magpie said...

welcome home!

i once slid down one of those natural water slides - i remember it fondly, for i've never seen another...

Chantal said...

I think this is why I am a wimp when it comes to traveling :)

All Rileyed Up said...

I am appropriately shocked:

"Traveling 14 hours (including stops) in one day in a van with no air conditioner through the south eastern United States will NOT kill you."

babs m said...

Boy are these lessons right on! I just went 7000 miles from PA to CA and back with three kids, so I hear you. And the Mickey D's people are DEFINITELY off my Christmas list!!!

Louise said...

Excellent (and funny) list. I can relate to many of them, but the no DVD in the van, but a portable one for long trips is KEY. How our parents generation survived without them is beyond me!