We went to North Carolina last week with my parents, my sister, and her husband.  I was rather stressed the days leading up to departure making lists, going shopping, baking, going shopping again, taking the kids shopping, then finally packing.

I’ve learned throughout the last few years that vacation with children (at least for me) is more work than rest.  In order to go anywhere we first determined how long we would be there, decided what we would need, then packed a bag.  Or two.  I was packing car bags every day – for the ocean, the sound, the museum, the boat ride, the day trip to another island.  I inevitably didn’t have something we needed.

There is also the balancing act of remembering that this is EVERYONE’S vacation.  What the kids want to do isn’t necessarily what I want to do, which still isn’t necessarily what Chad wants to do.  So we tried to find a balance and asked everyone to make sacrifices here and there so we each got moments of our own vacation time.

I realized a few days in that I wasn’t enjoying this very much, and I needed to refocus.  I needed to take notice of the moments I wanted to remember from this vacation so that the bag packing and sacrifices weren’t my main memories.

Here are some of my Outer Banks Moments…

• jumping in the car barefoot
• not stressing over sandy feet because it wasn’t our house 🙂
• noticing each child’s laugh as they play in the waves
• eating the most delicious, locally caught seafood
• the kids were adventurous in their food trying!
• playing games at night with the grown ups while my kids slept
• (closely related…) learning that having a set bedtime for the kids on vacation is vitally important for Chad and I to know when we will get to really relax
• having a TV in the kids’ bedroom is brilliant for when they wake up  h o u r s  before everyone else
• my husband takes incredibly good care of me when he sees I’m worn out
• when the kids are bored in the Wright Brothers Museum, there is a monument high on a hill, far away, that you can excitedly encourage them to run to…and they will!
• the other grown ups on our vacation were incredibly generous in helping with my children
• the day spent golf-carting around Ocracoke Island was my favorite!
• leaving at 8 or 10pm worked amazingly well for us – the kids slept half the way each time!
• And they really are incredible travelers.

I know this post started out a little negative, but it’s an honest look at vacationing with three elementary school children, and my experience started out a little negative.  UNTIL I realized I could do something about it.  I could change what I was noticing.  So now when I look at our pictures I will remember this list of things instead of Oh yeah, that was the day I forgot sunblock or That was the restaurant Eli was completely disruptive in.

I feel like this could apply maybe to my non-vacationing life.

 

Here is Grace on the hour-long ferry ride from Cape Hatteras to Ocracoke Island.  It was just a little windy 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Ada was SO tired after climbing the 257 stairs to the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse!  I was so proud of my kids for making it all the way up!

 

 

 

 

Momma and me on the ferry

 

 

 

When Eli is in a really bad mood, and you’re on a ferry on a beautiful day, and you just really want him to enjoy his surroundings but he is refusing…sometimes “enjoying the moment” for everyone means giving him an iPhone to play on and a corner to sit in.  And everyone was happy.  I do mean everyone on the boat.

 

 

Golf cart day!  The kids played musical chairs between our cart and my parents’…Ada enjoyed having the back to herself.  Don’t worry, she’s buckled in.

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