Vacation . . . sort of

This past weekend we packed up the family truckster and headed off to Alexandria, MN for Jocie's basketball tournament. Our trip had a painful beginning due to the fact that the interstate was closed down in Monticello because of a multi-car accident and jack-knifed semi - so it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to Buffalo (which is only 15 miles from our house) where we were dropping Mario off for the weekend . . . there were plenty crabbies in the car that night . . . parents included.


The mood lightened after we arrived in Alex. We checked into the Arrowwood Resort & Hotel and were impressed with all it had to offer. Beautiful and spacious rooms, an indoor water park, a regular pool, and countless outdoor activity opportunities which included skating, sledding, snowmobiling, horse drawn sleigh rides, sledding and ice fishing. That's a lot of stuff to do - and in order to do all of it, we would have needed to stay for an entire week. So needless to say, we didn't get to any of the outdoor activities, but we sure stayed busy with all in the indoor ones :)


the view from our patio door early Saturday morning

this place had icicles hanging all over the place!



one of the hotel's ice skating rinks



Saturday morning and afternoon was dedicated to basketball. Coach Carl led his team into three tough battles which unfortunately ended in defeat. The other teams were well versed in pressing (the whole game . . . even when they were up by 30 . . . in the sixth grade . . . I hope that coach can sleep at night!) and the zone defense. Oh well, you can't win them all!








Honestly, this weekend wasn't really about basketball anyway. It was about going out of town with a whole team of excited 11 and 12 years old girls, letting them go crazy at a water park, eat pizza and birthday cake and stay up WAY too late laughing a talking with one another. I had those experiences as a kid when I used to travel with our figure skating precision team (yes, they do exist). Some of my favorite school-aged memories come from those trips, and I was so happy to see Jocie be able to have some of the same fun times with her friends. Man, she is growing up fast! Too fast!!



Speaking of growing up fast, we had a little pizza-and-cake-pool-side birthday party for her on Saturday night. With almost every weekend filled up with basketball and a trip to the lake on her "real" birthday this coming weekend, we thought it would be fun to celebrate her birthday with her friends while we were at the hotel. The girls had a great time!

Carl and I had fun watching our girls have fun in the hotel and at the pools . . . but I have come to the realization that "Family Vacations" when you have young children, is nothing close to a vacation for the mom in the family. Stealing a quote from my favorite TV comedy, Modern Family, "This isn't a vacation for me, it's a business trip". Oh, how true that statement is!



Yes it's fun staying in a hotel, but it's not fun trying to cram an enormous amount of stuff for a family of 5 into one room. Nor is it fun to try to put a toddler to bed in her pack-and-play and then continue to be in the same room, where she can clearly see you - - "Mama . . . Mama . . . Mama . . . El-ya . . . Mama". Plus, when in the room, the kids don't have anywhere else to go. They are always there. Right up in you business.



Yes, it's fun to watch your children have a blast at the water park. Swimming, sliding, and laughing. It totally warms your heart! But it's not fun freezing you ass off as you get splashed by other people's kids once every 30 seconds when you are standing in knee deep water for hours at a time, while you watch the early-twenty-bitches relaxing in the hot tub with a beer in hand.

It's fun to watch your eldest daughter work her butt off on the court, knowing that she is pouring her heart and soul into a game she loves. It is not fun, however, to only watch 8 minutes (not in a row) of said game because your youngest can't sit still - even when you bring a huge bag full of activities to do and snacks to eat. No, no. She would much rather run up and down the handicap ramp in the hallway, because that's super fun!



Okay - enough complaining. The kids had a great time, and at the end of the day that is all that matters. I know there will be a time when I get to have vacations again. And when that time comes, I will probably want these days back!



So here's to family vacations - They may be crazy, frustrating and exhausting, but they also create family memories, and nothing can compete with that.