The truth about family vacations is they aren’t always what we see on Facebook or Instagram . They aren’t all smiles and perfectly framed moments.
The truth about family vacations is that they are a lot of work. Someone has to do all the planning and the packing and the reminding to not forget all the many things everyone needs. And even when someone loves to plan it’s still work.
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| Watching Capt. Jack Sparrow |
The truth about family vacations is sometimes people get sick on vacation, how dare they. Like last year when my husband was slammed with a stomach bug or this year when Jack threw up on a John on the bus ride to the airport( thankfully the trip was over).
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| Getting a faux hawk at Harmony Barber Shop |
The truth about family vacations is sometimes the plans don’t go right, sometimes people complain, sometimes even the best ideas don’t pan out. Sometimes there are unexpected tears and kids that don’t want to cooperate and parents that push too hard.
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| Green Army Men from Toy Story |
The truth about family vacations is that you will get home exhausted and wonder if everyone had a good time. If everyone appreciates all that went into it.
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| Meeting Chip and Dale in Epcot |
And then you will look at the pictures and you will see the smiles and the laughter and the hints of joy. You will see 8 days that flew by too fast, and that you couldn’t do it all. You will see that everyone had a good time and the small failures and complaints will fade away.
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| Looking out over Epcot while waiting to meet Duffy |
You see the thing about family vacations is they aren’t always perfect but they are always memorable. And that some day you will look back and smile and laugh and maybe even get a bit nostalgic for all those little things that didn’t go just quite right.
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| Meeting Wreck it Ralph
Disclaimer (cause my family reads this sometimes) our last trip was great, this post was inspired by having talked to a few friends and we were all saying how some aspects of family vacations are just hard, ya know.
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My kids have been asking for years for their first trip to Disney! I'm sure it will be work planning it, but am anxiously awaiting the time when I get to finally take them!
Agreed! Doubly true if your kids have allergies AND special needs, ugh. And for sure you need a vacation of lying in bed after returning, but it's TOTALLY worth it! And Disney makes up for it, because they treat kids like mine with respect and care.
Oh vacations! They are a lot of work, but it's always sad to know they've passed.
After many, many trips to Disney World with our children as they were growing up, we will soon be heading to Orlando for our twin grandsons' (aged 2) first trip. A trip totally planned, organized and booked by our son. The best of all worlds – an amazing trip and I'm not in charge of ANYTHING!!
No trip is picture perfect. There is the lost luggage, the horrible meal, the scorpion in the hotel room (yep). But those are what make the good stories!
Love this! You are SO right…. not exactly relaxing but always memorable. We'll have drinks in coconuts and actually be able to close our eyes on the beach when we are 50, right?!
I have yet to have a trip that was perfect…with the 3 of us or 14 of us. BUT everyone has memories and smiles and stories to last a lifetime
I think family trips are just that trips, but they are not vacations. I still like going on trips with my kids but I am working hard and not getting very much relaxation time. The first time we went to Disney I woke up with the stomach flu the day we were going to the park. Thankfully my husband was able to get one more day off work and I was feeling better the next day. So yes, things don't always go according to plan.
This makes me think of when my oldest cut his finger really badly on our last day in Canada last year. Yeah, not fun. If only they could always be perfect. It needs to be a rule. 😉