We are home from vacation and exhausted, but we had a wonderful time! All my prep last week paid off as we had a very stress-free departure last Saturday morning. We have enough children now that prepping for vacation is a ton of work, and in years past I grew resentful and stressed prior to our departure. This is the first year that I completely cleared my calendar the week leading up to vacation--and it paid huge dividends on Friday night and Saturday morning.
For the past four years, we have headed to the Jersey Shore for a one-week vacation with my extended family. My parents are very generous and rent a house on the beach for all 3 of their children (and spouses), and six grandchildren. With all of us living in one house for the week, there is bound to be a least a little tension! My brother and sister both have children younger than mine, and so in years past not everyone was on the same schedule. This year, however, all the children were old enough to be on roughly the same schedule as my children, and this made the vacation go REALLY smoothly! Everyone just seemed to be in step with everyone else, and helping hands surrounded us as we managed to take our kids back and forth from the beach two times each day. With so many hands, the burden was much lighter, and this was exactly the recipe my pregnant body needed to have a fun and relaxing time!
10 comments:
So excited you had a relaxing time!!!
What a great pic of the kids, especially beautiful Gianna! I'm so glad the fruit of your pre-vacation efforts was peace, calm, and relaxation. It sounds like it was wonderful. Now, take a rest and try not to overdo it while unwinding! xo
Red, I thought "relaxing family vacation" was an oxymoron until I learned of your vacation planning techniques. Way to go!! Pulling off a relaxing and enjoyable family vacation (especially one where the mom relaxes!) is a great and rare achievement.
Red, that sounds beautiful. What a blessing to have siblings who are having children at the same time as you. I think we will be waiting for cousins for a long time in our brood. Glad you rested that third trimester bod, this is no joke, huh?
This is great news, and I would love a more specific "how to" at some point! I hate it when I get to a vacation and don't have what we need, have to waste lots of time shopping, etc, or when I am already exhausted from packing and dreading the unpacking before the "fun" even starts.
We had a great day trip to the shore last week, and I was surprised how much fun and how relaxing it could be with six kids. I think that part of the key may be that at least some of the children are older now, more self sufficient.
I'm so glad that YOU were able to relax a bit before baby comes along! Your kids look great and it sounds like all of your hard work payed off - good job :)
Any tips about sunscreen ? My kids were burned after one day at the beach, I am not sure what would happen if we stayed for a whole week! I have one who is in the water the whole time, and his face really got it -- they seem reluctant to wear hats, but maybe being strict about that is the best answer?
Sunscreen in eyes was a problem, too.
We were using Neutregena, recommended by derms but maybe not waterproof enough, I may need to go hard core with zinc nose-coat in the future, and I am also thinking of setting an alarm on my watch for a no questions asked re-apply every 45 minutes.
We use Coppertone Baby sunblock (50-70 spf) and apply in the am (9:30 ish) and again in the afternoon (2:30ish). We are out of the sun and indoors from 12-2:30. My kids are in the water often, and I don't make them wear a hat in the water. They do wear a hat on the beach (and Gus wears a hat always). They got some pink color on their face the first day, but otherwise were fine. I applied to their face, and was very careful to get up around their eyes as this is an area where they burn easily.
I am absolutely LOVING the spray sunblock this summer. I still rub it in, but I love that I can spray all over to make sure the kids have good coverage. I also like that I can spray my back and get sunblock on there on my own when I'm alone with the kids at the pool.
We started out with Neutrogena spray, but the kids hated the smell of it. After that was used, I bought Banana Boat Kids spray 45 and its been awesome. No smell!
Red...so glad you had a great vacation!
MA...two tips on sunscreen.
Timing: Apply at least 15 min before going out so it soaks in and is less likely to rub off. If that doesn't work then zinc stuff is def. an option.
Quantity: It's recommended to use one ounce per application. That means if you have a big 12 oz. tube, your kids would go through it in 2 applications...probably in a day. The point being don't skimp on quantity. It makes a difference The SPF ratings are made using the 1-oz application.
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