Trips vs. Vacations

As a child every little trip is a fabulous vacation.  As one has more and more children even a well-planned vacation seems like simply a trip.  It is easier to stay at home and perform all the daily obligations of motherhood than on the road, from a motel or tent, or in a strange location.


But Shannon and I realized this spring that we had postponed a family vacation too long and we needed a change of scenery.  Mom & Dad simultaneously invited us on a very special vacation.
Okay, so it was more Dad's idea.

WE ARE TAKING OUR KIDDOS TO ALASKA ~:o)


I am so excited.  Of course there are nagging thoughts of what people are going to think of a family of nine traipsing onto a cruise ship but darn-it-all, I don't care ~ I can't care.  I can't wait for my kiddos to witness the splendor of Creation in the icy north ~ to (hopefully) witness whales as they skim the surface and porpoises as they bounce in front of the bow of the ship, the mountains jutting straight out of the water, the magnificence of it all.
We just finalized plans to visit with a special friend in Seattle ~ the kids bagged the zoo so we could for sure spend enough time with them exploring tide pools.  So much for my grand plan of ditching my boys with the monkeys.
Anyway, who cares about the zoo, we live in one!

Packing all the suitcases will be a different sort of fun.

How do you like the little red one?  

Mine from way back ~ I'd carry it from our house 

to spend the night with an older couple that lived several blocks away.  

As wonderful as home is, and as stressful as caring for a larger family is away from home, this will be a vacation.  We will choose to make it one, not simply a trip.
That's what Mom & Dad did for us and what we need to pass onto our cherubs.