Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Vacation

Ah, vacation…relaxation, freedom from responsibility, quiet and sleep. I can almost hear the ocean waves gently lapping at the sandy beach, can almost taste the Portuguese wine and the crusty bread, can almost hear the children screaming – wait, children screaming? Oh, that’s right - I have children and that changes the whole vacation thing a bit. Vacationing is now parenting in a different place…with jet lag. This doesn’t mean that going on a vacation with your family is not fun – it’s just tiring. You see, children have their own ideas about vacation and they think vacation is all about the FUN!

Miguel: When are we going to do something fun?!?
Me: We just spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon at the pool. Wasn’t that fun?
Miguel: Yes, but what’s the next fun thing?!?
Me (spoken quietly to self): A glass of wine, a novel and about 18 hours of sleep.

Children expect a lot during vacation. They expect raucous good times, lots of activity and unusual amounts of ice cream. They do not expect rules or bedtimes or anything that can be construed as limiting to the FUN. Quiet, calm, sleep – they are, apparently, the harbingers of FUN doom. They are reviled by the vacationing child. This is, of course, unfortunate for the vacationing adults.

So, we are about to embark on one of these adventures. We leave for Portugal tomorrow at 12:35 p.m. There will be long plane rides and layovers and much wrangling of children. We will get to engage in fabulous games like “Contain the Toddler in the Airplane Seat with Minimal Amounts of Screaming” and “A Gazillion Questions” (because “20 Questions" is for wimps). We will arrive in Lisbon* on Thursday morning, haggard and mumbling to ourselves. Don’t worry about the children though, they’ll be raring to go. Let the FUN begin!

*We will spend the first few days in Lisbon before traveling up north to Pocariça. Once we are there, I will be blogging. I hope to have interesting things to say but, if nothing else, you can read about the food, the wine and how much sand Zeca has eaten...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sister-- several years ago you too was into fun at a very young age. I can remember all kinds of trips I took with you. Let the Fun begin you would say.. :)

Kristin said...

Good Grief what am I going to do for three weeks when left alone with Ms. Cleo?

Vikki said...

Just don't start drinking the VIBE and you should be fine...

Susan said...

when you come back, we will take your children away and kiss them and cuddle them and let you sleep.

Emptyman said...

I want a full report on the fado scene.

Kristin said...

Just sitting here wondering if your flight was effected by the Terrorist Plot.

Anonymous said...

www.pocaricaonline.com to visit

Susan said...

i'm waiting. i think you've already left lisboa. i'm checking your blog daily.

Susan said...

hey anonymous (luisa), thanks for the online connect to home. now i can see all of the brazilians who are singing and playing while you're there. how funny is that. ivete sangalo, i'd a gone and seen her.