After a solid month and a half of being on the constant move, it'll come as no surprise that we need some rest.
We spent the month of October and half of November driving hours on end to get here and there and sightseeing from early morning until late at night. From South Dakota we cut across directly to western and upstate New York, drove up to New England, back down to New York (this time the city area), continued down to Washington DC, popped up to Philadelphia, turned around and visited southern Virginia, enjoyed a stormy time in North Carolina, and finally, made a beeline for Florida where we are right now.
I'm working on getting those 'reports' up on the blog though I'm pretty backed up. Yes, we've had some wonderful experiences, seen some amazing parks, monuments, memorials, museums, and visited with wonderful friends and family and yes we are very lucky! But, the time to crash has arrived.
We've found our respite in a south FL town where we're spending quality and quantity time with my Mom, AKA Gramma, as well as spending as much time with my grandparents as they can tolerate. There's just so much noise and hullaballoo they can take in a day, or a week. So, we limit our joint visits with them to short 30-40 minutes two to three times a week. On other days, Gramma will take one of the kids over with her for a little alone time with the great-grandparents, not to mention with her. We normally see my Mom only two to three times a year, so time with her is also a priority.
But, what do we do with all the other hours in the day?? We could fill our days running here and there, seeing this museum, zoo or whatnot. We could, but we're not. We've gone to the beach, not my first choice for a fun relaxing activity as I've mentioned before.
We've gone to the pool. Again, doesn't top my list of relaxing things to do, call me crazy! Or not. I mean, if you go to the beach or pool with 3 kids under 10, how much relaxation do you think you actually get?! It might be fun, but if you're looking for a stress free time, that's not it! At least not for me.
Despite my Mom's prodding, i.e. 'let's go out a do something!' (sound familiar?), we've spent a lot of time just being 'home'. Waking up and 'just' playing. And doing our singing and violin practice, but not much more. Let me clarify that 'home' at the moment is a condo in a 55+ community belonging to my grandparents. It's where we stay when we visit though they live elsewhere now. The RV's been put in storage and we've officially set up camp here among the retirees. Actually, that's no different from what we generally experience anyway. We're usually surrounded by retirees! We like it that way I guess.
We're on official vacation. From our vacation. If you can call what we're doing this year a vacation. It's debatable, but that's an entirely different discussion.
Other than bodies of water, in the past 2.5 weeks we've visited the Palm Beach Science Museum (not quite the Denver Science Museum, but it certainly kept the kids happy)
and we will try to get up to the local safari too, but that's probably about it.
We don't get dressed unless we have to, we don't go anywhere unless we feel like it and we don't just go somewhere for the sake of going somewhere. Unless we want to. I know the time will come when we'll say enough is enough and let's get up and go somewhere. But for now, hanging around the house playing, eating, celebrating birthdays, cooking (or preparing), reading, cuddling, doing arts and crafts, watching TV (something we hardly ever do otherwise), and taking walks around the lake is just up our alley!
Lego land Washing DC on display here!
Playing the rain was also fun,
We'll be here for a little while more, but like almost everything else in our lives right now, it's flexible. I think my Mom has now also accepted that we're on vacation. Love you Ima (Mom) XOXO
:-)
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We miss you! Hows the cool life?
ReplyDeleteRala Ilan and chasen