What Makes a "Vacation"?

After this last week, I'm not exactly sure what a "vacation" is. I always thought that it was time away, preferably in a cool location, with nothing to do but play & visit with family. This last week had all of those ingredients, but I'm not ashamed to say that I will NEVER AGAIN attempt this type of "vacation." Why, you ask? Mostly because I did it all by myself. 6 days, 3 kids, camping in the mountains 5 1/2 hours from home, family reunion, 4th of July, all by myself. Whew!

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One of my sisters suggested that I title this post "10 Reasons Not to be a Single Mom." I was going to collaborate with my sister Amy, who was also there with 3 kids & no husband. I thought about it, but I came up with about 32 reasons in about 2 minutes, so I decided that it just wasn't really do-able to whittle it down to only 10. Instead, I decided to list the wonderful things about being a mom on "vacation" with 3 crazy munchkins.

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1. Lots of snuggle time, since Jack wanted NO ONE except Mommy to hold him.

2. I like to ask my kids at the end of every day what their favorite thing they did that day was. Frank's answer every day was "Playing with Rusten." These 2 are inseparable partners in crime.3. Are there even words? 4. Emma's favorite part of every day: Riding in Uncle Jason's Ranger or...mooching quad rides from anyone that had a 4-wheeler. This particular ride was courtesy of Uncle Jim. Emma is back there behind him somewhere. 5. Watching Jack fall asleep in the swing, pushed by whichever cousin or sibling happened to be running by.6. And then there's this. Granted, some of these on his face were put there with the help of Uncle Tanner.
But not these ones! This is what happens when you turn your back on this little troublemaker.

And this is what happens when you try to pick up the mess & take away the now-empty canister of baby treats. Life is hard when you're only 9 months old.
7. Since Mommy was otherwise occupied with Jack, the other kiddos got lots of snuggles from Nana...

and Poppa.

8. There's nothing like clean babies & a warm place to snuggle down for the night. [A BIG thank you to Nana & Poppa for letting us stay in their motorhome.]

9. I get all 3 of these beautiful babies to myself!

10. Tons of fun at the Round Valley 4th of July parade. (Jack also had a super cute 4th of July t-shirt, made by the aunties, but pooped all over it about 30 seconds after I put it on him. Oh, well. He's still adorable.)11. What did I say about being adorable?

So now that we're home, the bags are unpacked, the mountains of laundry are folded & put away, & our fingernails are no longer coated in black mountain dirt, I say Hooray for vacations! Bring it on! With the hubby next time, of course.