It was not my intention
. . . to disappear into the vacation void for a week, but somehow it felt right! I seemed to need extra rest on this trip and just did not feel up to posting.
There were a lot of great moments on this trip! I am going to share some photo highlights and then finish up with a recap.
These are not very well organized, but that’s okay. HERE WE GO!
Selective Photodump from Seattle/Port Angeles
Not shown:
- 4 runs in obscenely perfect weather (definitely still a cutback week, but I enjoyed these immensely)
- a lot of complaining on hikes from various kids, but mostly G
- 2 failed attempts at getting G reasonable shoes for hiking
- Some fun movie nights — we watched Sliding Doors and The Map of Tiny Perfect Things. Both times I fell asleep. I was tired on this trip.
- Following along with the Olympics, though we didn’t get to watch a ton of it.
Highlights:
- OLIVIA! We all enjoyed this. I would do a family concert again in a heartbeat, if it’s an artist we all like. Plus, she just put on such a great show. Interestingly the opener canceled (it was Pink Panthress, who I like!) which was sad but also may have worked in our favor because the show ended reasonably early. We were all engaged the entire time. Oh, and Climate Pledge Arena is beautiful, with great acoustics. Amazon did a great job with that project!
- The weather. I was looking for cool and the PNW delivered. (People there said it was warm but we thought it was gorgeous and needed jackets/sweaters on multiple occasions.)
- The family time. We really did have some fun times together!
- We had good luck with our flights! I will give Delta credit for two on-time departures and landings.
Lowlights:
- Too much bouncing between locations. We had 3 different sleeping places (hotel, Airbnb, airpot hotel) over 7 days. This was kind of annoying.
- Crowds. The natural areas were pretty crowded; sometimes parking was dicey. Even parking in Port Angeles was difficult at times!
- iPad brains. Every time we gave the kids devices (ie, on longer drives) they were INSANELY annoying for at least an hour afterwards.
- Fatigue/stress. I was moody for a decent portion of this trip. Hormonally things weren’t optimally timed (well, who could help that!?) and just didn’t have greatest energy. I think I may have been fighting some low level viral #($*&@#. I felt distracted by some upcoming deadlines plus the impending call week/start of school.
- Cost! I just added up the cost of this trip and while it wasn’t Alaska-cruise level $$$$, it was approaching ski trip $$$ and didn’t feel worth that, although a sizable chunk was the concert itself and that DID feel worth it. Restaurants and hotels were pretty expensive in Seattle (plus it doesn’t help that my 2 big kids seem to have left the kids menu behind). Interestingly the only bargains to be found seemed to be at the grocery store — things were noticeably cheaper compared to Florida, even stable items like milk.
Josh and I spent time discussing what was working and what was not on the trip and agreed we probably would have been happier spending more of our time at the Airbnb and less at the hotel. I also will try to avoid this particular travel week in the future; I want to be HOME the week before school starts. But hey — you live, you learn!
Back tomorrow with a show notes post. Today will be all about REENTRY! Laundry / unpacking / restocking the fridge / some Q4 planning! Plus A has some social things today and a half day of orientation at her new school tomorrow — exciting! Hopefully we can all make the transition back to Eastern Time without TOOOO much difficulty (I woke up early / could not sleep so maybe my body chemistry and brain never truly made the Pacific jump. ORRRR I’m just anxious. Or both).
20 Comments
Vacation is expensive these days! We went to the UP for 7 days and each night was $350-$450 at least. We drove and did a lot of eating at food trucks and grilling outside. It was still pricey. I want to do 10 days in HI next summer but am imagining a price tag of over 20k once everything is included (shudder). Glad you had fun! I’ve officially decided we will not be basing any future vacations on hiking because 1) my injuries make it way less fun, and 2) Dylan hates it.
I think Hawaii will definitely be that expensive (Kae went recently and I know they made really smart choices and it was still $$$!). I also still want to go. Definitely a trip I will create a savings bucket for in advance.
I am glad you had some highlights to offset some of the lowlights. I bet the cooler temps felt so amazing, especially during your runs! I can relate to the highs and lows you experienced with G! Especially on the hikes. We walk about a mile to Starbucks most Saturday mornings and that flat walk can be so brutal with my kids and both will want to ride in the stroller. It is very annoying! So I can’t fathom taking Paul on a hike! There would be so. Much. Whining.
Good luck with the re-entry!! Hope return to school goes great for all!
Yes a mile can feel endless with a
Whiny kid!!!! Crazy how that works …
I recently watched my 7 year old haul 20 LARGE rocks from the lake (many in his swim shirt and swim trunks, ha!) up 40 stairs and back to our campsite. It was hard but he was determined to do it! He also doesn’t love hiking but i realized it’s not because he can’t do it-he’s very capable and physically fit. I think he’s bored (whereas my husband love hiking!) this has inspired me to brainstorm ideas on how to make hiking more fun for our upcoming trip. I like the treat comment below!
Love all the family pics! This is a nice reflection of what worked and didn’t. I think it’s definitely worth doing this sort of debrief afterwards. Before trips (while planning) I usually spend WAY too much time trying to sit and envision how I’m going to feel about different things later, how I think my energy will flow on the trip, etc.- like our flight timings, excursion times, balancing busy days vs low key days, etc. I do feel like this generally helps a lot, so I feel like there’s not too many times I’m way off base or surprised, but obviously it happens. When it does it’s good to take note for next time! Sounds like you’re getting more and more dialed in on what works specifically for your family and you guys’ preferences so that’s awesome. Although, I suppose as the kids get older (especially G), opinions can change. Maybe she’ll become the hiker of the family yet. 😉
Josh and I both agreed the planning for this trip was kind of condensed/rushed and it kind of showed! Next time I will be more thoughtful. Worth it for something this much $ and time!!!
I think it’s great to reflect on what worked and didn’t work about a trip! I am the main trip planner in the family and my husband and kids have ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM giving me feedback during/after the trip on what should change for future trips so this is definitely a process in our house and it does help me plan for the next trip 🙂
I do like how unlike some bloggers whose vacations seem to be perfectly planned itineraries, gorgeous accommodations, no crowds, and 100% sunny attitudes from kids, you make an effort to discuss both the highs and lows of vacation. This is helpful for others–both for planning purposes and solidarity. And also, I really feel like looking back on our family vacations, honestly the lows are sometimes a big part of the memories too. Sometimes travel lows eventually provide the best stories, honestly. And I truly believe they are part of teaching kids resilience, etc.
Re: cost, I really feel like it has gotten so expensive to vacation SO many places these days. We aren’t a skiing family so we definitely have never taken a trip with that type of cost, but i feel like national park vacations and city vacations alike have become quite pricey–accommodations and flights both seem significantly pricier than they were pre-COVID, and for us food spending is hard to keep down on vacation, even though we aren’t foodies and don’t usually plan our vacations to focus on getting particularly good food, haha.
Re: hiking, my kids are good (probably not LL’s kids’ level though!) hikers at A/C ages. We started them hiking young and these are the two things have help most IMO: 1) we bring a treat on every hike, sometimes candy that can be disbursed at various intervals, or a Gatorade as a fun substitute for water; and 2) we build hiking into our regular weekend family activities year-round (not as much in winter) so that that it feels less jarring to do it on vacation.
We do the same hiking strategy for our kids (the boys are 4 and 6)…we train them to walk throughout the week, year round (i.e. going home from school, or library, evening walk) and have snacks on hand so when they are tired, we can give a treat. Or a detour to a park or a rest area. Walking is a good activity for them and builds stamina.
Glad you had a good time! Hope you all have a great first day of school. We are going to our first whole-family concert this fall: CG5. Even though he’s not that famous, it’s still $$$$ – especially because of all the crazy fees. Several years ago we splurged on seeing Weird Al with the older two, and it was totally worth it. Life music is such an awesome experience!
Ha, I totally also unintentionally “disappear[ed] into the vacation void for a week.” You think you’ll have time for writing, but it so rarely works out that way!
Sounds like a pretty excellent vacation, although the lodging situation does sound a little chaotic. And oh can I ever relate to the device brain! On vacation, I am VERY lenient with devices, especially on the airplane, but oh my goodness, it is NOT GOOD for my particular child. We had some rainy days, so I was extra lax about giving her iPad time, but then even on beautiful days she wanted to be on her device. GO OUTSIDE, CHILD.
Great recap! I am the same about moving locations – I just want to get to know a place for a week or two and have a regular coffee shop, etc. T has made the transition to the adult menu and gosh, it makes even a pub lunch so much more expensive? Like I’m happy he’s got good taste in food but oof… and agree on the airbnb, sometimes you don’t want to drag everyone out? I get annoyed about cooking on vacation but it can help cut the costs etc
Hope you have a smooth transition back to life/routine/school. I deliberately took few more days off from work to sort things out to avoid stressing out right after a vacation.
Vacation could be expensive but so worth it! I keep reminding myself “die with zero” which helps to justify the quality time spent with the kids while they are still enjoying vacationing with us. In a few years, they may not.
Would have loved to take days off but sadly it’s the opposite – on call this week!
I am glad you had a great time overall but I imagine it to be always challenging to travel with kids and it’s good to assess what worked and didn’t work after a trip.
I can imagine that you enjoyed the temps in the PNW! So very different from Florida!
This sounds great! Well- for the most part. Vacations with kids always have some ups and downs. I have to laugh when I go somewhere else and the locals are describing it as “warm.” We went to Maine one summer and they were apologizing for the heat- and it was 80 degrees. HAHAHA!
I’m surprised groceries were cheaper- I think of things being really expensive in that area. But, I was just in Texas and groceries were much cheaper there as well- I guess Florida is just really expensive.
I’m glad you had good luck with your flights. I had a travel snafu on my way back from Texas, where I missed my connection and had to spend the night in a hotel. But I was alone- I kept thinking how hard it would have been if I were traveling with kids!
I think it might be Publix!!! maybe it’s just crazy markup!? I do a lot better at TJs but they don’t always have everything!
Love how much you loved the concert! That’s so fantastic. We haven’t done the PNW yet, in part because it’s so hard to decide where to go when you’re so close to so much!
Also, this is 150% true for us as well, “iPad brains. Every time we gave the kids devices (ie, on longer drives) they were INSANELY annoying for at least an hour afterwards.” I feel like when I talk about not letting the kids use devices on trips it sounds like we’re doing this as some sort of grand parenting stance, but it’s entirely FOR us. Our kids are always assholes when they get off their devices and almost never assholes when we never let them on them in the first place. So dollar store coloring books and word searches it was for 7+ hours between Glacier and Yellowstone. The kids were displeased, but if you collect all the phones and keep them in the glovebox so they can’t see them, they get over it pretty quickly. Honestly it’s something I should do at home more often…
Seriously… You read my mind.
SAME with iPads. On our long airplane ride, kids had their iPads, and OH MY GOD, I wish they didn’t. But then again, I like my fellow passengers so iPads it is. We are detoxing this week- no iPads, but they can watch a little TV in the down time – guess, what- they don’t want to!! What is it about this freakin’ device that they love so much? I figured TV is a less evil of them. Ah, I can;t wait when school starts.