I'm participating in the Wednesday Quotes link-up hosted by Marsha at Always Write. In order to simplify her blogging schedule, Marsha has decided to choose themes for her posts as she goes, and has invited those of us who participate to simply include a quote in our post and choose our own themes as well. This week I'm combining with the Tell Us About blogging series with the theme Tell Us About . . . Holidays/Vacations, and I'll throw in some quotes I found fun and interesting!
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It's interesting that this topic and the link-up dates fall at right about the time I'm headed out on a family vacation. For the first time in a few years, we will be on vacation with all our kids, and it's even more special because for the first time ever we're doing a family vacation that includes our bonus kids (two daughters-in-law and a son-in-law-to-be) and our two grandkids! We've booked a vacation house not too far away from here and will all be meeting there and spending a few days. Not everyone can stay for the entire time, but at least for the weekend we will all be together.
As I think back on the decades of vacation memories, going back to when I was growing up, I realize that almost all our vacations were very family-oriented. Even when I was a young adult and we didn't have children yet, my husband and I had quite a few vacations that included our parents or other family members.
A road trip is a way for the whole family to spend time together and annoy each other in interesting new places. ~Tom Lichtenheld
I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. ~Mark Twain
When I was growing up, our family vacations were either camping trips or trips to visit my grandparents and extended family. Or a combination! I remember when one of my friends went on a family trip to Disneyland and I thought they must be rich because who takes their whole family on an airplane trip to an exotic place like California?! Haha. Seems funny to think of California as an exotic location now, but that was how my grade school mind worked. I have wonderful memories of all of my family's road trips though, even if they involved a smaller budget. We had tons of fun at campsites, and saw some really neat places all over western Canada and the northwestern parts of the USA. Vancouver Island, Seattle, Mount Rainier, the Rocky Mountains, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Mesa Verde, Arches National Park, Glacier, Yellowstone . . .
Vacation: a period of travel and relaxation when you take twice the clothes and half the money you need. ~Jerry Smith
Since my husband's family live in Ontario, during the first years we were married and living in Alberta (where my family is), many of our vacations were trips to Ontario. We did touristy things (like Niagara Falls and the Hockey Hall of Fame) and we spent time with family. After we moved to the USA, we still often visited Ontario on vacation but certainly enjoyed visiting different states as well. There were some trips to Alberta, but it was a long distance to go with a family so we didn't do that as often. Fortunately, my parents were able to come visit us quite regularly, and we often went on little road trips with them in our neck of the woods when they were with us. Best of both worlds!
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| Niagara Falls with my daughter, my sister and my niece |
Sometimes the greatest meals on vacations are the ones you find when Plan A falls through. ~Anthony Bourdain
We lived within driving distance of Florida so we took our kids to Disney World a few times. Those were memorable vacations!
On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings. ~Erma Bombeck
One vacation tradition we had was that as each of our children graduated from high school, we allowed the graduate to choose our family vacation destination for that summer. The idea was that it was likely the last time we could count on having that kid along on a family vacation, so what did they want to do? Of course it did have to fit our budget and timeframe, so there were no extended luxury globetrotting excursions. We called it The Summer of [Kid's Name] and I think those were memorable trips. Our oldest son wanted to see the Football Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Cedar Point, so that's what we did. Our second son wanted to go to Calgary to visit his grandparents, so we flew out to Spokane and added a trip to Glacier to the front end of the trip before spending time with family and seeing some sights in Calgary and Banff. Our third son wanted to do a baseball road trip, so that included visiting Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Toronto for baseball games and also side trips to Cedar Point and visiting family. Our daughter chose a conservatory and gardens themed summer. Our vacation was a trip that took us to the Franklin Conservatory in Columbus and the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh (and a baseball game in Cincinnati), and then we did day trips to Longwood Gardens, the National Botanical Gardens, and a conservatory and an art museum in Baltimore.
Holidays and vacations can help to balance activity with contemplation, haste with more natural rhythms, noise with the heralding silence of peace. ~Pope John Paul II
Build traditions of family vacations and trips and outings. These memories will never be forgotten by your children. ~Ezra Taft Benson
We may not have traveled outside the continent often, but I feel like we've covered a lot of interesting ground, seen a lot of wonderful places, and shared a lot of wonderful memories with our family. And since I have a long list of countries I'd like to visit, hopefully my husband and I will be able to plan some vacations to check a few places off that wishlist in the coming years!
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What are some of your great vacation memories? Leave a comment and let me know!
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Wednesday Quotes 2024 is hosted by Marsha at Always Write. See what we're inspired by this week: WQ#180: Change Inspires Us To Live Without Casting Blame
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Tell Us About . . . is a monthly opportunity for bloggers to showcase their creativity. Each month one of the co-hosts will choose the word to focus on. On the third Thursday of every month we'll respond to the prompt "Tell Us About ---" which could be absolutely anything. And how we respond is also wide open. It could be a blog post with our opinions or reminscences; a poem, photos, a short story or whatever takes your fancy―it could even be a mix of all these! This month's theme, chosen by Mary Katherine at MK's Adventure, is "Holidays/Vacations"
This post is linked at Is This Mutton.
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I loved reading about your vacations with family. How fun!
ReplyDeleteI have very fond memories of visiting North Carolina, where mom and dad had a summer place. Sometimes other family members would be there and sometimes it was just the 4 of us. We had a blast either way. Also, we were blessed to take several trips to Disney World with our girls and sometimes with hubby's parents and sometimes with my sister and brother-in-law and their grandkids. Also, always a blast!
I love that we were able to take our kids to Disney World several times and that they have those memories. We'd love to go again with the grands but haven't figured out those logistics, plus Disney just keeps getting more expensive! Thanks for stopping by and sharing memories!
DeleteSo many of my childhood vacation memories are centered around family too! We often went to visit my aunt and her family in the Carolinas or else we met them in Florida. We've taken our kids on vacation to see family or taken family members with us on vacation because I do often think that when it comes to vacations it really is the more the merrier.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could travel to all the places overseas I'm interested in, but if I had to choose between those vacations and the closer to home family vacations, I'd still choose family. Wish we could do both though! Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
DeleteWhat lovely memories you have. As I read your story, I thought about our own family vacations, and some vacations with friends who are like family. Vacations are always riddled with obstacles, which either make them more interesting, or disappear with the passage of time leaving only the joy we got out of spending time with our loved ones. I love your idea of letting the kids pick and naming the vacation after them. You are so creative, Kym. :) xxxx
ReplyDeleteThose "grad trip" family vacations were great fun and I think were great memories for the kids. We had to be really creative with the youngest kid to graduate since the older ones couldn't go with us on that trip - so we visited our oldest son, and we did day trips from home so she could take a friend along on each of those days. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
DeleteWhen I was a kid, I knew only one family that went to Disney World every summer and I also thought they were rich. No one else did that. Most families took road trips to parks or camping.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think road trips and camping trips were more common family vacations in years past, and perhaps a little less common now. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
DeleteSuch a lot of great memories you've shared here. I love the idea of each summer going where your graduating child wanted to go. We did a similar thing after our daughters finished primary school I took them away for a few days just us 2 together and have great memories of those times. Thanks for joining us for Tell Us About this month!
ReplyDeleteI've never really done a vacation with just me and one of my kids. Not even with just my daughter, although I've been chaperone for one of her childrens chorus trips. I've been thinking lately that I'd love to do a "girls weekend" with my daughter and two daughters-in-law but that's still just in the idea phase. Dont' think I've even talked with them about it yet! Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
DeleteYour idea of letting the graduate plan the family vacay after his/her graduation is such a good one. I think my daughters both wanted to go to New Orleans and we did that in between their graduations as they were 2 years apart.
ReplyDeleteAffording a trip to Disney for the whole family was never in my budget. My girls both went with high school groups, thank goodness. Would like to gather the clan for a Disney adventure in another year or two as soon as Declan is old enough (now 3) to remember.
So glad you joined us for this!!
Nice that it worked out to do a New Orleans trip right between their grads since they both wanted to go. My husband and I went along as chaperones on our daughter's children's chorus trip there a few years ago and it's such a neat place! Wish we'd had more time to explore it.
DeleteYeah, Disney is unlikely to be in the budget for us as a family any time soon, although we're considering it as a possible family gathering trip similar to the one we just did. Or maybe we'll wait until hubby and I retire and move to FL! It could happen!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!