Shave Your Vacation Beard, and Other Spring Break Lessons

I just got back from a week-long Spring Break journey with Emily and the girls to Kansas City - Oklahoma City - Austin. Some thoughts I picked up about traveling (and life) along the way:

1. Underpromise. Overdeliver.
After 6 frustrating hours in the car on day 2, all my girls were looking forward to was going nuts in the hotel pool. We'd been selling that as the end goal, as their prize after a day of peaceful co-existence locked in the Stratus. When we got to the hotel, they jumped out of the car and basically started stripping their clothes off the second we got into the hotel room. Only one problem - the pool was closed for repairs. Serious, serious dive in morale among the troops. They had been promised this. They had packed swimsuits and kickboards solely for this. For nothing.

I refused to promise anything the rest of the trip. We arranged for a swimming day once we got to Austin, but I didn't tell them anything until we got to the facility. I kept a zoo trip and a visit to a TV station to see Aunt Aly do her morning set secret till the day of. I was hero on those days.

2. Expect setbacks. Have a Target nearby.
The only way to overcome the desperate situation of no pool was to buy my children's affections. Target was 5 miles away, so we offered the despairing duo of daughters the chance to pick out a toy at Target to play with in the hotel. No remorse. We now have a meowing, walking cat named Brinkley and new art stampers with ink that got us through most of Kansas.

Another day, Leah got carsick. A lot. All over her seat. Target to the rescue! One new booster seat later, we weren't battling vomit smells, and everybody was happily on their way to the zoo.

3. Stay simple. Play simple.
Our goal was not so much to see places, but people. It was a good goal. We stayed with Emily's sister, my sister, and some college friends. We laughed a lot, shared good stories, and made some new ones. Had some great homemade lasagna and buttermilk pancakes. We grilled. I spent two afternoons hitting a bucket of baseballs with my friend. And we dutifully followed Ben Franklin's maxim about fish and visitor's smelling after three days. We really had very little agenda other than spending time with good people. I wouldn't change a thing.

4. Chase life goals.
Elise indicated to us that it was her "life goal" to see elephants in person. Another time when we overpromised was when we went to the Omaha zoo and told her elephants would be there. A week before we left, we read a press release on their website indicating that the elephants were gone. Once we hit the zoo in OKC, we were on a mission. We allowed no distractions; we were adamant about making this happen, and we did. That's what vacations should be about - chasing life goals. It's time to write down some new ones.

5. Suckers save the day.
Every time a situation got a little tense - Elise skinned a knee, Leah skinned her ego in a backseat brawl, Emily asked, "Who wants a sucker?" Immediate peace, joy, and happiness. My attitude in traffic even improved with a tasty, Watermelon-flavored dum-dum.

6. Shave your vacation beard.
It's pretty much my policy not to shave on vacation. I just don't feel like it. But eventually we came home, and it was time to get back to reality. The escape of a vacation is great and often necessary; however, when it's time to be home, be home. I shaved the vacation beard, shoveled the snow, and cleaned the house. The vacation is done and it's time to get back to the day-to-day. Vacation improves reality; lingering on vacation too long cheapens reality. Also, I was starting to look homeless. The beard is gone, and I'm ready to teach on Monday.

2200 miles and good people will teach you a lot. Thanks to all along the way for making our first big family trip a good one.