Category: Travel With Kids

While not yet officially in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term “bucket list” is something most people now know and use thanks to the 2008
movie of the same name, meaning “a list of things you want to do before you ‘kick the bucket’, i.e. die”. Entrepreneurs have happily taken that term and capitalized upon it– amazon.com
currently offers 16 different “bucket list books” including everything from the Sex Bucket List to the Christian Bucket List to the Baseball Fan’s Bucket List; the website
reaperlist.com gives people a place to store their lists, check them off  and “discover others who
will see your list and hold you accountable to it”.  There are even Android and iPhone bucket list apps…People now also use the term to simply mean things they want
to do before a certain deadline, i.e. they may have a “college bucket list” …

We used to have a rule in our family: no traveling over Spring Break. Places were too crowded, rates were more
expensive—it just didn’t make sense. I mean, why venture somewhere when so many families and college students are trying to do the same thing, all at the same time? We would stay home, and the
kids would do fun things around town, like visit nature centers or go to tennis camp. Then one year, our school district scheduled an earlier-than-normal spring break, and we took off for Disney
World. It was great—not too crowded, and lines so minimal we could ride things twice in a row if we wanted. Thus started our family “tradition” of traveling over Spring Break, even though the
dates have never been as early since.  Now six years later, I am finally wondering, “What were we thinking?”

We only went about 130 miles …

           
We had a great vacation, but like Emmie says, the packing and traveling parts are the worst. And the unpacking. And, I would have to add, the “vacation withdrawal”. Oh, I’m glad to be back with my
sweet dog and my comfortable bed, healthier food and not getting lost everywhere we drive…but when you’ve had a wonderful time being away, getting back to reality is tough.
…

“It’s a free country!” How many parents have heard this line at least once from a child who is trying to
justify bad behavior? How many of you have used this line on your own parents, or heard a sibling that has? And usually it’s followed by, “So I can do whatever I want!” I’ll bet the founding
fathers had no idea their groundbreaking document would be someday used and misused by sassy kids and teens from sea to shining sea, to defiantly explain …

We are a family that loves to travel, yet…seems like it never fails, one of us is always battling something health-related when
we hit the road or once we’ve reached our destination…whether it’s sunburn or allergies or a full blown cold, there’s always something to deal with…I don’t know why I don’t just
pack an entire suitcase as a mobile medicine cabinet. I mean, our track record is not great…Andy came down with the flu on our honeymoon in Colorado…Allison …