Vacation Can Be Exhausting!

Over the last 8 days, my favorite mailman (my hubby) has been on vacation.

It's been absolutely exhausting for me.

First of all you have to understand that I classify myself as a hermit by nature. I like to stay in my little house as much as possible away from all of the freaky people this world has to offer. He is a little bit more of a social butterfly.

Secondly, we very rarely have ever gone on "real" vacations. Sure, we've taken the weekends away for quick trips here or there. But we're not your typical vacationing family who packs for a week and takes off to some fun-filled spot or exotic land far away. It just doesn't happen.

This year, we were the stay-cationers. We stayed home, and each day I swear that man woke up with the thought of "Ooh! We should go HERE today!" or "I'd love to take the kids and do THIS today!" I would wake up (still tired from the previous days adventures) and wonder why in the world I still haven't developed a morning coffee habit after being married to this man for the last 16 1/2 years.

Local playgrounds were the hot spot for our family this year. I think we may have hit 6 different sets of monkey bars, swings, and slides within the last week. That's also 6 different times when we would hear, "Mom! Push me on the swing!" "Dad, watch this!" "Mom, he hit me!" "Dad, I wanted to go on that first!" I'm a firm believer that all of these playgrounds that are built semi-age appropriate for our children should be a place where we can take them, let them run and have fun and do their thing - and I can sit on a bench or picnic table and watch to make sure that nobody falls on their head, but otherwise let them play and I'll sit and read a book.

We also spent one day at the local amusement park, which was fun...but me and Mr. Sun apparently had an unspoken disagreement because I came home absolutely baked from the sun that day. I'm still radiating heat to those who come within close proximity to me, and Rudolph should be fearful of his job with the way my nose shines bright red!

And then there was today. Weather forecasts of 90+ degrees, and my sweet high-on-vacation hubby gets it into his head to hit the beach. "It will cool us off!" he swears. So at 9:30 this morning, we all get out the bathing suits and headed towards the water.

Here's my problem with this plan:

1. At 9:30 in the morning, I don't need to "cool off"
2. When it gets really warm here, Lake Erie starts to smell like all of the dead fish that you can find floating in it. Not exactly an enjoyable atmosphere.
3. I don't like swimming in a lake. I like to be able to see how far down the bottom is.
4. My 3 children do not know how to swim, so I HAVE to go with the mailman to the beach for fear that he may come home without one of them. (How could one parent watch 3 kids in the water by himself?)
5. By the time they were done frolicking in the water, Mr. Sun and I had yet another unspoken disagreement, and anything he didn't burn the other day was now burned today.
6. Packing up beach blanket, beach bag, beach towels, and children...walking across hot sand...up the hill out to the parking lot....I'm no longer "cooled off" but hot, sweaty, sticky, and don't forget greasy from the sunscreen that didn't even work.

So, now here I sit - completely exhausted from Mr. Mailman's vacation and burnt bright red all over. But this morning, I sat under a clear blue sky and watched my children laugh, build sand castles and attack the waves that were rolling in. My crazy little monkey children will remember this past week with their dad while he was on vacation and it will probably end up being the highlight of their summer. And when I see the smiles on their faces and the way their eyes will light up when they think back and remember this past week and get excited over the memory - yeah, it will make me smile too.