Family vacations are a lot of work for the parents, especially the moms. But they are worth it! A tradition that has recently emerged in our family is that we take a little trip right after Christmas. As our children have gotten older, it has gotten harder to find times when we can all be together. But Christmas break works really well.
It started the year we lived in Germany. We lived in Germany from May 2005-May 2006 while my husband had a Humboldt fellowship. He took a sabbatical from his job and did research for a year at one of the Max Planck Institutes in Germany. We decided to go to Paris right after Christmas. Paris was pretty darn cold and I would have preferred to go at a warmer time but this seemed to be our best option.
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| Standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, feeling cold |
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| We visited the Star Wars exhibit at The Museum of Science of Industry--nice and warm |
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| I think this building had the tomb of Napoleon--it's been too long |
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| My boys loved the cannons. |
We reserved three hotel rooms to accommodate our large family of 2 parents and 8 children. Then my husband drove to Paris with the oldest 6 children and I flew with the youngest two. Our German van didn't quite fit all of us and we knew it would be a much more pleasant journey if the youngest two didn't have to be in the car. We spent a week there and it was expensive but really fun. We got to see most, if not all, of the major sites. I think my older children will always remember it.
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| Napoleon's tomb--we got this picture for my brother who loved Napoleon |
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| This was our youngest child at the time. She was about 16 months and not quite walking. It turns out the subway system in Paris is not very stroller-friendly. But we survived. |
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| This is the Cathedral of Notre Dame--impressive but crowded and cold. |
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| This is my oldest at the Palace of Versailles. He was 15 at the time. We also visited the Louvre but didn't get any pictures. |
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| This is the top of the Eiffel Tower. On our last night, I took the oldest five to the top while my husband took the youngest three home. My husband had been to the top before and the younger children were really not interested. |
Since then, we have tried to take a trip every year after Christmas. The only year we didn't was when our youngest daughter was in the NICU and I couldn't handle the thought of leaving her behind.
One year we visited San Diego, before my second son left on his mission and we knew this would be our last time with all of us together for a really long time. But most of the time we head down to St. George. It's a little warmer and relaxing to be away. The main reason we go is to spend time together as a family. When you have teenagers it can be really difficult to keep them with you unless you leave home. And when you ask kids later what they remember, it's always the family vacations.
That's what we did this year. We rented a condo in St. George and drove down the day after Christmas. My oldest son and his wife and baby were able to join us. And we were able to do some things together: swimming, rock climbing, watching movies, eating meals, playing games. My husband and I didn't enjoy the rock climbing quite as much but that was my older kids' favorite part. And it turned out to be the only thing we got pictures of, thanks to bad camera batteries.
Next time we won't bring the laptop or our children's cell phones, to lessen the distractions of technology. But otherwise, we'll do it all over again!
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