Holiday Haps!
OMG!! I LOOOOVE my family. The older I get the more I realize how truly I am blessed to be in my family. I LOVE my family I mean love I mean words can not begin to even minimally express the love gratitude and reverence I have for my family (both sides).
This holiday I went on vacation with my lil’ cousin ( who is also one of my best girlfriends), my best friend, their significant others and 7 kids (from 5-10). Yes I repeat 7 kids. Five 1-2-3-4-FIVEEEEEE boys and 2 girls. Man ….
My cousin is 25 and she has 7 year old little boy and she and her fiancé wanted to take him on a family vacation. So she also decided to take 2 of my other cousins’ kids (3 extra kids plus hers). My best friend and her boyfriend brought her nephew who was visiting from Detroit on summer vacation, his 7 year old cousin, and our friend’s daughter. Yep… so we had a 10 year-old, a 9 year-old, 2 eight 8 year-olds, 2 seven year-olds, and a 5 year-old. WOW!! I got tired just typing that and I vacationed it.
Anyway we drove 5 plus hours to Brownsville to go to South Padre island. We couldn’t get any closer than Brownsville which is 30 minutes outside the island. We left Friday morning in a caravan to Brownsville. My new car was a hit by the way. It’s a touring edition so it’s made to be put on the road. The kids loved the GPS and the Bluetooth that made calls from home and the caravan ring through my radio speakers. We only had one disgruntled pent-up energy kid, “are we there yet” in my car. I was riding with the five year old and the two girls. And about an hour out the five year-old says, “We’ve been in this car for four days!!” Starting child chatter about how far they thought we were and then asking how far away where we. It was so cute.
We got to the hotel and did the normal adult scouting while my cousin’s fiancé watched the gang as they played Wii and bounced off the walls from being inside a car for 5 plus hours. I dropped of two of my passengers and headed to Target with another when my BFF text me to come by her room and check out the letter “these kids gave me”. I returned to read a letter that said:
We want to go to the pool! We will not take no for an answer
It was signed by all of them, like the Declaration of Independence. The whole weekend was full of great kid stories like that. There was lots of energy, some trouble, and always a great time.
This trip was really special because although I always appreciated those trips that I went on with my aunties and family. I never realized how much work it really was. I mean this weekend was so exhausting the drive, the entertaining, the mothering, the being silly, the pool, the bowling, the beach, the traffic after the beach with small bladders, the movie watching, the showering and getting dressed , the bed wetting, the loving and the laughing. This weekend was so exhausting but the reward was so worth it. Just to see growth and exposure and memories being made in little minds was great. Some of the kids on trips come from home and places where going on a vacation is not an option in the summer. Being out of school is all the vacation they get unless; the whole family or another family member takes them on a trip. I was one of those kids. Since my family was close I was often the extra kid on one of my aunt’s vacation or paid for by the village on a family vacation.(meaning we got to ride in somebody’s car or share a hotel room or whatever). Sometimes my mom had money to pay her share and sometimes she didn’t but it was understood we would all be going. Even to this day my whole family packs up to go to our family reunion every two years in the designated location.
My dad’s sister paid for me to go to Disneyland on the church bus and countless other vacations. All those things all that exposure to things outside my small world of Baytown changed my life. So this weekend it was so humbling and truly an honor to pay that love forward to another generation. I mean I know I’ve been to nicer hotels and flier vacations than this. I’ve been on the Vegas strip, in Time Square, and on shores of foreign white sand beaches, but nothing compares to this vacation for me as an adult. It was one of my best ever. I wish they could bottle that kid energy. I hope you all as Happy a 4th as I did.
Be EZ,
OG
This holiday I went on vacation with my lil’ cousin ( who is also one of my best girlfriends), my best friend, their significant others and 7 kids (from 5-10). Yes I repeat 7 kids. Five 1-2-3-4-FIVEEEEEE boys and 2 girls. Man ….
My cousin is 25 and she has 7 year old little boy and she and her fiancé wanted to take him on a family vacation. So she also decided to take 2 of my other cousins’ kids (3 extra kids plus hers). My best friend and her boyfriend brought her nephew who was visiting from Detroit on summer vacation, his 7 year old cousin, and our friend’s daughter. Yep… so we had a 10 year-old, a 9 year-old, 2 eight 8 year-olds, 2 seven year-olds, and a 5 year-old. WOW!! I got tired just typing that and I vacationed it.
Anyway we drove 5 plus hours to Brownsville to go to South Padre island. We couldn’t get any closer than Brownsville which is 30 minutes outside the island. We left Friday morning in a caravan to Brownsville. My new car was a hit by the way. It’s a touring edition so it’s made to be put on the road. The kids loved the GPS and the Bluetooth that made calls from home and the caravan ring through my radio speakers. We only had one disgruntled pent-up energy kid, “are we there yet” in my car. I was riding with the five year old and the two girls. And about an hour out the five year-old says, “We’ve been in this car for four days!!” Starting child chatter about how far they thought we were and then asking how far away where we. It was so cute.
We got to the hotel and did the normal adult scouting while my cousin’s fiancé watched the gang as they played Wii and bounced off the walls from being inside a car for 5 plus hours. I dropped of two of my passengers and headed to Target with another when my BFF text me to come by her room and check out the letter “these kids gave me”. I returned to read a letter that said:
We want to go to the pool! We will not take no for an answer
It was signed by all of them, like the Declaration of Independence. The whole weekend was full of great kid stories like that. There was lots of energy, some trouble, and always a great time.
This trip was really special because although I always appreciated those trips that I went on with my aunties and family. I never realized how much work it really was. I mean this weekend was so exhausting the drive, the entertaining, the mothering, the being silly, the pool, the bowling, the beach, the traffic after the beach with small bladders, the movie watching, the showering and getting dressed , the bed wetting, the loving and the laughing. This weekend was so exhausting but the reward was so worth it. Just to see growth and exposure and memories being made in little minds was great. Some of the kids on trips come from home and places where going on a vacation is not an option in the summer. Being out of school is all the vacation they get unless; the whole family or another family member takes them on a trip. I was one of those kids. Since my family was close I was often the extra kid on one of my aunt’s vacation or paid for by the village on a family vacation.(meaning we got to ride in somebody’s car or share a hotel room or whatever). Sometimes my mom had money to pay her share and sometimes she didn’t but it was understood we would all be going. Even to this day my whole family packs up to go to our family reunion every two years in the designated location.
My dad’s sister paid for me to go to Disneyland on the church bus and countless other vacations. All those things all that exposure to things outside my small world of Baytown changed my life. So this weekend it was so humbling and truly an honor to pay that love forward to another generation. I mean I know I’ve been to nicer hotels and flier vacations than this. I’ve been on the Vegas strip, in Time Square, and on shores of foreign white sand beaches, but nothing compares to this vacation for me as an adult. It was one of my best ever. I wish they could bottle that kid energy. I hope you all as Happy a 4th as I did.
Be EZ,
OG
Comments
It sounds like you have had a ball!!
And you are richly blessed!!
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
T.
I know it's been awhile since I've been over here...Sounds like you had a great time!