Sunday, July 19, 2015

It's a Vacation So Get Over It

The following is a post that I wrote the day before we left for our vacation. I am posting it now that we are back and will add another post with some follow up thoughts.

The title is my mantra to myself as I pack, pack, pack, pack, and get grumpy, grumpy, grumpy, grumpy. I am going on a week long vacation with my family. Many people don't even get to take a vacation so I need to enjoy the experience and change my attitude.

Yes, I have been talking a lot about cutting back. We planned this before we got super serious and I must say we paid for most of it.  It is a week in a cottage near the beach where we will be bringing our own food. We only have one planned meal out and are extremely serious about eating our meals at the cottage or on the beach with food from the grocery store.

Living in an East Coast state gives us access to many beach areas. We are about an hour and a half away from a very popular beach destination. We opted to to spend the week in the same town as we did last year. We can walk to the beach and it will cost us very little extra. This is 1/5 of the cost of the Disney vacation I was drooling over in the winter. We all enjoy the beach a lot. The kids will have a blast.  However preparing for a vacation can be time consuming and gets me cranky. I spent most of the morning preparing food and getting things ready. Finally I hit the neighborhood for a walk to get out the blahs and take in the ahs.  I plan on doing that every day that we are away. Last year I walked on just the last two days and really wished I had walked the whole week. It is great fun to check out new neighborhoods and it burns extra vacation calories.

What is vacation for? It is to unwind, relax, and build lasting memories. It is to enjoy some down time before the school  year begins and things are crazy again. I want to enjoy this vacation and have it to remember when it is mid December and I feel crazed. I want to sit back, count to ten, and remember the beach. That is what vacation is all about and we are blessed to be taking one.

So to make vacation super relaxing and fun I will:
Walk daily to destress, take in the sites, and unwind
Be in the moment with the kids, build sand castles, swim, and walk on the beach
Indulge a little but eat lots of salad too
Enjoy the week and not complain about anything
See you in a week.

Vacation Update:

Still here and enjoying the relaxing time. Off to do my third walk of the week. My walking has been every other day. I hoped to walk every single day, but every other is pretty good. We have eaten many meals in and just a few out. All our groceries that we don't consume can be used next week. We have two more days of ocean paradise before we pack up and head home to the rest of our summer.  Now I need to walk to get my head straight and burn some calories from all that vacation indulging. 

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