Sunday, February 7, 2010

Insomnia

It is late. I want to be asleep. I am in bed ... awake. I tried for an hour to go to sleep. No luck.

2 hours ago Ann Marie came and knocked at our bedroom door for about the 4th time complaining that she couldn't sleep. I don't know what her problem is :).

I thought reading some legal definitions would quiet my mind. I read through the Federal Rules of Evidence. Still not feeling very sleepy.

I have not posted for a few days. I haven't been ready to have Camille's picture not be the first thing I see on my blog again yet. I have been thinking about her quite a bit this week. Today I read some of a blog someone put in one of my comments about a little boy who drowned in the tub. I can't read that. It brings it all back too fresh for me. I've spent the day trying to train my thoughts away from it. Just too close to home. I hope that mom can find a way to keep her mind in the now and move forward from that awful day. It is a hard thing to do.

Now for a happy thought to end the night (hopefully) and this post on. Tonight Jon and I laid in the girls room and we all shared stories of our favorite vacations. Each of my girls shared a memory of our family trip to Mexico last year. I was happy they remembered their experiences and felt that was money well spent. Now my mind is dreaming up our next family vacation.

Where has been your favorite family vacation with little kids? I could use some suggestions.

12 comments:

Olsens R Us said...

Since I too cannot sleep tonight, I will answer your question :)

We travel quite a bit with our 8 children. We are blessed (cursed?) to have advantage miles due to my husband's travel schedule. Our kids favorite vacation is Disney (both CA and FL), and I agree to the fact that they absolutely cater to families with young children and make the stay memorable. But I like our vacations that have been off the beaten path....Rhode Island is beautiful in summer. We have combined a RI trip with the Hill Cumorah pageant (about 5 hour drive) twice now. And while your going to the Hill Cumorah pageant, you might as well drive one more hour and see Niagara Falls! I grew up in RI and I love that it is a day trip to some great places- Boston Museum of Science, New York City...even Maine is only about a 6 hour drive. The Newport Mansions are beautiful to tour, and there is a cliff walk in Newport as well that is breath taking. Another vacation we have enjoyed is Nauvoo. It was a better family trip than I thought it would be- they have a lot to keep little ones busy now. San Antonio, TX has a great historical feel to it (The Alamo) and also has Sea World and Fiesta Texas theme parks. We love Mexico for short flight/international travel with the kids. Cancun (in the off season to avoid the party crowd) has great snorkeling and ruins to explore, Cabo San Lucas has great deep sea fishing and Puerta Vallarta beaches are beautiful. We haven't taken the kids to Europe yet just because I have always been afraid of the long flight with little ones. But we're taking our five oldest for my oldest daughter's graduation present and leaving younger ones with Grandma :)
Sorry so long of a comment, but that's what insomnia will do for you! Let me now if you ever want to do the New England trip- we go every year so I can help you find a lot of great adventures you might not hear about from a travel agent! Have a great day and I hope you get some sleep!

Chelsa said...

we love to travel! we did a cruise last june (our little boy was 4 1/2 then). he talks almost every day of the cruise and when can we go on another one! lol, i agree, def. makes you feel like your money was well spent! our cruise went to caymen islands bwi. loved it there!

Anonymous said...

Another wonderful family who understand




www.kamberlarsen.blogspot.com/

Troop 220 said...

WE have also been on a cruise. We had 4 children at that time and it was great fun. We go camping and we love Yosemite. We have been on vacation there 4 different times with all differnt number of children. The last time we went we stayed in cabins in Curry village and had 5 children. Fun was had by all.
I hope you got some sleep.

Angie said...

I too have been reading that blog and it made me think of you. I don't blame you for now being able or wanting to read it. I'm sorry. My heart goes out to that mother. I have no good vacation ideas, we seem to have the most fun when we do something like hike around in Zion National Park for the day (we live really close--about 25 min:)).

Catherine Noorda said...

i hope you sleep better tonight! and annie too :)

Anonymous said...

I think camping vacations with kids are the best. When I was little that's what we always did and I remember those vacations so much more than the ones to Disneyland or Sea World. Yellowstone is a GREAT place to go... it's always so thrilling for the kids to chance seeing a Bear or something scary.

I also loved Arches or Goblin Valley when I was little. Good way to get all their energy out by hiking around.

So sorry that hit so close to home for you. It's always an awful tragedy when things happen to little babies. My heart goes out to you and her.

Lindsay RC Wilson said...

Thinking of vacations is a good distraction. I remember camping vacations (Zion, Redrock, Valley of Fire) and they weren't far away. I also love my memories of Disneyland & Sea World. Some day I hope to spend the night at Sea World with my kids for their Family Fun Sleepover, but I think they have a minimum age. A great city with kids is San Francisco. Lots of great memories and tons to do from Fort Point to Chinatown to the Exploratorium to Golden Gate Park. I'll keep thinking, but I'll be excited to see other suggestions. You could always come to Qatar.

Plain Jame said...

We just got back from Hawaii (Hawaiian air flies right out of vegas direct). The weather was amazing, and I loved not having to deal with leaving the country. Our girls loved snorkeling so much, but it was a bit of a challenge working around the 8 month old baby boy's nap. I love planning family vacations!

NatalieHemingway said...

I'm from the midwest. My favs as a kid were the theme parks. Ohio's Cedar Point is the BEST in the world. We also dug church history sites... Nauvoo, Palmyra, and Kirtland. GREAT pageants and lots of fun history for the kids.

mutze handknit by ashley said...

I would say the Oregon Coast. Cannon Beach is a dream. I also love San Francisco I have been all over the world and it is in my top 5. Hope all is well. Ashley

rebecca said...

I'm echoing the vote for Niagra Falls. We took a great trip there with our 3 (at the time) children. The natural sites you see there are amazing and we did some camping, the church sites in Palmyra, and the pageant on the way there. There is also an amazing butterfly museum/greenhouse. We purchased a city pass in Niagra that included many of the sites. We spent 2 full days there. Camping trips always sound like they're going to be fun or should be fun but it's so much work for the parents...but we're resolving ourselves to do some camping this summer. I think camping gets easier and more enjoyable the more you do it.