Our family vacation nearly got lost in the sauce this year. Jarvie, Giles and I were invited a year ago to visit my brother in Thetford, Vermont and my sister in Boston. Little did anyone know that I would have back surgery in the spring and that Jim, my sister-law’s father, would die a few weeks before our trip, making the timing of our trip less than ideal. Our compromise was that we would forge ahead and go on the trip, but stay at a resort, instead of staying with my brother and his family, allowing them more space and time to plan for the memorial service for Jim.
Nonetheless, the Lafave’s headed east and north for vacation this summer. First, we flew to Boston and then headed by car to South Hamilton, to visit my sister Annie and her family. Annie lives in horse country and true to form, there is horse farm across and next to her beautiful home. These pastures are home to the Harvard Polo Team and truly idyllic. Her dogs Piper and Lexi are free to roam and often saunter off with friends, as they pass by. Life doesn’t get much better!
While with Annie, we went on the Duck Tour in Boston, which is a bus, which tours the city and then becomes a boat, which tours the harbor. The boys, who are 5 1/2, loved the Duck Tour, but were dissappointed that the bus didn’t turn into a real duck!
After our visit with Annie and her clan, we journeyed by Lincoln Town & Country mini vanup to Lake Morey Resort in Vermont, near Thetford, where my brother Artie and his family have a summer home. Lake Morey provided just enough child activities to enrich the day. My boys took golf lessons, had story hour, engaged in crafts, played games, swam in the lake, went paddle boarding, canoeing, speed boating, played pool, and viewed family movies in the theatre, after dinner, and before bed.
The third leg of our trip was with my friend, Kate Stevens, from my Oberlin days of yore. Kate lives in Beverly, MA right on the water, not far from my sister Annie. Never did get a chance to glimpse John Theriault, whom Kate married shortly after college, as he was away on business in Singapore. Kate took us all over the place. We learned to “numb up” at the several beaches Kate paraded us around. The water was a bit cold, but once you get in, you can get used to it!
Have you been on a family vacation or any vacation, lately, at all? I think of vacations as much like punctuation. They demarcate periods of time before, after and during the vacation. It seems like if you simply stay home, and just do your regular routine, the days seem to blend together somehow. They lack the focus you feel when you remember a trip or a vacation!
Vacations are opportunities for creating a little history and making a few wonderful memories. Even if you can’t go away far, or for long, take a weekend trip, not far from home. We have done several trips like this including friends we adore! Sometimes getting away for just the weekend, somewhere just an hour away,is enough to make you feel, as if you’ve been away for longer and travelled a much greater distance. It is possible to be close to home, but feel light years away!
If you are a bit more strapped, try a staycation and save the money on airfares, gas and lodging and devote that money to living it up a bit in your home town. Create an actual schedule and stick to it. Go to the zoo, the museum, take in a movie, go swimming at a fancy location. And don’t forget about dinner. Dine out at a few favorite restaurants and fix a few fabulous meals.
One of my cousins had a tradition of having Family Fun Days, in which their family did everything together and no outsiders were included. Everyone in the family protected those days and really looked forward them. Why not create a few FF days of your own! If you are single you will have to create another special name for these days and decide who gets to join you on these days I’d delight! No matter what your circumstances, I encourage you to find ways to celebrate life with the people you care about!
Lisa J Lafave, PhD, MBA, ACC
CEO & Founder of Coaching Rocks, LLC
A Single Mom By Choice Raising Surrogacy Twin Boys
Written in My Little Brick in University Hts, Ohio
Leap Into Action!