Our First Family Vacation

Everyone tells you that travel really changes after you have kids but it doesn’t really hit home until you leave home for a week with a minivan packed to the gills.  That is right Alyssa, Julia and I packed up the family van and at 3am we got in the car and headed for RI.  It was pretty amazing that we managed to get there with only 1 quick stop.  Julia did great, she and I played in the back seat while Alyssa drove the entire way!

We started off the vacation with a bang having a great lobster dinner.  Then the next day we headed over to our “beach” house (it was actually on a pond).  It was amazing, we had a great view and the house was very comfortable.  Of course, the first night we decided we just had to throw a party for all the family.  We had a huge crowd probably about 25 people.  We cooked them all hamburgers and hot dogs, and they brought sides.  It was a ton of fun and a great way to start the vacation.

Helki stayed with us for the first few days and my mother ended her New England vacation with us as well.  It was great having Alyssa’s and my family hanging out together for the week.  It really made me wish that our families lived closer together.  The rest of the vacation was a blitz of wonderful visits from Alyssa’s family.  Including several sits for Julia that allowed Alyssa and I to go out and have some wonderful dinners.

One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to the mystic aquarium.  And even though one of the employees made a warning about hanging arms and legs over the sea lions I am sure they weren’t talking to me holding Julia near the railing.  Although just to be on the safe side I moved her back some.  Anyway, it was amazing to watch Julia looking at all the fish.  It is going to continue to be such a treat to bring her to the zoo and the aquarium as she gets older.  On a different topic I really don’t see how anyone could steal a penguin, particularly a 6 year old (if you haven’t heard the story ask one of us to fill you in!).

There are a dozen other things I could talk about and maybe I will post a part 2.  In any case, we will definitely add some pictures later.  All in all it was a great first family vacation.  I wish we were still on it!