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Family Vacations: "Daddy, Griffin is Almost Touching Me!!!"

Originally Posted on August 2017




Parents who take their children on vacation are crazy. Let me say that again. Parents who take their children on vacation are loco in the head.

There should be little hotels where you can check your children in (as long as they are vaccinated) so couples can go spend a little time together.

So how did this opinion of mine come to light? Well, I’ll tell you.

Recently, Sarah and I were on vacation in Council, a little town in Western, Idaho. This one or two stoplight town (I’m not really sure, and I want to give the village its due), is in the heart of a beautiful little mountain valley. Pine trees and fields, small rivers and open skies.
The Whole Crew
Just starting out on a treasure hunt.

On the way to our three-day stay at a cabin off the highway, we had to pass through a little town called Wieser. Griffin, who has been on the, “are we there yet” and “my tummy hurts” and “I’ve been sitting here for the last 40,000 hours” and the “my butt is turning to jelly” phases of his life, heard the town's name. Sarah and I were talking and we heard Griffin say “Wieser, peezer pooper.” We laughed like little kids over the potty humor, you see, it broke the tension.  He had been saying so many complaints and trying to pick on his brother by licking or drooling or biting or whatever he was torturing Jesse with so that the phrase hit us as funny.

Playing in the Creek
Charlie, Jesse, and Griffin playing in the creek

How did my parents ever become immune to the shenanigans that occurred in the back seat of the car? For me, each "she's touching me" and "he won't give back my toy" adds weight like stacking 1 pound weights upon my neck would do, eventually, I snap. I was saved from my adult temper tantrum by a bit of humor. I was able to remember that family vacations are about bonding with the family.
Sarah
Sarah smiling big for the camera

Vacations are about being stuck in the car with the people who you love the most and the people who drive you the craziest for an insane amount of time so stories can be recounted years later. In many ways, They're the hallmarks of a family. They are rites of passage that every family survives and bonds stronger or it breaks.

We chose to bond
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