I’m visiting my big kids and my in-laws right now — they live in the same town, which makes schlepping cross-country, if not easier, at least a good bit better — and while it’s not really a vacation, it’s as close to one as we get as a family, and so I usually just call it that.

So, I’m on vacation, kind of. And while there’s very little down time during these trips, one thing has become abundantly clear: I’ve forgotten how to relax. Read the rest of this entry »

If vacationing close to home — or “staycationing” — is the newest travel trend, I’m waaaaaay ahead of the curve.

We almost always stay home for the summer. I say “almost” because there have been two exceptions: In 2003 we drove to Niagara Falls because the kids were complaining that they’d never been to another country (hello, Canada!), and last week I had to research a couple of family travel stories and so we went to an old-fashioned amusement park and careened down a snow-less ski slope on a bobsled and spent a night in a tree house. It was way cool. The kids loved it. My husband and I did, too, but I think that, while the kids came home re-energized after our little adventure, us parents were more exhausted after our “vacation” than we had been when we left. Read the rest of this entry »

There are plenty of things you can do, not to mention things you can bring, to make traveling with very young children go more smoothly. Some of those things work — in theory. In practice, though? Well…

In theory: Taking an 8:10 p.m. flight — right at bedtime — would mean that my adorable 3-year-old and my angelic 15-month old would sleep on board, and we’d tuck their sweetly slumbering selves into their beds at my in-law’s home on the other end of the trip.

In practice: Not so much. Read the rest of this entry »