Vacation Review: How parenthood effects vacationing

We had a great time on vacation - of course - who doesn't love vacationing at the beach?  But our first vacation as parents was a learning experience and a little bit of a reality check.  Before we left, I was really looking forward to laying on the beach and watching Grey play in the water/sand.  I had all of these visions about what vacation would be like and how many great photo opportunities we would have.  hah! 

Well, I did enjoy laying on the beach and watching Grey play in the water/sand. We also had tons of great photo opportunities too...

...but the thing that was missing from my visions about vacation were the fact that I was still Mom and Brandon was still Dad.  Somehow it came as a slight surprise that all the normal stuff still had to be taken care of while you are on vacation.  Only now in an unfamiliar place, with a lot of foot travel each day (ie. diaper bag packing each day), throw in some sand stuck in baby rolls...it brings on its own calvary of stresses. 

Beyond trying to maintain Grey's normal nap/wake schedule, we also quickly realized we lacked a few of our favorite parent tricks:  Grey's noise machine for helping with sleeping, a dishwasher for helping with cleaning our limited source of bubbas, back up baby food when Greyson decides that this week he doesn't like pasta (or prunes, or chicken&rice).  About half way through the week, we discovered afternoon naps back at the room were more comfortable for Booboo and equally refreshing for mumma. 

Luckily, we had extra hands on deck to help with Grey. All four of booboo's grandparents were on the trip with us too. So when Grey wanted to go swimming and mum&dad wanted to sleep - in stepped the pappies.

And when mum&dad wanted to go have dinner alone for their anniversary - up jumped the grandmas.

Long ago are the days of basking in the sun getting a jealous-worthy tan.  We both hung out under the umbrella with Grey for most of the trip...realizing that sunburned while carrying a baby is the least appealing idea known to man.  Someone literally said to us when we got back, "where are your tans, didn't you just get back from the Caribbean?"

Long ago are the days that you throw beach towels over your neck and head down to the water to watch the sunrise.  We had someone else to 'throw over our necks.' And before we head down to the beach..do we have enough formula for his next bottle?  Make sure you really sunscreen him up.  Don't forget his hat.  Who has the room and safe key?  Can you make sure I threw in an extra swimmer-diaper in case he poops?  Aw, crap, we forget his snacks, can you run back and get them?

Long ago are the vacations that you spend the whole week in a little bit of a mojito buzz  (notice I said full week -  we didn't forgo the grown up beverages entirely!)

So, the moral of the story is, once you become a parent there are no more vacations from normal everyday life.  Vacation is just normal life with a different backdrop.  Its not that we're unhappy about it, but we would be lying if we didn't say that its an adjustment and somehow came as a little bit of a surprise.  There a million ways that our lives are different now as parents; vacationing is just another instance we can add to the list:) 

There is no escaping the challenges of parenthood, but it sure makes it a whole lot easier when you have helping and loving hands nearby.  Thank you to the best grandparents on the Earth<3