I don't know if it is because we are getting ready to move back to The States, because Kevin is getting ready to graduate, or because of the new facebook timeline, but my kids have been looking at old pictures A LOT lately. They have pulled out the CD's - before I simply loaded pictures right to the computer - and have been sharing lots of stories of our pre-expat days! Some of the best memories are of our family vacations in the US. These vacations always consisted of either trips to visit family or trips to Disney - sometimes World sometimes Land. Their reminiscing, of course, started me thinking about all our family trips too. What awesome times we have had.
We started planning our spring break way back in October. Where, when, for how long??? Of course I had never imagined that our break would take my family in three different directions. This year Kevin took a "senior trip" with some friends. They ventured to Beruit, Lebanon - guy time! Sarah took a trip to China with the Habitat for Humanity. They flew in to Hong Kong and took trains and buses to their remote village, of which I can not think of the name. Jim, Brian and I, left on our own, decided to take a trip to South Africa. The boys went on safari...no, not the photographic kind. I was left to take a few excursions on my own - ride an elephant, take pictures of wild animals, and actually read a book (one with no pictures!).
Everyone had a great time. Everyone arrived home safe and sound and full of stories. The first night together back home it was kind of like a "can you top this?" conversation. Jim and I just sat and laughed as everyone shared their most colorful versions of spring break. There were stories of wild animals, of creepy crawling things seeping through bare feet in the rice fields, and of boys to men stories which I will not share!
I listened so intently to these stories and just marveled at what my children have done. Just a few short years ago I never, ever would have imagined that my family would spend their vacation in three different countries! I never thought we'd get anywhere besides Disney; and I was OK with that. But now we dream of where we want to go next. What part of the world we did not see yet. What experiences are my young adults putting on their bucket lists? These are lists I know they will have to revise over and over again as the years continue.
What a great break. What great breaks we all had. I can only shake my head and smile. Maybe all of this is a dream, or better yet, maybe this is one of Disney's really great animatronics!! Ready to go on this ride again!
We started planning our spring break way back in October. Where, when, for how long??? Of course I had never imagined that our break would take my family in three different directions. This year Kevin took a "senior trip" with some friends. They ventured to Beruit, Lebanon - guy time! Sarah took a trip to China with the Habitat for Humanity. They flew in to Hong Kong and took trains and buses to their remote village, of which I can not think of the name. Jim, Brian and I, left on our own, decided to take a trip to South Africa. The boys went on safari...no, not the photographic kind. I was left to take a few excursions on my own - ride an elephant, take pictures of wild animals, and actually read a book (one with no pictures!).
Everyone had a great time. Everyone arrived home safe and sound and full of stories. The first night together back home it was kind of like a "can you top this?" conversation. Jim and I just sat and laughed as everyone shared their most colorful versions of spring break. There were stories of wild animals, of creepy crawling things seeping through bare feet in the rice fields, and of boys to men stories which I will not share!
I listened so intently to these stories and just marveled at what my children have done. Just a few short years ago I never, ever would have imagined that my family would spend their vacation in three different countries! I never thought we'd get anywhere besides Disney; and I was OK with that. But now we dream of where we want to go next. What part of the world we did not see yet. What experiences are my young adults putting on their bucket lists? These are lists I know they will have to revise over and over again as the years continue.
What a great break. What great breaks we all had. I can only shake my head and smile. Maybe all of this is a dream, or better yet, maybe this is one of Disney's really great animatronics!! Ready to go on this ride again!
