Gretchen Fawn Photo - part of the Snoqualmie Moms Support Collective

When you say vacation do you imagine endless hours of rest, fun and delicious food? I do too, but that's not always the reality. Traveling with kids makes it a whole different experience. We learn to sacrifice more. To be more patient when we are tired. To be willing to make the baby comfortable by giving him his own room so he can sleep. To tie our schedules even more closely to going to bed early. I guess it's a whole new definition of vacation.  Sometimes I have to ask myself if it's worth it? Why did we come all this way just to do what we do at home? Sometimes it's overwhelmingly hard really. Well, now that two of our kids are in school full time, it's more precious to have this time away with them. It takes us out of our normal routines that are often really separate from them because their schedules are more full of school and work. It brings my husband home to just "be" in our daily world. It gives me time to notice things in t...