The most important part of a family vacation

By: Daryl Smith, editor of Seeing The Everyday (published 4 times a year)



Sitting by my Dad's hospital bed yesterday, 
I thought back to my favorite family vacation.
I can't remember how old I was but it was somewhere in my middle childhood.
I think it was when the twins were babies, so there were probably 7 of us kids.

Anyway, my Dad had the idea of staying home for a week 
and doing something special in our own town every day for 5 or 6 days straight. 
One day he took us on a tour of the court house....when does anyone take time to do that? 
It was followed by lunch at Anna'a Tea House. 
I still remember the little sandwiches without crust. 

Another day we all went to the movies together. (a big deal back then)
Can't remember much about the details of the other planned days, 
but I do remember being so excited each night as we would go to sleep 
thinking of the adventure waiting us the next morning. 

We got to explore our own town, and do it all together as a family.
This happened nearly 45 years ago, but I still think about it every single summer.


7 comments:

grandmapeg said...

That vacation sounded great! Sometimes it is the simple things that end up being very fun and memorable. I love finding out things about our own surroundings. Your parents must have been very patient to take that many small children to someplace like a court house, but what a great teaching moment!

Anonymous said...

What an involved dad! Wow! Your dad is so great!
darlene

Karen Mortensen said...

What an awesome idea. If you look around, there is always stuff to do right where you are.

Tyler Heasley said...

I like that idea a lot. Just stick around town and have an adventure every day. Definitely noting this for future family vacations.

Heather said...

What an amazing idea!! I love this! So sorry to hear about your dad, we will keep him in our prayers.

Scrapally said...

love the stay-at-home vacation idea! Author Jason Wright (Christmas Jars, the Wednesday Letters, etc.) calls that an "anchor" memory...and I think we need to create more memories like that! thanks for sharing. Praying for your Dad...what an ordeal!

Susan Anderson said...

Staycations have always been my favorites!

=)

Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...