Seaside Vacation-Bad Experiences

This was a rough vacation!

#1 Ben wasn't with me! :(

#2 It was going to be all family with an addition of my siblings "friends" AKA teenagers

#3 Josiah was teething like CRAZY!  :(

#4 Josiah doesn't sleep well at other places.

#5 Many more reasons that I won't go into.

Despite all that I tried to be positive, but it was so hard!

I didn't think that this little vacation was going to be such a challenge.

First of all the ride over there (2 1/2 hours) was rough, Josiah does NOT like to sit in his car seat AT ALL. While most babies can sleep in theirs after a period of time, he cannot.

The last half hour of the drive over there, all I heard was screaming and I couldn't really pull over to stop because it was raining and there wasn't any rest stops until we got to our destination.

Once we got there, everything seemed to be going better, we got into our room at about 1pm, unpacked and then I decided to try and get him down for a nap in his playpen.

Well that was a fail, he would only scream until I got him out.. After an hour of trying I was ready to leave that hotel room.

Things started looking up again.

Getting outside, seeing everyone and the sunshine help my grouchiness subside for a little bit. I got to see my aunt for the first time in awhile.

So we played at the beach, Josiah loved the waves and the sand so much. He was a mess when he got back to the hotel room. I was glad though, glad that he got some fun out of our trip on the first day.

So after I got him all cleaned up, we made our way over to eat some dinner.

Dinner with:

Grandparents

My parents

My aunt and her friend

Both my siblings and both of their friends

Josiah and I

A big party of 12 people, I was super hungry and ready to eat but apparently it takes an hour to decide what you want on the menu which didn't have a very large selection in the first place. Josiah was getting fussy because he was hungry too. So then I let him get out of his highchair and run around a bit.

Hungry and chasing a fussy toddler...not very fun if you ask me.

Finally after 3 hours of deciding, waiting, eating, talking, and waiting some more, I left early.

We get to the hotel room and I get Josiah ready for bed and hope that he will be so tired after his not-so-successful nap and just pass out. 

Nope! :/

We tried to get him to cry it out and that wasn't OK with me. I left the hotel hoping that when I got back he would be sound asleep. I was peaceful to walk around on the beach by myself, but it didn't last long.

After 2 hours I get a call, "He is still not sleeping Jessie".

What? So my baby has been crying for 2 hours in that playpen! I would never in my life thought he would stay up crying that long! I was about ready to cry myself because I felt so bad. I never let my baby cry himself to sleep! NEVER! I believe that there are better ways to go about that.

So I made my way over back to the hotel room, where my son would not go to sleep no matter what I did. In the end he did fall asleep. 10:30pm and fell asleep in my mothers arms, which never happens. Then it goes on from there, he wakes every 2 hours and I hold him and rock him to sleep, laying him back down to only have him wake again in another hour or 2. Trying different places for him to sleep better. From my bed to his.

I hope that this post doesn't sound bad, I did enjoy some of my trip, just not as much as I would've hoped. It probably would have been easier if Ben were there because he would have been such a great support, Josiah would have fallen asleep on his daddy faster and easier. My mom was there to help me but it's just not the same. I'm not even going to explain the next day because it's just about as bad.

A fussy, tired baby and a grouchy, tired mommy.

This will probably be my last family vacation with a large group of people. Ben is ready to make the move of not doing large family trips any more. We just never get to do what WE want. 

We are always on someone else's time.

With this trip everything was planned out for Josiah and I. 

I like to take things one at a time, and not have to plan it out. I don't mind random on vacation.

If I want to be in my hotel room and sleep the whole time-so be it!

If I want to eat clam chowder for breakfast at 2pm-so be it!

If I don't want to get up before 10am for the lame continental breakfast with the awful coffee-so be it!

It's a vacation! Do what you want right?!

I know that this sounds like rambling and complaining, and it is, and I'm sorry for it.

I am jotting this down for my own good, to remind myself that large family vacations are NOT a good idea anymore for us. Especially when you have started a small family of your own. I understand now why the Bible says to leave your parents and join with your spouse and start your own family. Cause my family drives me nuts now. But maybe your family is different. Maybe they are willing to help with the fussy toddler that has made you so tired. Maybe they are willing to take that fussy tired toddler away from you for a few hours so that you can take a much needed nap because you were up all night trying to keep him quiet so that everyone else can have their rest.

 I am grateful for when I get offered free baby sitting once a week so that I can go to work on Saturdays.

I am grateful for the food, toys and clothes that they sometimes provide for Josiah. 

 I will be grateful for when we have our next baby and they are willing to take Josiah so that he can have some attention.

Now don't get me wrong, families are GREAT. They just aren't so great when you see them all the time. 

When they drop by the house 2-3 times a week, it gets old. 

I love my family, but I'm just ready to move on. 

Physically move away from where I live so that I don't live a few miles between the two.

Whew! I think I 'm done being whiny.

But what about you?

How's is your family?

Do you have issues like I do with mine?

How do you deal with them?