Elaine Ambrose

Bestselling Author, Ventriloquist, & Humorist

You are here: Home / Archives for #family vacation

#family vacation

Midlife Cabernet: Enjoy a Family Vacation without Drama or Trauma

By

Cabo family beachYou’ve seen the advertisements that feature glossy photos of deliriously happy families laughing together on vacation. Keep in mind that these people are paid strangers and will never see each other again. For a sobering reality check, remember that a high number of shootings and stabbings occur during family holiday events. Plan wisely.

We recently returned from the best family vacation of my entire long and well-traveled life. There were eleven people, including my two children and their spouses, their five giggling little girls, Studley and me. We were like a football team but without the private jet. Our mission was to leave the country, have a splendid time, and return alive. Touchdown and score!

Here are some key points to consider when attempting a family vacation:

  1. Plan ahead. We made reservations for hotel and airline tickets seven months in advance. Even with advance planning, we were all scrambling to get packed a few hours before departure.
  2. Get or update passports if you’re leaving the country. One dilemma: my son and his wife had a new baby but she still needed a passport. The rules state that no one else can be in the passport photo so he had to hold up her tiny body with one hand. She looks like a puppet on a stick, and that passport is good for five years.
  3. Pack lightly. Studley and I just roll up hand-washable clothes and travel with carryon bags only. Of course, parents with kids need twenty extra pieces of luggage just for diapers and electronic gear. Traveling light is just another advantage of being older.
  4. Include workout shoes and clothes. Most hotels have gyms so you can exercise before and after enjoying insane quantities of piña coladas and nachos. And walking in the sand along the beach really tones those legs as you head to town for some coconut gelato.
  5. Do you own activities. Studley and I left to golf one day and we rode horses on the beach another day. The adults shared babysitting duties so each couple could relax without bringing a pacifier or an animated puppet show. Then we all got together for meals and playing on the beach.
  6. Get professional photographs. It sounds cheesy, but the resorts do a good job of organizing family photographs. We’re pleased with the results because our phones just don’t take quality photos.
  7. There will be some drama. At any given time, at least one of the five children was crying, pouting, or attempting to run away. But after a few margaritas the adults didn’t care.
  8. One important rule of life: Enjoy the beauty of where you are. We stayed at a lovely resort on the beach in Cabo, Mexico. A week later, I can still hear the laughter of my granddaughters playing in the waves, feel the motion of the ocean, taste the delicious fresh sea bass dinner, and visualize the full moon reflecting over the water. Savor those memories, and use them as a catalyst for planning the next trip.

During my childhood, we had one family vacation. My parents took their three children to Disneyland but they couldn’t tolerate the crowds so we left early and drove non-stop home to Idaho. I’ve always felt cheated, until last week. We had an amazing time, and I’m grateful.

Today’s blog was fueled by a 2010 Decoy Zinfandel from Duckhorn Wine Company in Sonoma County. Have several bottles on hand to celebrate the beauty of life. It’s $38 a bottle at Crush Wine Bar in Eagle – but only $32 if you join the wine club. Of course, I did.

Midlife Cabernet: You Can Enjoy a Family Vacation without Drama, Bloodshed, or Lawsuits

By

I recently joined my adult children and their families on a wonderful trip to the Oregon Coast. This is a remarkable achievement for me because I have two brothers within a day’s drive of my home and we would rather eat rancid snot than spend an hour with each other.

I haven’t seen my older brother in 17 years, and now I wonder if I could convince a reality show to sell lucrative sponsorships to document a reunion. He would do that for the money. My younger brother would just ask, “So, why do you want to get together, anyway?”

My parents were strict, hard-working farmers who couldn’t be bothered with family vacations or sibling relationships. My father started each day at 6:00 am by blaring John Philip Sousa marches throughout the house, pounding on our bedroom doors, and hollering, “Get up. Time is money!” That explains my uncontrollable eye twitch every time I hear “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

My dad was a brilliant businessman who worked from poverty to riches, but he lost his family along the way. After he died young, my brothers conspired together to acquire his abundant estate. It was a scene from the final chapter of The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I attempted to protect my mother’s finances and so my older brother, a lawyer, sued me. I won the suit and was awarded a court order against him. Consequently, there haven’t been any laughing, loving vacations together.

My brother has never met my husband (or the one before him) or my children’s spouses or their children. That is an enormous loss for my brother because my kids are fabulous and have the lives I always wanted for them. They love each other, and their children are close cousins. It’s like The Waltons – the old television show not the billionaire family with all the stores.

Last week I watched my children and their families play along the beach, learn about whales, throw nets to catch crabs, hike through an enchanted forest, and sit around a campfire. The parents introduced clam chowder to their five children, jostled diapers and dogs in a rented recreational vehicle, and explored new vistas along the coast. Best of all, they laughed together. And then they eagerly planned the next family vacation.

I can’t change my past or make my brothers arrive at my door with a baked turkey and a pie. Well, not without a food taster. But I can move forward with gratitude that my children broke my family’s tradition of tense animosity. And, if either one threatened a law suit, the other would just laugh and bring out some snacks and adult beverages. In one respect, my father was correct. Time is money, as long as it’s time spent together as a family. My grandchildren are rich, indeed.

Today’s blog was fueled by a 2009 Dunham Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley. This velvety wine is full-bodied and delightful. It’s more expensive than the tasty Trutina from Dunham Cellars, so save it for a special occasion – such as any day ending with the letter y…