Family Vacation

You have to A) really love them and/or B) be really broke to vacay with your in-laws when you live with them! twitter.com/AnnieMovingIn/…
— Annie Moving In (@AnnieMovingIn) July 28, 2012

That was one of my first Tweets.  The picture is the view from the balcony of the South Haven, Michigan house we stayed at over the weekend, complete with my FIL's legs and sandal-clad feet.  The statement itself could not be more true.

A few weeks back Bruce's parents starting talking about taking a weekend trip as a family.  Bruce's godfather, who is best friends with Bruce's dad, owns the house and we are very fortunate that he lets us use it.  We've gone up there with Bruce's parents before and it was a pleasant time.  That was pre-baby and pre-Moving In, however.  This time I questioned if taking a vacation with my in-laws would really be a vacation at all.

But, as a trip on our own is not looking like it's in the financial cards for us this year, we decided to take what we could get.  After all, it's beautiful there and it would be extremely inexpensive.  Only a couple hours in the car, no lodging fees, cooking some meals instead of eating out.  We couldn't refuse.

So on Friday I rushed around like a crazy woman, cramming seemingly everything belonging to Emmie in the car so that my MIL, the baby, and me could get on the road and pick up my SIL.  The girls were leaving during the day and the guys were driving up after work.  Really, I did NOT fully appreciate until now the old days when I just threw my things in a bag and headed out the door!

The weather in Michigan was ideal - clear, sunny, warm with a slight breeze.  We uncorked the wine and read gossip magazines on the balcony as the boats sauntered by.  Emmie must have wanted to join in the fun because she refused to take a nap.  So all the girls went swimming in the pool.  Emmie showed off to her auntie and grandma all the tricks she learned in swim class.  After a while we got out, and I tried to put the baby down again, but she wouldn't sleep.  Her grandma held her for a long time, until finally she fell into a deep slumber.  I was grateful for the help.

The weekend actually was very relaxing.  I worried that it would be family overload; I'm not going to lie.  But it wasn't!  You know how everyone has their own little quirks, and as much as you like the person, sometimes those quirks might get on your nerves?  Well, that didn't happen too much. 

Mostly it was just Bruce and me, our baby, his parents and his sister, hanging out.  The guys arrived that first evening and we ordered pizza.  We chatted on the balcony as the sun set.  The next day we barbequed for lunch and all went swimming in the pool.  We walked on the beach and Emmie got to play in the sand for the first time in her life.  For dinner on Saturday we went to the Lucky Stone Pub at the Saugatuck Brewing Company and due to some mishaps, we ended up getting free dessert.  That made it all better.

The one issue we had was that Bruce and I were in a bedroom with two twin beds and sharing with Emmie.  Long after the baby had gone to sleep, we would quietly open the door and try to sneak into bed...  "Waah!"  Emmie started wailing right away.  It happened both nights of our stay.  As soon as Bruce and I were under the covers of our individual beds we froze until the baby slept.  Any time we shifted in the night, the baby would stir.  It was NOT cozy.  Forget about romance; welcome to parenting on vacation!

The last day of the trip everyone watched the Olympics in the morning and sat around.  We talked about how expensive it is to travel now and how hard it is to take time off from work to take a vacation anyways.  How we appreciated the chance to get away so cheaply.  We swam in the pool again.  Because we had taken two cars, Bruce's parents were going to drive his sister back.  That meant that my little family could leave when we wanted.  The three of us stayed in the pool and had some much needed quality time.

When we got home, Bruce's parents were already here.  The last time we went away, I felt a little wistful coming home and not feeling like my home.  This time, though, it wasn't so sad.  I just said hi, went upstairs, put our things away, and started dinner like I would in my own house. 

Maybe I'm getting accustomed to this new life.