Day 3 of 100 - I need a vacation

I love vacations.

I love the excitement of planning and the way the kids look forward to them with ever-increasing excitement. I love how I couldn't sleep the night before we left because I was just so anxious to go already!

(In fact, one year Mr. at Home and I went on vacation with my parents and little brother. We had gathered at my parents' house and had gotten everything packed and ready, then we all sat around in the living room staring at each other. Finally someone suggested that instead of going to bed where no one would sleep before getting up at 3am, we should just leave right then and drive a few hours before finding a place to park the RV for the rest of the night. So we did.)

I love vacations. I love the camping and getting up to the crisp mountain early mornings and the smell of campfires. I love sitting quietly under the trees with a good book in the afternoon and chatting around the fire at night. I love playing cards and the friendly smack talk over dominoes and I love going into town during rainstorms.

Many of the family stories we tell over and over happened during those vacations we took, driving from one end of the country to the other.

The night the cooler blew away in Glacier

Locking the keys in the van in Yosemite

Tubing the freezing cold waters in the Smokies

My dad and my uncle winning a horseshoe tournament on Mt. Nebo

The mountain catching fire in Ouray

Mom threatening the yappy dog next to us in the Hill Country

Thursday, we leave for this year's family vacation. There's a ton to do to get ready to go. Just like my mom taught me, the house has to be clean before we leave, so I've spent all day working hard on this house. Even L got into the spirit and kept asking what she could do to help. It was one of those times when it's just easier to do things myself than explain and supervise the children as they do it, so I kept giving her short easy things until I finally lost my patience and told her to look around and if she saw something that needed to be done, to just do it!

So L disappeared and cleaned the kitchen counters, unloaded the dishwasher, folded clothes, swept, took care of the cat, and moved clothes between washer and dryer. I totally love that child.

There's still a little more cleaning and laundry to finish up, I've got one more project to do, the girl is coming over who will be caring for the cat, there's a few things I need to pick up from the store, I want to find a crochet project to take with me, and I've got to pack! We won't leave until the middle of the day Thursday so I have a day and a half to get everything finished. By the time we're ready to go, I will be in sore need of a vacation!

First, we're off to Eureka Springs, AR, where we visited often when I was younger. We're meeting my parents (who got there today, lucky people!) and camping together. We'll get to see the Passion Play, wander around town, and find a 4th of July celebration. From there, we'll be traveling to Tulsa, OK, for China Heritage Camp with our adoption agency. We get to stay with the family that adopted L's best friend from the orphanage and we love those people. After camp is over, we'll come wandering back through the wilds of Kentucky.

Yep, I think it's going to be another family vacation full of memories.