Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Top 10 Vacation Benefits for the Kids
We're still on vacation. While it's totally obvious this vacation is recharging the parental batteries (how could it not?) I thought I'd give a quick list of some of the many vacation benefits our kids are also getting out of this trip to Israel's north:
UPDATE (Thurs, 9pm): back from vacation and I've spiffed up the formatting from the original pile of Blackberry-posted refuse. I hope it's understandable now. Vacationing was great and I recommend it highly if you have the chance.
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
- Chocolate cereal for breakfast and barbecued marshmallows for dinner.
- Local dogs that know how to suck up to little kids, hoping to merit dibs on any leftover barbecued chicken. I also notice the kids seem to have a heartier appetite, cleaning their plates more than usual even though I can't specifically remember seeing them actually eat much of anything. Aside: thank goodness these dogs showed up after we almost ruined the vacation by saying no when asked if it was possible to rent a dog for the trip.
- Cable TV with the same selection of channels the kids are used to, so they can have a little time each day that feels like home only farther away.
- A beach that has ROCKS. A lawn outside the cottage that has STICKS.
- New bunk assignments, seating arrangements, and bathroom protocols to negotiate -- using "negotiate" here in it's euphemistic, Hamas-ian sense.
- Microwave popcorn (it's good anywhere) and healthful granola cookies (Ok, they didn't actually fall for that but I give Sharon credit for trying).
- Air conditioner controls that are low enough for all three girls to reach, all the time.
- Lights with dimmer switches that really dim, even the 17th time.
- A whole new vista of questions to explore:
- why is the cottage made of wood?
- why are the worker guys not married?
- are we there yet?
- how much longer until we eat?
- where did you put my shoes?
- since it's vacation, do we have to brush our teeth?
- can we watch TV before we brush our teeth?
- why is the cottage made of wood?
- The thrill of swimming in Lake Kinneret (Sea of Gallilee) even though we had to give them strict instructions not to pee or sneeze in Israel's drinking water.
UPDATE (Thurs, 9pm): back from vacation and I've spiffed up the formatting from the original pile of Blackberry-posted refuse. I hope it's understandable now. Vacationing was great and I recommend it highly if you have the chance.
