About Heather Camlot
A freelance writer, crafts junkie and mom of two, Heather Camlot is constantly on the lookout for that elusive work-life balance she hears so much about. Read about Heather's never ending search for five minutes to herself while trying to meet deadlines, make the school bus and raise two fantastic children.
Marc, the kids and I just returned from a one-week vacation in Florida visiting the grandparents and I have to say, I feel pretty relaxed.
I don’t tend to feel relaxed after vacation – especially when it’s 24/7 with the kids in a two-bedroom condo occupied by eight people (Marc’s sister and brother-in-law were there, too).
In fact, with all the problems we had on this trip, I should have been a stressed-out mess. But somehow every down came with an up:
- An automated call at 6:30 am on our day of departure tells us our flight has been cancelled. We manage to rebook for the same day.
- With that rebooking, we land at 11:30 pm – and the kids refused to sleep on the flight. But at least they pass out during the 1 ½-hour drive to the condo and don’t wake upon being moved from car to bed.
- The first couple of days are freezing (okay, cold). But we manage to get some sun midway through the trip.
- We endure a lot of overtired meltdowns. But I get to run on the beach every day and have some me-time.
- After one week at the airport’s outdoor parking lot, our car battery is dead and at 9:45 pm we have to wait an hour for AAA (we flew out of Buffalo, NY). But the kids manage to fall asleep in the cold car and don’t wake up at all during the two-hour drive back to Toronto or during the move from car to bed.
Through it all, I managed to stay calm (for the most part). I attribute my Zen attitude to our abundance of do-what-we-want-when-we-want time. With the kids ages three and five, we didn’t have to book outings to keep them busy or interested. For them – and us – swimming in the pool, building castles at the beach, and hitting the local playground was enough.
Meanwhile, the adults shared the childcare and cooking responsibilities, kicked back in the evenings to watch the Olympics (talk about stress) and for the first time in a long time, Marc and I slept undisturbed (almost) every night. Ah... what a little sun, sand and swim can do for keeping kids asleep!
I really enjoyed our family vacation this year. Hopefully, that relaxed feeling will stay around a while. At least let me keep it through the weekend.
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