The Worst Vacation Ever. (Part One)

I always look forward to summer vacations. We are big time beach people, and for as long as I have been going on vacation, we have shared our vacation time with either friends or family. It’s great for economic reasons and it’s great now that we have kids because they typically have someone to play with. It also allows us to have a parenting break from now and then. I love taking turns cooking meals. I love sitting on the porch after kids are in bed, drinking beer, talking and listening to the waves. Sometimes we get on each others nerves, sometimes nature doesn’t cooperate. Over the years we’ve had some great times. But one year, the laws of nature demanded balance, and we had the worst vacation ever.

When we first checked into the house, we quickly decided it was the best house we had ever rented. To this day, it still is. It had tons of space. Space is key when you’re staying with 6 kids and 10 adults in one house. It had 3 levels, a kid’s bunkroom, tons of bathrooms, a 2 deck porch facing the ocean with build in cushioned benches, a huge kitchen and living/dining space. But the best part was, on the beach level, there was an outdoor bar complete with blender, icemaker, fans and stools. This looked as if it was going to be the best vacation ever! And for a few days…it was.

The first storm clouds appeared the very first day, when we arrived after driving all day to discover a complete free for all over bed rooms. It was like a land rush, only you were trampling over Grandma and Grandpa, and little nieces and nephews to secure the best rooms. Weighed down with luggage and still stiff from the drive, we were screwed from the word “Go!”. Before we could react, we had been left with one room, with one bed, to share with our close friends who had also made the trip. As a consolation prize, we were issued an air mattress and told that one of us could sleep in the walk in closet. Not a great start, but we laughed it off went down to the bar to have a drink.

On the way down, I helped my father- in- law get the flip flop prints off his back, and put ice on my 5 year old niece’s black eye. Once we made it down to the bar, things started to look up. One drink turned into several, and truth be told, by the time we went to bed, the closet didn’t seem that bad. Dark, but cozy like your mother’s womb. The down-side, we did learn inflating an air mattress in the dark while intoxicated is very, very hard. In fact, impossible.

At this point, I was still convinced it was going to be a great trip!