What happened? My normally happy smiling three month old wouldn't stop screaming. My normally obstinate, bossy almost three year turned into a monster!** Have you been there? Standing beside the dining table in a restaurant while bouncing a fussy baby on your hip and trying to bring your salad from the plate to your mouth with your left hand ??(I have no lefty fork skills!!) Pulling your older son out from under the table to find out he had kicked his boots off, then crawling under table yourself to retrieve boots, while husband signs the bill and baby's cries escalate? Oh yah - that was us- we were those people.
Today, Sunday, we are back at home with two little angels. It's pretty obvious that my boys need their routine...
If all went well, I was planning a family trip to NYC next***. Maybe Europe in the fall. Instead, we will give it some time before we try another Ontario getaway.
Please tell, what was your favorite family vacation ever? Because I need to know it is possible to travel with little ones!
*Why Niagara falls? we had to pick up a few things in the States. Niagara Falls is about an hour and a half drive from home.
**Three months is young - but baby is normally so easy! I figured as long as he was close to mom (his milk supplier) he would be fine. Wrong! My other son has been to Paris, NYC, Florida, and around Ontario with us - no problem! This time I think he was in competition with the baby to see who could get the most attention. Double fail!
***Who are we kidding? I have the whole NYC trip already planned...stay near the park, visit the museum of natural history to see the dinosaurs...FAO Schwartz...*sigh*
Shannon, your post scares me since we are planning to fly to middle east in mid Arch with our (by that time 3 months old) baby and our 4 years old! We also traveled with our first one every where, Europe, middle east, States... and he was really easy going but you are right now that we have 2 "angles" thing might be different! A very relaxing and absolutely hassle free trip was our last year Feb. trip to Mexico in an all inclusive resort called Iberostar at Playa del Carmen. My husband and I ARE NOT fans of resorts but we were really nicely surprised how much our son enjoyed everything and we also went for out of resort excursions and visited historical sites. Jennifer at Rambling Renovators told me about that resort.
ReplyDeleteWhew. I thought I typo'd angels!!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what got into them yesterday...but NiagaraFalls is not nice enough that you want to try and make a go of it... You know?
We've been traveling with our 3 kids since my oldest was 2 months old. My husband is in a business that requires lots of travel. My daughter's first words were Ho-n-tell; Hotel. We've even done mid-cross country trips for 2 days, and they've handled it well with music and DVDs in the car.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to have them pack a small bag of activities and you pack "new" activities that keep them busy. Snacks for new restaurants and order for them first. The more you travel, the easier it becomes for them and it becomes an adventure. I know a bad trip could be demoralizing, but you press on. I wish you the best of luck on your next trip.
Sorry to hear your Falls vacation didn't go well. I've never had experience with kids so I won't be helpful there. One of our friends took their entire family (two kids, one 4 the other just turned 2 I think) to a Sunwing all inclusive vacation in Cancun, and they couldn't stop saying good things about it. Not sure if that's the type of family vacation you have in mind. Kids are pretty hard to entertain especially at those nice destinations with lots of art galleries and museums.
ReplyDeleteThat's sooo good to hear!
ReplyDeleteI really don't want to give up on travelling! I was even checking out the 'family' style gap tours. Gadventures.com
This makes me a) so sad...and b) relieved that I'm not the only one with kids that don't deal well with change!!! I always swore I would NEVER go to Great Wolf Lodge (all you can eat chocolate pudding and poly sheets for $300 a night)...and suddenly I am considering it. What has happened to me??!
ReplyDeletemy bad, meant angels! shouldn't comment when tired!
ReplyDeleteOh - I hear you Shannon. Keep it up though, every trip can have it's draw backs and bad times, but also every trip will have highlights you remember. Each trip the children learn and become more involved. Our kids LOVE hotels and it's an adventure to travel for them - we still have melt downs and continuos 'are we there yet' going on. We travel soooo much less than we have before kids, our main reason is $, but we now adapt our expectations. We know that for the next couple of years we will travel with a lot more focus on kids - checking out kid friendly museums, zoos, water parks, fairs, farms, etc - much, much less of the shopping on 5th avenue...but again, making memories and breaking the routine sometimes can do wonders to getting over a funk.
ReplyDeleteI did a quick post last year when we travelled to TO:
http://www.fishlynews.com/2011/05/road-trip-with-kids-few-tips.html
And Jordan from Oh Happy Day did a great post about travelling with small children, they are travelling all of Europe so she must know ;)
http://ohhappyday.com/2012/01/10-tips-for-traveling-with-young-kids/
dumped to spam?
ReplyDeletewhen I see your comments in my inbox, I always go back and retrieve them! I keep adding you to whitelist...but??
ReplyDeleteI hear ya!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we will do Florida (by air) again in the spring
I've already shrugged it off! I am picking departure dates again!
Oh, dude, that suuuuuuucks. I feel for you.
ReplyDeleteThe best family vacation we ever took was to Disney when A. and J. were just shy of 4 and 9, respectively. Disney is truly like kiddie crack in that it kept them engaged (read: hooked) for the entire week, but what really amazed me was their energy. We were up every morning morning at 7am and out the door before 8, and not back home until 10 or 11 every night, yet my kids ~ normally SO routine-based {especially the little one} ~ were totally fine, happy as clams and raring to go. We only had one day when they basically napped all day in the double stroller while Daryn and I toured the park they found most boring (MGM Studios). Otherwise, they were little Energizer bunnies, and we've never had so much fun before or since. Every other vacation, though, is usually fraught with challenges (I hate to break it to you, but you should probably prepare yourself now: traveling with kids is NOT easy)
Glad Sunday brought things back to normal. There's nothing like a screaming infant and a monster toddler to make you question your sanity (and start a little {harmless} research on how to sell kids on the black market ...)
Hey, you'll get there soon, don't give up on traveling! I also have a 3-4 month old and a toddler (and a 7 year old, that one's easy) and getting to the grocery store can be a challenge some days. We had lots of great little trips with the first two in the baby years so I'm not losing faith!
ReplyDeleteDon't give up! Don't give up! Don't give up!
ReplyDeleteMy kids are older now (teens), but we have been everywhere with them - it's worth persisting. Traveling is great for the kids and great for you, and leads to some of the best family memories. Kids go through phases, and it all works out in the end. Don't worry, I bet New York will be great.