Is family vacation worth the effort?

Let's call a spade a spade here.

Family vacation is just your regular life in a different location.

That's all.

Family vacation gives you the opportunity to change diapers, break up fights, argue over restaurants, toys, activities, and movies outside of the comfort of your own home.

Or maybe your kids are better behaved than mine.

I just returned from a week long "vacation" with my family in San Diego.  Before we left I had visions of sitting on the beach, with the sun shining warmly on my skin, the breeze gently cooling me off, the palm trees ever so slightly blowing in the wind, while I read my book and watched my children play and laugh.  The weather was even better than I imagined. However the rest of my vision did not come to pass...

My dear children fought over everything from who got the purple sand shovel, to who got to go boogie boarding first, to what beach towel they wanted.  Every meal was wrought with "I don't like this restaurant" or my personal favorite "why can't we just stay at the hotel and go swimming??".  Um excuse me? We brought you all the way to San Diego and you want to spend your day at the hotel pool??

All of this quality family time forced me to ask myself this question: Is family vacation worth the effort? Now stay with me while I explain myself.  While I do feel that children need to see and experience different cultures, places and environments to help them be a more well rounded person, I also struggle with the reality of bringing them on "vacation". Children have schedules. They need naps. They get grumpy. If you have a baby/toddler you are dealing with diapers, strollers, bottles, sippy cups, and picky eaters. You can almost guarantee they will not sleep through the night in the pack n play. When the vacation is over you will most certainly need a vacation from your vacation, not to mention the mountain of stinky, sweaty, dirty laundry that awaits you in your luggage.

So why take on the challenge of bringing kids on vacation with you?

Why not just call your in-laws, drop the kids off to them, and go have a real vacation?

You know the kind where you sleep until noon, order room service, take naps in cabanas, and actually read your book.

Why bring your kids and ruin YOUR vacation?

Well because you don't get smiles like these staying home.

And for that reason and that reason only, I will subject myself to family torture...err vacation...again.

Pretty vs. Smart

I had an interesting conversation with my brother in law this 4th of July regarding the old pretty vs. smart debate.  By now most people have read the How To Talk to Little Girls article that was released last July. The writer of this article basically says when we speak to little girls we should generate intelligent conversation that respects their brains, focusing more on thought provoking conversation about books and world events rather than their beauty.  Instead of starting a conversation with "Oh Sara you look gorgeous today!" we should try and say "Sara how is school going? Have you read any interesting books lately?"  

I understand the point this writer was trying to get across.  We live in a celebrity driven, botox injecting, gym rat society where most woman are consumed with how they look.  According to a study conducted last year by the New York Daily News, the average woman will spend approximately $180 per year on make-up which translates into about $13,000 a lifetime.  Now lets be honest, if you are buying MAC or Sephora products that $180 needs to be tripled. With statistics like these its no wonder this woman wants us to focus on the intellect of our young girls and not their beauty right?? Well in my opinion, wrong. While I agree that we need to fully nurture our girls brains and raise them to be highly intelligent and capable woman, we certainly cannot ignore the fact that they need to have a solid self image as well.  If you spend all of your time telling your daughter, you are smart, you are intelligent, you have an amazing brain, the first 15 year old boy that tells her she is beautiful is going to have his way with her.  We need to stop the pretty girl vs. smart girl inner battle. Girls need to have a firm foundation, knowing whole heartedly that they are beautiful, smart and kind. We need to raise a generation of girls that are confident in who they are, where they came from and what they believe in. I want my girls to know without a shadow of a doubt that they are gorgeous, highly intelligent, compassionate and capable of doing anything they want.  I need them to know this in their core.  I want them to have the highest self esteem possible!! They need to 100% believe in themselves and there capabilities.  

My goal is to raise STRONG girls:

S-smart

T-truthful

R-respecatble

O-obedient

N-nurturing

G-gorgeous 

In today's society we need STRONG girls so we will have incredible woman ready to rule this world!!

Are you a Snotsucker?

Now before you start passing judgment here me out.  

This is the NoseFrida.

Better known as the Snotsucker.

And if you have a baby or toddler I suggest you buy one...immediately.  

Because this thing is archaic.

The Nosefrida is a plastic syringe you place gently just inside your child's nostril.  Attached to the syringe is a tube with a replacable filter.  You suck the tube and all of the mucus from your child's nose shoots into the syringe.

Yes its gross.

Yes you look like a freak while doing it.

But it WORKS!! And if you are like me you will do anything to unplug your babies nose when they have a cold.  They can't breathe, which means you can't sleep and its all a vicious cycle. So at 2 am when your poor stuffy 6 month old is up crying because they are congested do what I do:

1. Drop two drops of Little Noses (or pediatric saline drops) into one nostril.

2. Place nosefrida against that nostril

3. SUCK SUCK SUCK
4. Repeat on other nostril

5. Clean Nosefrida and change filter

6. Smile because your baby can breathe

7. Go back to sleep

The Nosefrida is available online and in Utah you can buy it at Funfinity and Buy Buy Baby for $15.99.

I am a Snotsucker and proud of it.

Are you?

Yes black people get sunburned.

This is Kelsey.

She is my 9 year old, smarty pants, cheerleader, dancer, funny girl.

Love her little guts.

Today while Kelsey was at cheer, a few of the girls were all talking about how sun burned they got this weekend in St. George.  Kelsey said, "I was in St. George all weekend and I didn't get burned."  Kelsey's cheerleading coach said, "well that's because you are black." Um hello ignorant. Let's clear up some facts shall we?

Fact number one: Kelsey is bi-racial not black.  Much like our President (love him or hate him) who is bi-racial, and not black.  Just because they both are brown does not exclude the fact that they both have a parent who is white.  

Fact number two: Black/Brown people can and do get sunburned.  So please protect your darker skinned children the same way you would protect your fair skinned children, by applying sunblock.

Fact number three: Kelsey did not avoid sun burn because she is bi-racial (black per her coach). She avoided sun burn because she has a mother who puts sunscreen on her!

While I realize that people with darker skin tone do not burn as easily or quickly as our fair skinned friends, it is still possible for us as a brown community to burn. More importantly we are not immune to the harmful UV rays that cause skin cancer.  

So yes black people can get sunburned. And yes it hurts and yes it peels.

Any more questions?

Once again, stepping off my soapbox....

What the ash???

Apparently Kels missed my blog regarding my feelings about ashy knees....