cat named pig

[Subtitle: I heart vacation.] 

We’re back from vacation (OK, we got back Tuesday, but it wasn’t until this morning that I really felt mentally back) and finally back online.

It being 2008 and all, we took our Macbook to the cabin with us, along with two cell phones, two chargers, an iPod and its charger, some speakers, a digital camera, and multiple other things that plug into things. Aside from taking a few pictures, the iPod and speakers were the only things we really used. We usually head off on vacations with all of this stuff because we like having it with us; Internet Time is the most coveted of leisure activities in our household. Before the trip, I even suggested in total seriousness that we pack both laptops so we wouldn’t fight over the one. And I fully expected both of us to be updating this site with all the funny vacation stories, or at the very least Twittering frequently. 

Instead, I did not even turn on my cell phone one single time until the last night we were there (when I needed my niece to show me how to text faster using iTap [which, by the way, seems to be a total crap application, unless I am still using it wrong — it always suggests total gibberish instead of real English words]). I scanned my Google Reader maybe once, checked my e-mail once, and that was it. Matt used the computer a little more than I did, but nowhere near as much as we expected.

It was kind of nice.

Now that I’m not working in an office, I expected vacation to be more like an extension of daily life. This is not to say that life as a stay-at-home parent is a full-time vacation, but I expected the same patterns of feeding kids, keeping them entertained, going online while they nap, etc., to follow us to the cabin. Even though I love the way we spend most days, it was nice to totally change it up for a long weekend. Siena was so busy with their cousins that I barely saw her, and Elliot was able to spread his never-ending need for affection across fourteen other people instead of attaching himself to my legs all day long. And instead of blogging or e-mailing to get some social interaction during naptime, it was nice to have actual people around. 

We came home exhausted, but I also felt great: relaxed, even excited about getting back into our routine after a nice break from it. All the things I used to feel heading back to work after a good vacation. In the interest of getting to the point already, I guess it’s good to take a total break from your daily life once in a while, no matter what your daily life entails.