We put the kids in nursery today because it was raining AGAIN and also because nursery was open and we are paying for it and we had some house things to do. For instance, we organized our "pantry":
IN addition to generic organizing, having a day to ourselves was generally a very good decision, especially after driving my brother to the airport at 5am. Yay for brother visits, Waah for returns home. It was great having him here, and I am very aware that flying from a rainy part of the US to an even rainier part of the UK to spend a week with a 2 and 4 year old is probably not the ideal fun way for any person to spend their Christmas holiday. I am glad that my brother puts up with it.
Back to today - Andy and I went out for coffee/midmorning snack and did some 2023 planning. The primary victory was a rather comprehensive holiday schedule for the year. 2020 was supposed to be our year of awesome before Lilah was born but it was definitely not a year of awesome. It's a bit galling that it's taken 3 years to get back to awesome, but travel is much harder with two kids than it was with one. Also, pandemic.
Here is the rough plan:
January: Forest of Dean long weekend
March: Bournemouth long weekend
April: Forest of Dean 1 week holiday
May: Cotswolds long weekend
June: Camping long weekend, or possibly week holiday at home
I've also scheduled in my work Trips for the first 3 months:
January: Manchester
February: London
March: Edinburgh
The March trip may include a second visit to best friend in Cumbria, which would mean leaving the kids with Andy for 5 days. As Andy said "how hard can it be?"
Have you planned any trips for 2023? Do you want to come visit Wales?
Of COURSE i want to come to Wales, but as you cite above, travel with kids is daunting. How awesome you had a long visit with your brother!
ReplyDeleteAfter a night of kids not sleeping I'm thinking of revising the above travel list to "never leaving our house again". You definitely get a travel-to-wales exemption! We are still considering travel to the USA in April of 2024... maybe.
DeleteIsn't amazing how one day/night of illness or no sleep obliterates one's ambition? I often go to that "why do we try to do anything" place. But then something changes and we get our mojo back
DeleteYES, I would love to visit Wales! Probably not in the cards for 2023 though. We have three trips planned, and I hope to squeeze in a trip to my parents' house in the summer as well. Your plans sound wonderful and they give you so much to look forward to throughout the year!
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to visit Wales. Unfortunately, I hate to travel, so it's probably not in the cards for me. LOL. My husband and I were talking about a European holiday, so maybe in the five-year plan.
ReplyDeleteYou are so ambitious in your plans! I just can't imagine how much time goes into planning all that!
Wales sounds LOVELY!
ReplyDeleteIn 2023 we have a trip planned to South Carolina (to visit family), and Rome (solo trip with my husband).
How wonderful that you brother could visit - I am sure it wasn't a burden for him, to the contrary!
ReplyDeleteI also love that you already made plans for trips in 2023.