Travel adventure with the grandkids is about to start
My husband, Hank, and I are getting ready to do something we’ve never done: take our grandchildren on vacation, without their mommy, our daughter, Kacee, who we’re giving a break.
We’re flying to California to see our son, Kit, his wife, Bonnie, and our granddaughter, Charleana.
We’ve traveled with the kids and Kacee on numerous occasions, and a couple of years ago Hank and I enjoyed a weeklong spring-break staycation with the kids. But we’ve never taken them on vacation by ourselves.
Of course Hank and I have had tons of experience traveling with our children, including the time we took three of our kids to Europe — three teenage boys, mind you. We were staying in a bed-andbreakfast in Wales. One morning while Hank and I were eating breakfast in the dining room (the boys were still asleep), the owner approached us and said he’d like to speak to Hank alone.
Puzzled, I looked to see where they were going when a fellow diner said, “It’s not as bad as he’ll say it is.” What?
“Excuse me?” I asked the lady. “When your boys got home last night, the doors were locked and they couldn’t get in. They didn’t want to wake you, so they tried climbing on the roof and climbing through a window to their room. Turns out, the gutters were old and fell down with them on it. I heard the noise and tried to help. They didn’t want me to alert the manager, so I just gave them our extra blankets. They’re asleep in my car.” Oh, good Lord.
After forking over $170 from our travel budget to have the gutter replaced, we were not happy campers.
But I’m talking about teenage boys. We’re traveling with our little sweethearts, Tilleigh, 11, Evie, 8, and William, 5. No gutter-climbing for these youngsters. The worst trouble the little kids get into is arguing with one another. Though sometimes I think they’d be good mixed martial arts fighters, I can handle it.
Hank and I are committed to making sure the Tennessee kids visit their California cousin every summer.
When you live across the country from someone you love, making the effort to visit is crucial. Life goes by too