Category Archives: vacation

Apes, Goatherds and Chaise Lounges

April 13, 2011travel, vacationKirsetin

I love saving money, getting a deal, and sticking to a budget as much as anybody. I mean, if you need a 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath & Beyond, just give me a ring. If there were a black market for those babies I’d be set for life.

As far as I know, though, there isn’t one. If you hear otherwise, let me know. I’ll cut you in. For now, I just share the coupons with my friends, or take a massive stack to the store and get 20% off of fancy pans, cool kitchen gadgets, and grapefruit spoons. Someone has to buy the grapefruit spoons, right?

Despite my fondness for scoring a good deal, this year I decided not to rock the Staycation. I know it’s trendy and I’m well aware that we can do lots of fun things Right Here! For cheap! I have done that many a time in the past and, frankly, there is a limit to how many times I am willing to scour the city for cheap entertainment for my kids. If we stayed here this year, I might have sent them over to my girlfriend’s house all week, and then we wouldn’t be girlfriends anymore. Mothers have to think these things through carefully, you know.

Those of you who read here often, or know me well, (or both) may have rolled your eyes just now when I said I’ve stayed here “many a time.” Allow me to clarify: those staycations—which wasn’t even a word then, we were just the only people left in town—were mostly when my kids were in diapers. But hey, I have three kids—that era lasted for, like, a hundred years.

But that era is over. Those boys can now pack their suitcases and haul them around. So they do. Which is, in part, how we end up with kids walking around Spain wearing striped shirts with plaid shorts, but that’s another post entirely and possibly a training issue. You have to learn to let go of the little things, though, this is what my friends keep telling me. On second thought, I don’t see their kids walking around in stripes and plaids, so hmmm. Not sure.

At any rate, we did, in fact, globe trot this year and flew our crew through the air and over the sea to visit Spain for two weeks. I’m considering doing a whole series of posts about when and where and how for those of you who are interested, but I fear boring the crap out of the rest of you, so we’ll see what I come up with.

In the interim, here are a few highlights from our adventures.

Apes! Yes, Barbary apes. They are alive and well and snacking on potato chips atop the Rock of Gibraltor.

And juice bottles, naturally.

A real, live goatherd. No kidding. This guy was rounding up his goats with the help of a peppy little dog. A dog, who, let’s face it, my dog would not recognize as the same species, because that dog works for his supper!

So, no, we didn’t go to the zoo.

Really, it was Spain.

Let’s try this one–two points if you can tell me where it is.

It was absolutely magnificent.

But this next picture, this is one of my favs.

I love these streets, sans vehicles with crazy drivers, of which there were many. Now, THERE, I could do a Staycation!

The one thing I learned after visiting all the palaces and forts and cathedrals, is that those Moorish kings knew how to party. And how to relax.

Here’s a shot from the gardens of the Alhambra, in Grenada, where the king would chill when he wasn’t ruling or battling.

This guy’s descendants probably invented the chaise lounge.

Hmmm, a chaise lounge. Time to wrap this up, friends, the sun is shining!

Grand Grandparents

August 9, 2010family fun, summer, vacationKirsetin

I have a lot to live up to when my offspring start reproducing, let me tell you.

During my kids’ visit with my parents this summer, they saw Montecello, toured the Pentagon, attended an Evensong service at the National Cathedral, and watched some baby osprey learning to fly. There may or may not have been a milkshake or two consumed during said visit.

The boys followed these adventures by visiting my husband’s parents who had them braving the rides at Hershey Park, consuming more chocolate than should be legal, and whizzing down the slides at the local pool.

Do they think all grandparents do these things? Perhaps I ought to be keeping a notebook…

Angry Birds Have Me Beat

August 1, 2010activities for kids, media, vacationKirsetin

This popular app has thousands of us flinging little blue birds that multiply and black birds that explode at little pink pigs faster than the next person can download the game. While we flew across the country to Colorado a couple of weeks ago, my kids and husband completed levels in record time, clicking Play as soon as the Captain said, “You can now turn on your addictive little devices, boys.”

I snuck a game in now and then, too, but because of my incredibly frugal commitment to only download free apps, I have to play this $.99 game on my husband’s iPhone. That means, of course, that I’m not the only one in line.

It also means I am the worst Angry Birds player ever.

On my last turn, I flung two birds backwards. My children were slightly ashamed and I can’t say I blame them.

One another turn, I pulled the bird back as far as I could to get a really great fling. As I let go, it fell off the slingshot and plopped onto the ground directly in front of it. My youngest expressed sympathy. “That’s okay, Mom. It happened to me one time, too.”

Nonetheless, it’s humbling to watch as they progress through level after level, while I remain in the very first set. They have birds now that I’ve never even seen!

Ah, technology. For all its claims about enriching our world, in the end it’s the Angry Birds that attract us. I’m not sure if that should make us laugh or cry.

Either way, I’m thinking of asking my son to tutor me. This is getting embarrassing.

How about you? What are your favorite apps? All fun ones or some useful? (My favorite useful one, btw, is one we use to track vacation expenditures. I’m much better at that than at Angry Bird, thank goodness.) Share your favorite recommendations!