I recently returned from a 3-generation family vacation.
First, let me tell you about some of our vacations when my kids were younger.
They called them “encyclopedia” vacations. When we went to a famous site, I
wanted them to know about it. (You can take the teacher out of the classroom…)
As they got older, I gave them the Triple A book, and had them choose places to
stop—which meant they had to read about these places.
Our last family vacation with just the four of us strained
Hubs’ and my patience. A 10th grader who PMS’d the whole time and
didn’t want to do anything, and a 9th grader who wanted to be home
with his friends. Later—many years later—he said that was a really great
vacation. The kicker, though, was daughter, who had groused the whole time, got
on the phone with her girlfriend (while we were emptying the car) and exclaimed
about how she had so much fun. I thought Hubs’ would kill her. LOL
The kids are grown with kids of their own. We went on a
cruise with daughter, SIL, and their two kids, along with SIL’s parents and his
sister and her son. Not just any cruise but a Disney cruise. What fun.
Especially because this was a Star Wars Disney cruise. I might have mentioned a
few times that my family are Star Wars’ fanatics—from the 6 y.o. through Hubs.
One day during the cruise, Star Wars characters walked the decks, had photo ops,
while those into Star Wars more than my family also dressed in costume. I have
to admit, Hubs’ and I hung out with some of the characters.
Before leaving on the cruise, I had a brilliant idea. I
would set the fourth Alex O’Hara book on a cruise. So I paid special interest
in things I could use in the story. I also asked our tax preparer what I needed
to do to be able to take my cost of the cruise as a business expense. She asked
her supervisors. I didn’t get the not-so-good news until we got home. Nope. Can’t
do it. Darn!
We had a great time (even if I can’t write it off). The
kiddies had their activities. The younger adults had theirs. And Hubs and I did
our thing. We all met for dinner each night and had fun discussing what we did.
I have to say Disney does customer service well. The food was to die for and
the staff couldn’t have been nicer and friendlier. I would definitely recommend
a cruise for a multi-generation family vacation.
Diane Burton writes romantic suspense, mysteries, and science fiction romance. She blogs here on the 30th of the month and on her own blog on Mondays.
