The verdict on vacation

Soaking up the sun

I'm totally rewarding myself with a blog post right now. After about three to four solid hours of working on our taxes, I'm doing something that I actually want to do and is easy for my brain to process. The funny thing is, we don't even do our own taxes, but the sheer volume of information needed to complete two international (one US, one Swiss) tax returns is crazy. Also, I told BK I was going to fire my admin because she is way behind on her filing (obviously I'm referring to myself on this one).

So, what's the verdict on vacationing? The verdict is still out, to be completely honest with you. Our trip to to the Canary Islands was good, but not our best vacation/trip/destination by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't bad by any means, but we came back feeling kind of "meh" about the whole thing. It was okay.

Don't be disappointed for us or anything, as obviously there are far worse problems to have in life, but I think a number of factors contributed to us feeling this way. BK ended the trip by letting me know that he is, "out on traveling with toddlers." I'm hoping what he actually means is that he is out on trying to take a relaxing vacation with toddlers.

I'm still up for taking Baby K on city and mountain trips with us, just not on ones where BK and I are trying to relax, because she's not the most relaxing travel companion. When we go to explore cities or hike and ski in the mountains, we're not really going to relax, so she doesn't impact that too much. Although she does get up at 7am every day, so there is that...

So cute, and absolutely covered in sand

Another thing that happens to us on vacation is that BK almost always gets sick. This is why he can never take time to disconnect, because when he does, it never fails that his body pretty much shuts down. Not the best way to start our island vacation. Not to mention that he then tries to deny that he's sick and ends up feeling worse and worse. I'm sure you know someone like this too. I get that he was trying to make the most of our time there, but still.

I also think that in the future, I won't suggest a destination without it being somewhere we really want to go. The Canary Islands were a good idea in theory, as we wanted somewhere that would be warm but not a long flight from Switzerland, but it just wasn't that great of a destination. The only place I could think of that it sort of reminded me of was Cancun. I've been once and don't plan to go back.

Lastly was the resort. We stayed at Roca Nivaria Gran Hotel, which was nice, but not really our thing. It has great reviews and there are tons of articles written about it, but it's almost like we expected too much from it. It ended up being more of an all-inclusive (we did not do), which is just not worth it for us. From the amount that we don't eat to the fact that BK typically wants a drink that is not included on the all-inclusive list, I would rather just do everything a la carte and stop having to answer the question about whether or not we were on full-board or half-board.

Out for a morning bike ride

So what did we do on vacation? It was actually quite relaxing. We spent time by the pool, Baby K went to the nursery for a couple of hours each morning and afternoon, walked along the beach, took naps, went to the spa, and tried various restaurants around the area for dinner each night. So not bad by any measure, but I think just a little less than we were expecting.

So the verdict on vacation is...I think BK and I will always travel with our children, we will just refrain from attempting to have a relaxing vacation with them. We'll vacation at some far-flung destination while the grandparents get to soak up some good, quality time with Baby K and her future sibling. A win for everyone involved!

Travel versus vacation

Soaking up some sun!

Is there really a difference between the two? For a long time, I didn't really think so, but in the past couple of years my view has changed. 

Since moving to Europe a few years ago, BK and I have done some serious traveling. Not so much on the vacationing side of things, but big time travel. I think both are important, but for us, I've discovered they both have their specific purposes. One of our main goals of moving abroad was to travel and explore places that we had never been. And at the time, vacationing never really crossed our minds. We both had good jobs and worked hard, but for us relaxation was exploring and being active in a new place. 

For us, when we travel, it is full steam ahead, how much can we possibly cram in while we're there to make sure we see everything we possibly can. We're not there for rest or relaxation, but instead we're there to experience all we can off that culture- the sights, the architecture, the food, to name a few- soaking up all we can during the time we have. 

But now things have changed a bit. And yes, I'm sure it's partially because of our little person, but I've heard similar things for other expats as well. It's almost like after a while we all start to get travel fatigue. And typically you'll find that most expats in Europe have been more places than native Europeans. I used to wonder why all these Europeans would say that, no they rent the same vacation home every summer and go to relax. Now I sort of get it.

So yeah, vacationing...we're working on it. We are on our first vacation in over two years. We're in the Canary Islands, and we chose them not because it's somewhere we were dying to go, but because we wanted somewhere that would have tropical weather in February and wasn't a crazy long flight from Switzerland. So the Canary Islands is was. 

We're even at a resort that we don't necessrily have to leave if we don't want to. Very not us. Of course it does also have a nursery for Baby K- good for her and good for us. And what are we doing on vacation? It's up in the air- we came with no plans set in stone, a couple of spa appointments made, and not much else on the agenda. Weird...but good.

Not to worry though, we'll be back to our usual traveling selves quickly after we get back. I'm not sure when our next true vacation will be, but I have a feeling it will be after we return to the US and it will not include Baby K. Grandparents, take note! 

My little helper in the kitchen

Many spoons were used in the making of our cookies

Today Baby K and I had a fun afternoon in the kitchen. It was a nasty day outside, so I decided we would stay in and do some things around the house. Specifically, we would try our hand at baking together for the first time- really letting Baby K "help" in the kitchen.

She pretty much wanted a bite of everything

Remember how I used to post about all this stuff I would bake and take to BK's team. Oh yeah...then Baby K came along, we moved, life goes on and sometimes they get stuff, sometimes they don't. This month though, we're on and they will have something sweet tomorrow. All thanks to Baby K's help in the kitchen.

Yum!

We went with simple for our first cooking adventure together and made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. We made her high chair into a stool and she was right up at the counter with me, pouring various cups and spoons into the bowl (mostly). We only had one small incident with the cookie pan when they came out of the oven, when she touched it with one finger. I was there with her and watching her, and I realize she's not quite two yet, but she's not going to learn (after warning her numerous times and putting it out of her reach) any other way.

Don't worry grandparents- her tiny finger is just fine. A few tears, a cold rag and a kiss from mom made everything better. And she thoroughly enjoyed her final product too!