Who here vacations without their kids?

Mine are 11/8. We go on trips a couple of times a year and they stay with grandparents.

I send the wife on girls trips. I used to go racing on the weekends.

Being away from your kids is good for your soul and theirs. You have to recharge and so does she. Being a good parent means taking care of yourself and them.

 

We’ve tried a grandparent’s included (paid for) trip to Hawaii. I don’t think anyone had fun. Leave them somewhere safe and have fun.

 

If your parents are cool with having them, and they're cool with being with your parents...give your parents time to enjoy the kids. Let them build that relationship with their
grandparents. It's not just about you two...it's mutually beneficial to all of them as well.

I'd go out to the farm with my Mom's parents for two weeks starting as early as I can remember. Tractor rides while Grampa and my uncles were working in the field
was awesome! Grampa would let me toggle the hydraulic lever to get the cultivator up to turn around and do another row on the field. Then sometimes he'd let me drive the
tractor for a little bit or the combine at harvest time. To be 5 or a little older and be able to control that machinery, even for a minute was a tremendous thrill at that age. Go to town
with my uncles to get parts, hang out at the John Deere dealership and play with the toys in the lobby while they were getting their parts, then go to get a burger. Weekend's drive
to Minot to the State Fair grounds to watch the stock car races and get a snow cone. Unbeatable memories.

As I got older, my stays got longer. I'd help on the farm mowing the farm yard, then mowing my grandparents yard in town, and other assorted stuff. And when I left they'd
pay me for my efforts. Once year I rolled home at 13 with $300 in my pockets...I was a BALLER!!! Mom and Dad actually had to come get me and bring me home that year.
I had no desire to go back.

Go the Bahamas. Get the hell out of your kid's hair for a while.

 

I am NOT the guy to ask this question of...

 

Too much electroshock therapy?

Good lord you're bad at vacationing...

 

Dude, I’m OMW to Orlando with the girls. I have never taken a trip that didn’t include at least one kid.

 

Me neither... yet!

I'm warming up to the idea though, as the kids will be with my mom.

Are you going to Disney?

 

I guess I'm weird. I don't care for vacations without the kids because I get such a thrill out of seeing the excitement they have at new experiences. My kids are now 28 and 25 and we still take all of our vacations with them. We're heading out west again this summer and there are 9 of us going; the kids, their SO's and their friends. We have a blast together. When my wife and I go it alone we're bored shitless by the second day.


Here's our crew in the Teton's last year...

 

Yeah, we’ll do a day at the mouse and three more days doing whatever. Definitely going to hit the coast and let them splash in the surf, only place they’ve seen the ocean is in Maine and that water isn’t very welcoming to immersion

 

We used to kennel for a vacation and when we came back the dogs habits changed. All of a sudden having accidents in the house, and one of the dogs gets anxiety at the kennel and doesn't like to be around other dogs. Really tore my wife up.

For a long time now we have used in house sitters when we leave, and it actually works great. Some spend the night, which is what my wife prefers, and if we can't get one of them that we trust, we have someone that comes over 3-4 times a day.

You can definitely tell a difference when our dog stays in his environment, vs. when we tried kenneling a few times.

 

At what age were you dealing drugs in the airport bathrooms?

 

ONLY thing that gets to me with having kids so far is the early hotel room curfew. I usually only sleep 4-6 hours a night so I spend a lot of time trying to occupy myself without making any noise. Mine are way little - 3 and 4 months - we haven't done both yet but traveled a lot with our toddler.

 

Start being noisy at home. Seriously. Mine sleep through anything.

 

I had to do that with my shepherd (pictured). He didn't do well in kennels but we could leave him in our condo and have friends take him out, feed him, etc. As long as he was at home or with us he was good, but just an anxious mess otherwise.

 

Hey, if the eight-year-old is not looking forward to a break from you guys, you're doing something wrong.

 

Well, technically, that's a vacation with a couple of buddies.

 

That's an excellent point.

 

The wife and I get enough time away from the kids we don't really feel like we HAVE to get away without them. Between my fishing trips, and the wifes yarn trips, and a few sleepover for them at the grandparents, we're doing pretty good to retain our pre kid identities and not go crazy. Plus we've done a pretty good job to raise kids we don't need a vacation from so it's fun to take them along. We also don't have enough disposable income to take separate trips, so they come along too. Like RD, I enjoy taking them places, and watching them experiencing things and making memories, so that's all part of the fun for me.

 

My kids are 12 and 9 and travel a lot. Because of that, my wife and I always take at least 1-2 trips, one long one, every year without the kids. Some trips we take they wouldn't enjoy. We have a group of 8 that we normally do 1 or 2 adult trips with....much needed IMO.