This past weekend my husband and I decided to be spontaneous. Or as spontaneous as you can be with an almost 2 year old in tow. We took Friday off of work and decided to head north for a little beach vacation…just the three of us. So, insert all of our glorious vacation photos here. Or not.
Turns out? Traveling with an almost 2 year old is dang near impossible.
A lot of things worked against us for this trip. It poured rain the day we arrived….and seeing as though we were in a small beach town, there wasn’t much we could do inside. So we walked in the rain and tried to entertain our busy boy. Hudson wouldn’t eat dinner or sleep that night….so that was fun.
Thankfully the next morning was perfect and Hudson LOVED playing at the beach. He could have stayed there all day.
He even got his toes wet in the water with daddy….it was way too cold for mama.
It was so peaceful, we could have stayed there forever….except it started raining again.
Which led to a certain little boy having an EPIC meltdown. Which then led to mama and daddy having a meltdown too and deciding to ditch our hotel and head back home. Exhaustion + a crabby boy can make you do crazy things.
Hudson passed out in the car (finally!) and we got a little peace. Our egos and wallets were a little bruised, but we survived.
And we were all much happier once we made it home. My neighbor, who has twin 5 year old boys and another boy who is 3, told me we were brave for even trying to go on a vacation. Please tell me it won’t always be like this?
I’m thankful to have my normal, well-rested, busy boy back. Maybe we’ll try again next year. Maybe.
This is precisely why I say that we travel with children. It is not a vacation, it is life away from home. It adds stress, but it also makes memories. And it will definitely get easier!
Thanks for keeping it real. 😉 I agree, traveling with kids is hard! My little girl is 9 months and we are braving our first family vacation. 3 nights in a hotel…5 kids, 10 adults…I'm hoping we can come out on top.
This is such a good reminder how hard it is to travel with little ones…It's sad that it's really just easiest in the comfort of our own homes where everyone stays on their own schedule and we can avoid unnecessary meltdowns as much as possible!! Thanks for sharing a glimpse into "real life."
We did the beach this year with an almost 2 year old and a 6 week old. It actually was fabulous. The beach WORE the girl out and the baby was too little to know any better and rode in the moby ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT. My advice – let there be sunshine, parks and lots of beach time, plus swimming really wears them out 🙂 Sorry this time didnt work out. I am sure the next time will be better and easier (maybe) as long as their is warm weather and sunshine.
Oh dear, I think I totally would have thrown in the towel as well. Here's hoping next year will be more relaxing 🙂
Oh man. What a weekend! I bet the rain was just making Hudson sad- or he was having an off weekend! He always does well at the lake house! Totes try again!!
Glad it's not just us! My husband and I have been so excited (read delusional) about road trips and hotel stays. But the reality is our 21 mo twins just can't handle it yet. They eat terribly, sleep terribly, which makes everyone crabby 🙁 But as I remind my husband it will never get better without practice.
HA! this post made me giggle…those little tykes are so unpredictable! I commend the effort for sure!
Aww!! It was certainly a good effort though!! I hope it's not always like this with kids! HAHA! I might re-think the whole thing! 😉 Kidding!!!
Oh no!! Well I say, A for effort! You know the next vacation will just have to be better as a result. I love the spontaneity…we should try that some time! 😉
I'm sending this post to my husband who thinks it sounds really fun to take a 18 month old to Hawaii on a connecting flight with the longest stretch being over 6 hours. I am PRAYING we don't have to do this because I know it would not end well.
Don't give up, the more you travel with him the easier it will get. We take our 14 month old up north to the cabin often and took him to Florida in April. There are some stressful moments and long nights, but he's getting much more used to being away from home!
Don't give up it can happen!! We did a road trip to Texas (in an RV) with a 3-1/2 & 15 month old! It can be done!!
Oh man, I can sense your anxiety! I'm sorry it didn't work out as well as was probably intended 🙂 I am quite nervous now, as I just booked flights for our vacation in August… oh boy.
Oh no! Well at least you tried to make it out for the weekend!!
I think we should keep trying! Actually i'm planning to take 18hrs flight, go to somewhere with 12 hrs different in two weeks with a 21 months old. I think I'm even crazier! 🙂
Oh my goodness and I thought traveling with dogs was hard! I now know differently! Good for y'all for going for it!
Oh what a bummer! 🙁 I'm starting to find that rain is never a good thing when it comes to toddlers…it always ruins our plans! Glad you're back and in your routine today though 🙂
You'll definitely have to try again! I think the combo of tiredness, rain and a town that revolves around sunny weather was what did you in. I'm sure thing will be better next time!!
Try it again and it may be totally different! We just got back from our first flight with the toddler and it was exhausting. It's true what they say – A trip with kids is a trip. A trip without kids is a vacation.
We tried to take a beach vacation with our 2 year old last summer and I swore we would never do it again! She hated the sand and did not want to sleep in the hotel room. You're both very brave!
The more you travel the easier it gets. My suggestions is always bring grandma along!
This is why I am afraid to travel!!! We are just happy as clams at home! 😉 At least it was a trip you won't forget!
And this is why I love you. You are real, and it is so refreshing. My husband and I are quickly realizing that our 'spontaneity' has been majorly stifled now that our little man is 13 months and running around like a wild man. Gotta love our sweet boys – except when we're trying to travel, right? Lol!
Oh boy. We're traveling from Minnesota to San Diego with our 20 month old in July. Pray for us.
Thank you for keeping it real! I have two boys, one 4 in July, other 2 in August, and refuse to go anywhere!, I end up more exhausted and stressed out before I left. We are traveling in August for a week at San Diego. However, I will have grandma and papa to make my life much easier!!
Oh bummer. Toddlers are finicky creatures. If you tried this again this weekend, everything would probably go smoothly! You just never know. Some days nothing makes them happy. Some days they're amazing and happy as a clam doing anything. TODDLERS ARE SO CONFUSING! You are totally brave and awesome for trying, though. I'm sure the next trip will be 1000 times better. Don't give up yet!
Bummer. At least you got to make some memories.
Is that Manistee? My dad lives there!