Ahh...our first "grown up" family vacation in Michigan (1996). Here you see my parents on the left, my sister Linda & her husband Fred on the right & of course my cousin Drey front and center. Drey has become somewhat ubiquitous on this site in the past couple of days. I am taking the photo, which thankfully means I am not in it. Mr. Crackers & I had just started dating. He had no idea that he was in for 12 years of vacations with these people.
The houseboat vacation on Lake Cumberland in KY (1998). I know Mr. Crackers was on this vacation - I remember him being there. We had been married for a little less than a year when we went on this trip. Perhaps he is off somewhere hiding. He can't believe he's in for a lifetime of vacations with these crazy people. This is also the first vacation where my Uncle George (aka Drey's Dad) made an appearance.
Our first tropical vacation - Jamaica (1999). Notice that after 1 and a half years of marriage Mr. Crackers is still smiling. Perhaps he's decided that vacationing with us isn't so bad after all. My brother-in-law Fred though seems to have lost his vacation spirit in this photo.
In 2000 we headed out west for a trip to the Oregon coast. Since my Uncle George & Drey had spent so many years heading East, we thought we'd return the favor and head out to the pacific time zone.
Barbados (2001) - the scene of the Dramamine Incident mentioned in an earlier post. Drey is smiling in this picture because he has no idea his cousins are going to later pump him full of Dramamine before a beautiful Caribbean catamaran ride. A ride that he slept through completely and missed thanks to the drowsiness side effect of the drug.
Puerto Rico in 2002 - our last vacation sans children. It was so relaxing, so peaceful... I was about 3 months pregnant on this trip and as a consequence I have forgotten almost all of the details about it. All I remember was the stupid roosters crowing right outside my bedroom window at dawn every morning. Darn chickens!
Bocce anyone? When it came time for our vacation in 2003 my sister was very pregnant with her first child. In fact, she was about 8 months along, so we vacationed in Maryland. It was about a 1 hour drive from her doctor, so she got the green light to come along for the fun. This was also our first vacation with children & all of the stuff that comes along with them when they travel - geez. C was the first baby thrown into the mix of our annual vacation. I am happy to say he had a great time.
OK, I'm cheating. This is another picture from the Maryland vacation. This was C's first vacation ever. He's 6 months old in this shot & as his mother I am obligated to include the photo in this montage.
Our first Hilton Head vacation was back in 2004. My sister is holding her son A who is just under a year old. Mr. Crackers is holding a very precocious C who is peaking over my shoulder. Notice that now Drey is now taller than me. I was once again the shortest member of the family (over 2 years old).
We had so much fun in 2004 that we went back to Hilton Head in 2005. Here Uncle George tries his hand at fishing with C. Looks like they both have one on the line.
Another cheat...this is that same Hilton Head vacation in 2005. As you can see, I've already got baby K cooking in the oven. Nothing like being pasty white, freckly and pregnant to improve your outlook about wearing swimwear!
A request went out for a new venue for our 2006 vacation, so we tried St. George's Island in Florida. We spent the whole vacation on this screened-in porch. Apparently that summer they experienced the worst mosquito problem in over 20 years. You risked bleeding to death by leaving screened in areas, so we stayed well within protected areas. C was traumatized by the sheer number of the blood suckers in the air. To this day he refers to this locale as the "Mosquito Place".
Look! 2 more kiddos have joined the party. Linda is holding baby M and of course I've got a lap full of baby K. We vacationed in northern Ohio (Sandusky) in 2007 so that Linda & Fred wouldn't have to travel too far with their 9 month old daughter. There is nothing worse than being stuck in a car for hours with a screaming child (something we had vivid memories of after taking 8 month old baby K to the Mosquito Place the year before). Look - Drey finally gets to move to the back row! He rested easy on this trip because with 2 kids each, he knew that his cousins would finally (mostly) stop teasing him so much.
Last summer we went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Now that the hooligans were older, it was really fun to watch all them play with each other (and occasionally fight with each other. We do after all live 1 house together for a week). That summer we were joined by Uncle George's girlfriend Kyle. Much fun was had by all.
This year we'll be returning to our favorite vacation spot: Hilton Head. We will be short 2 of our happy traveling band as George & Kyle are unable to make it East this year. We'll definitely miss them. Of course, with 4 kids sometimes running in 4 different directions we probably will still manage to have a great (if not entirely relaxing) time.
No comments:
Post a Comment