Family Vacay

We went on our first family vacation this past weekend.  We left thursday afternoon and went up north to my dad's place (we took our camper, our home away from home) for our family reunion and fourth of July celebrations.  It was a lot of fun, but I am glad to be home.  When we got there it was about 9pm so we just visited with my dad and Brenda, gave Emmy a bath and got ready for bed.  We had to bathe her in the kitchen sink since we didn't haul her tub up there, so my dad helped hold her up so she didn't fall back and smack her head.

He talked about that for days afterward, he just thought that was the most fun thing to help give her a bath.  How cute.  What I thought was really cute were her little fat rolls around her tummy.  In her bathtub she lays back a bit, but in the kitchen sink she was sitting up so all her roles piled up.  Too bad fat rolls don't stay cute once you're an adult.

My brother and his wife got there a few hours later.  That night was so cold....it was pretty chilly anyway but we also left the air on too long in the camper.  Brrrrr.  We didn't realize we needed both the propane and electric to run the furnace and it wouldn't stay on with just electric, so we had a cold night.  To make matters worse, we bought a memory foam bed topper since that bed sucks, and it has that cool gel technology which will be nice on hot nights, but it just made it so much colder.  But the next night we got the furnace working and then I was sweating!   So the next morning we all had breakfast and then we went into town because Ryan forgot to pack his running shoes and needed to buy some for his race the next day.  It's a good thing he needed new shoes anyway.  We had lunch while we were out and got some groceries. 

After that Ryan mowed my dad's lawn, because he is weird and wants to work on vacation.  Meanwhile me, my brother and my SIL drove into town and took a bike ride on the new bike path they have.  The full length is 22 miles one way but we weren't up for that, so we did about 14 round trip.  It was fun, it was mostly through woods so it was shaded and had beautiful views of ravines.  I'd like to do it again sometime.  My SIL is pretty new to biking so we had to go pretty slow which was a little annoying but at the same time it was nice to just go for a leisurely ride.

That night we had dinner with my dad and Brenda and then a bunch of our family came over for Ryan's firework show.  It turned out really well, and no injuries!  I joked with my dad that he should go to one of those firework tents, grab some fireworks with his left hand (where he is missing fingers from his accident) and be like "I love fireworks, I hope this year goes better than last".

Saturday was my family reunion.  I tried to get Emily back often enough and I took her inside for an hour nap and rocked her in the recliner, but she was still pretty out of sorts from being overstimulated.  But it's nice to see how many people love her and want to snuggle her.  That night grandpa and grammy watched her so Ryan and I could go out with some of my family for go karts and ice cream, and I bought a really cute Silver Lake sweatshirt.  After that Ryan continued on to go drink in my uncle's garage with a few others, but I went back to snuggle Emily.  She and I went back to the camper, I put her down and then I watched TV in bed.  Haha we're really rustic campers.

All in all it was a great weekend and a great first family vacation.  Unfortunately Emily was too little to really do anything, and spent more time being watched by grandpa and grammy while we went out and did things.  But we had fun, I know they loved watching her and Emmy was snuggled and loved on, so everybody wins.

In other news, a big decision has been made.   I'm quitting my job, I am giving my two weeks notice on Monday.  We've been talking about it for a while, but hadn't really committed to it, but we discussed it seriously and Ryan said I have his blessing.  Now that the plan will be set in motion, it's a little scary.  I've been working for almost 20 years, I just celebrated my 9th anniversary at my job, working is all I know.  And of course, there is some anxiety in the decision.  What if I suddenly don't enjoy being home when I have all the time in the world?  Did I enjoy maternity leave because my time was limited?  Now that I'll get what I always wanted, will I still want it?

What if I cannot get any or enough online teaching jobs....what if I do?  I'm excited to do that, but also a little nervous.  What if I have to go back to work in a year, it will be hard to go back out into the work force after being out for a year.  And then of course there is the guilt.  I feel guilty when I leave her all day, I feel guilty that the house is always a mess and I rarely cook, but on the flip side I feel guilty and I feel like a wimp for wanting to quit.  Plenty of other women work with children at home....women with more hours, longer commutes, more kids.  They somehow make it work, so shouldn't I?  But then I wonder, how many of them would still do it if they didn't have to.

In the past, me not working wouldn't even have been a possibility, but now it is.  I'll bet at least a large percentage of women would not be doing what they are doing if they had the option to do something else.  But despite all the worries and fears, I am very excited.  I'm excited to be home with Emily all day, I'm excited to have time to get things done, and I'm so excited to actually have time and energy to work out and eat better and shop for healthy food and finally get this damn weight under control.

Now to tell my dad....haha.  I mean he knows we've been contemplating it but he doesn't think it is a great idea.  He wants me to do what is best for us and what will make me happy, but he's understandably nervous about it.  Even though I have a baby, I am still his baby.  Though I do feel a little bad about the fact that he won't be able to watch her all week anymore.  I mean ultimiately I am glad because he likely would have had to watch her indefinitely until she goes to kindergarten, and by then it might wear on him, especially when she starts being able to misbehave.  But I know right now he LOVES having her every day, he's always so excited to see her in the morning and he takes her out on all his errands and just loves the attention the two of them get.  So I'm sad that he'll be sad he won't have her anymore.  But, since my schedule will be so wide open we can always go over and visit anytime we want.

And actually if the online teaching takes off, I will still need him to take her at least one day a week so I can get some serious work done, outside of whatever I can get done when she is napping and once Ryan is home.