Activities & Adventure

Quite often when we travel as a family we have a well researched, planned activity scheduled at some point during the week. Like when we went to the Bahamas we paid to splash around and kiss dolphins. I would be wrong if I called it "swim with the dolphins." That would make it seem much more glamourous. This was a controlled encounter with dolphins, perfect for young kids. That was in the Bahamas and we loved it, and of course, we paid for the overpriced tourist photos.

When we went to Maui, I organized a private surf lesson for our family. It was my Christmas gift to everyone. That was a blast. We all rode the waves and thought we were rockstars. Again, I bought the touristy photos. But doesn't my boy look like he was born to surf? Takes after his mama!

We have had the character breakfasts at Disney World and panned for gold in Alaska. When we were planning a the trip to the Turks and Caicos I was really tired. I was out of planning energy. I could hardly lift a finger to research any more beyond studying our resort. I thought, perhaps, I would consider planning an excursion once we arrived on the island. 

Instead of pushing for another adventure or splurging on a once-in-a-lifetime activity we all agreed to just chill. And holy heaven that was nice! No praying for good weather on our whale watching or rushing to catch a charter just to stand in line. No $200 photo package to purchase. Instead we simply walked on the beach, played on the beach, swam in the pool and generally just lounged around like lizards. Lounge lizards! And we all loved it. 

I'll admit, there were times before the trip that I worried the kids would be bored. When we arrived I worried that they were going to be expecting something magical... another one of mom's fun travel surprises. But rather, they surprised me. They went all old school.... sandcastles, imagination activities, physical fun (swimming/running/jumping/diving/walks) mixed in with some cards, some reading and a couple ipod games. Oh, and "Jimmy" aka Mr. Crabs, the hermit crab they found. He was 3 hours of fun for sure! They kept building him new fortresses and making sandcastles to contain him. They had fun.... without me ever having to plan it, pay for it, or buy the photo package. Ahhhh. Score one for true relaxation! 

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I've finally joined Twitter. I basically plan to use it to tweet travel tips, and bargains that I spy. If you are at all interested, please follow me.   @cdntripseeker    But be prepared for a few tweets about hockey. I'm a hard core hockey fan. And I likely will gush about my new favourite tv show Dallas, from time to time. JR Ewing is mixin' it up again and you won't want to miss that new John Ross.   Hey, maybe I should plan a trip to the Lonestar state?