lessons I learned on vacation

Vacation is as good a time as any to learn some life lessons.

Here are some of the lessons I learned.  Some practical, some deep, some silly.

1) Unmet expectations are like poison.  They can ruin everything thing you do.

2) It can and does rain in the Caribbean, even when people have paid money to go on a sunny vacation.

3) People who set themselves up to enjoy everything do enjoy everything.  People who have a list of expectations are always disappointed.  I’m regrettably often in the latter group.

4) You can let go of expectations and choose to enjoy yourself.

5) I’m not yet able to put an adequate lesson description to the experience of reading “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered,” from Romans 8, while experiencing incredible luxury and lack of want on a cruise ship.  (I think the lesson should probably be that the dichotomy exists everyday, but I fail to feel it as I should).

6) I learned that I live in a bubble.  A family with 5 kids seems average size to me.  When strangers discovered I was expecting my 4th child, they seemed to think that was anything but average.

7) Sweet fellowship with the family of God (via total strangers) exists on a cruise ship.

8) If your refrigerator has a recall on it, get it taken care of before leaving for vacation, or you may come home to a warm fridge/freezer.

9) Having your fridge/freezer break in the cold Minnesota winter is much better than having it break in the summer.

10) Swimming in the ocean during a downpour and stormy sea is very exciting, until you get knocked over by a wave and sprain your hand.  Then it doesn’t seem worth it.  (Sorry Tom).

11) Our kids are a blast to have around.  I laugh a lot because of them.  When we’re gone from them, I miss that.

12) They don’t miss me as much as I miss them.  This will probably be true for the rest of my life.

13) There is no one I’d rather go on a cruise with than Mr. Tommy D.  He was the sunshine of our trip.  I love him a million times more now than I did 90+ months ago when we got married.  Spending 10 hours at the airport with him was pure fun.

What have you learned on vacation?

a great vacation and lots of pics

We recently vacationed for three nights and four days up at MN’s beautiful North Shore!  We stayed in Lutsen and had the best time!  (Doing my best not to sound like a travel brochure and failing miserably..)

Our first stop on the four hour drive North was in Duluth at the Amazing Grace Cafe.  It was awesome!  Bread sliced an inch and a half thick.  Hard to find though.. a bit of a hole in the wall.  But packed, so obviously word gets around.

Traveling is hard work and the kids were asleep in no time.  I took the obligatory pic of the kids sleeping sweetly next to one another, so that, if ever they don’t like each other very much we can look back and say, “Ah, remember the days..”

The next day we made a stop at a park with a swing set right off of Lake Superior (which I think should be called Superior Sea.. nothing “lake” about it).  The wind was blowing and the waves were high.

Here’s the lodge of the place we stayed.  We were in a town home just a short walk from here with beautiful views of Lake Superior.  We could walk right down to the shore.

Is there anything better than kids climbing on rocks?  For them, I mean.. for me, it was slightly worrisome with so much cold water around to fall into.  I did a lot of hanging on to the back of jackets and trying to keep feet dry!  Seth was pretending to take a rock nap.

The trip was made complete having my mom and dad and Aunt Julie join us.  Way too much fun.

Yep, she’s as high up as she looks and laughing to boot.

Here’s Eliza by what I called the tumor tree.  Strange isn’t it?

Now here was my favorite stop of the whole trip.  The World’s Best Doughnut Shop.  They aren’t kidding.  I could have spent a few more hours at this ridiculously small doughnut heaven.

Snow on our fourth and final day up North.  It was perfect.

We took a gondola ride up Lutsen Mountain.  Very cold, but great views and lots of people to wave at along the way.

The one and only picture of Tom and me from the trip!  A stunning self-portrait!

Well, that’s it!  We will definitely be going back in years to come.  It was about as perfect a vacation as we could’ve asked for! We enjoyed God’s creation in beauty and hiking and eating and playing and people!