I just got back from a weekend away at the family cabin, and 3 hour drive back with my mom and sweetly annoying child in the backseat. We had a relatively good weekend, minus much fuss about my son’s wounded elbow and whether he would need to go to the doctor to check his infection, and the comments about how my poor child would be getting a bladder infection because I forgot to take him to the bathroom when we made a snack stop. Compared to past grandcation related trips, this was a joy!

It always seems like such a great, logical idea before you embark on your trip…. I should probably have my head examined because I’m in the midst of planning a double grandcation right now (i.e. my parents and my inlaws)!

One more thing – I just have to say that pic is so funny. Love the grandpa doing a duck walk – he definitely gives the impression (most likely false) that he is fully capable of dealing with a good ole diaper blowout.

Oy! I think I just wet myself laughing. I especially appreciate the bit about people making noise during naps – one Thanksgiving a great uncle who is deaf as a post repeatedly slammed the door to his bedroom, which was next to the one where my son was “sleeping.”

OK, here’s my horror story: Me, husband, two children (both under five), stepmother, father, stepmother’s mother and father – all at a beach house for a week. Two sets of steep stairs. Father shows up desperately ill, a virus he passes on to oldest child who ends up in emergency room getting blood drawn from a woman who can’t figure out where to stick the needle. Great grandmother’s back seizes up and she is loopy on vicodin the entire time. Dinner is served at 7:30, which is usually bedtime since children are up at 5:30. Spouse and I pass each other in the hall occasionally and give each other loving pats on the back. Car is full of sand when we return home.

Does this make you run screaming into the night?

Oh my gosh. This was hilarious and so right on.

I wish I could share my own stories but I have repressed the memories. It’s the only way I could agree to visiting at the holidays. =)

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I love traveling with my mother or mother in law. Or, maybe that’s it! Grand estrogen only. Both are divorced, and their exes (my father and spouse’s father) don’t really travel. But we’ve done Hawaii and Mexico w/ grandma in tow, and it rocks. She really does babysit. She plays with the kids. My MIL is the one to get in the waves and boogie board; my mom plays endless games of crazy eights. Hubby and I go hike, out to dinner, etc. Bliss.

Ha ha! Great post. I LOVE that photo of Sulky Boy. If I ever tried to take a picture of my kids when they’re in moods like that, it would be like the arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Kara, would your mother or MIL like to take a vacation with my family?

Note to Kara: have you thought about renting them out?

Actually I have also traveled a lot with my in-laws and they are awesome. However I DO find I drink A LOT more when I am with them.

You are too funny! I could relate hence this year we plan our own family vacation in tow. We did several trips with them before we learned our lessons. We took them to Thailand with us, Disney Cruise and Disney World several times. Each times, I promise myself that this is it.. :)

So funny. My mom and dad are building their new dream home. There’s almost a bedroom for every family and a loft to put all the kids in. My siblings and I laugh our heads off at the idea of all the cousins sleeping together in the loft — that’s going to work (*switching to sarcasm here*) sooooo well.

Hilarious. And, sadly, all too true. Especially the two-hour meals at fancy restaurants. Grandma likes these endless dinners because she’s not the one wrangling kids throughout the meal, chasing them around the restaurant, trying to keep them occupied with crayons and paper, threatening to strap them to their seats with a belt, trying to get the server to bring paper napkins rather than cloth, reaching every five seconds to move a glass back from the edge of the table, to snatch away knives and forks, to keep the centerpiece candle from getting blown out, to wipe tomato sauce off mouths and shirts and pants . . . . And then Grandma wants to go out for a fancy dinner AGAIN just a couple of weeks later! Torture.

Jamie, you outdid yourself on this one – this has to be one of the best blogs I’ve every read. Love it!!

Carolina: That does sound sort of painless. What’s the catch?

Kristy: A DOUBLE grandcation??!! Where are my smelling salts?

Mara: You win. Did you consider pilfering GG’s Vicodin?

Kara: Lucky dog. The babysitting? The card games? Priceless. They don’t call it “crazy eights” for nothing, after all.

Amy: Never say never. Or actually, maybe you should.

Jennie C: Good luck with the cousinly dormitory of doom–you’re going to need it. I have a picture taken last summer in which my nephew actually appears to be levitating in the “bunkroom”.

Wendy: I pretty much need to breathe into a paper bag just reading about your dinners out with Grandma.

Beth: Hugs!

As long as the grandkids treat my horses the way they are supposed to, dont play those silly hand held games, and help clean up around camp they are welcome. Any fits, complaints, or refusals to eat are ignored.

Look what I get for taking the weekend off: I missed this!!

This is hilarious and spot on.
But, I have to say, I’ve had three multi-generational vacations over the past couple of years (Portugal, Cyprus, Italy) and they all worked out tremendously. (You can read about the Italian one here: http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/blogs/wandermom/2008/09/09/family-reunion-in-tuscany/.

The trick? We didn’t all try to pile into one house or condo. Been there, done that, it doesn’t work. Finding accommodation where you can be ‘just-next-door’ works much better – with grandparents, siblings and cousins.

“Relax! It’s not bothering us.”

OMG. That almost made me pee.

We TOO will be taking Grandma with us on vacation! I had no idea it was so popular. Fortunately, my MIL actually does like to babysit, so that’ll be nice in the evenings if we want to go have a cocktail or go to the spa or something. We’re going to Maui, and just got her a separate room. She can also help us on the plane and at the airport. Kind of expensive, but worth it when you have a toddler. I’m hoping it works well, then next time we’ll venture further, maybe to Italy, and maybe bring more family members? But everyone HAS to have their own hotel room so we can get out of each others hair.

After two years of nightmare grandcations we opted to head for the beach with just Me, my wife and kids. It was awesome. We did what we felt like doing and didn’t have to pose for one stinking photo that we’ll never look at again. Oh and my brother-in-laws bratty son didn’t terrorize my kids the whole time. Do yourself a favor and vacation with just your family. We are usually so busy and the time together was a great treasure and we all had a blast.

I love this! I have never been on a Grandcation – though there is a Canada fishing trip in the works for the future. We do visit them for two weeks at a time, and things go pretty well. Our horror story – it’s actually my husband’s and MIL’s. The two of them volunteered to babysit while my two SILs and I went to lunch. Eight kids – 10,8,7,4,3,3,2,1. My SILs and I had a great time, ended up spending the whole afternoon together. But I doubt we will EVER get that opportunity again. :) And my son now refers to his one little cousin as “the naked one.”

No grandcations for us, thank you very much. We can barely survive the visits (and I rather liked it when we lived 7,000 miles away…) But that’s sad actually — I hope when my kids have kids they don’t feel the same way…

O.k……generations apart…as in ora-gel and fasteeth, depends and diapers, bengay & butt-paste…ok. well those two are similiar. The point is, your taking care of yourself, your children, and them. Don’t do it till you have too. I mean if you can’t afford a sitter for your kids don’t relie on old people. Stay home and get some rest. Their old! Let them be old! You’ve got enough to take care of.
Of course, I do have a built in excuse…I’m the mother of two sets of twins and even Grandparents run from my family.

My 18 month old and I went on a Cruise to Mexico with my Parents, Brother and his family, my Grandmother, and my Mom’s sister. A total of 12 family memebers all with in a few rooms of each other.

I had to pay a full price ticket for my daughter, so that set me back $2000 for her and I combined in one room. She was still in diapers at the time, so this disqualified her for being in the Play-Area without direct supervision.

But that’s $2000 for everything, mind you; entertainment, food, lodging, transportation into ports and back . . . for both of us. With my family so close and all of us on different schedules (some go to bed early, others stay up late) I thought, there would be plenty of time for my daughter to be with Grandma or Great Grandma or even her Aunt or Uncle. This would give me a chance to really enjoy some aspectics of the ship I may not usually get to enjoy, like the Casino, or sitting down in a lounge to listen to the live band . . .

Mmm Hmm! As it would naturally go, my parents refused to take my daughter any evening, they had paid $3000 for a chance to be able to spend time alone. My brother and sister-in-law?? Same story.

My Aunt was so against the idea of having a baby in her room, that my Grandma felt compelled to decline any requests to watch my daughter.

I spent $2000 for a room that my daughter and I spent most of our time in. We rarely went to the pool, she doesn’t like splashers; the formal dinners were a pure nightmare with her and lack of attention span (she was just a baby); and other than being in the room, we played on the stairs where mommy could look up every now and then and window shop. . . closest I came to purchasing a souvenior is when she ran into the boutique and fell onto a rack and nearly broke the glasses on it, thankfully the employee had as yet to re-stock the nearly sold out shelf.

I will NEVER vacation with my family under the assumption that they will assist me. Especially when I am dropping a few pretty pennies just to go.

I just have to say I did live with my in-laws from the time I had my 1st on 04 tell my 2ed was 6 months and I know how that goes I could not wate to get out and now when I go over we have NOTHING to talk about but the kids lol

Every fall we Grandcation with my in-laws. You were right when you said, Have another glass (or bottle) of wine. I would be laughing if I wasn’t crying from the memories.

I loved this. So funny. We actually travel with either extended family on a regular basis, but both my husband and I come from families who like to stay in in the evening so it works. well. Because I never take my children to nice restaurants and eating out more than once a day with them would be more than I could handle…so kitchenette and babysitting grandparents it is!

Thanks so much for linking today!

2 hours to decide what to do that day–too true!!
It’s actually my mother who makes the daily trip to the grocery store, takes about 1.5 hrs each time. “Glad to see you too”.
Amazing combo of the 2 happened when we were there over Valentine’s Day and I brought along heart-shaped pasta. They had made dinner reservations, so I suggested pasta salad for lunch. We spent at least 2 days answering questions about what we like in pasta salad (generally with “sure, sounds great”) and she STILL had to call from the store.
Where’s the wine?
Denise, I heard you about the non-helpful family! My sister and her family refused to answer phones in their unit until they had fully planned out their day. And I killed my schedule to go with them!

Hmm. Your idea for the ‘family vacation’ was to use the grandparents as babysitters, and they didn’t perform up to your ideals? Boo hoo! Maybe they had some wacky idea that they wanted to relax and have some fun on THEIR vacation (unless you paid for the g’parents’ airfare). Grow up and hire a babysitter. Then maybe everyone will have a good time.

Super funny as always! I’ve done this a couple of times and it was alright. I think a cruise would be the best multi-generational trip.

@Lol, sounds like your anger might be misplaced, maybe you should redirect it to whichever of your kids pissed you off :).

HILARIOUS POST!!!!!!!! I am about to take my mom with me on a 8 hour drive to a friend’s wedding that me and my children are in. I smell a sitcom…….

You could have been writing about my parents! Too funny. But we love them anyway …

My husband and I travel with married children, spouses, and assorted grandkids on annual vacations at least once a year to places like South America, National Parks, cruises, etc. We all have a ball, and we all part from each other happy and vowing to do it again. Perhaps it’s because my sons married lovely , unselfish, and delightful women, and my daughter married a great guy. Also, all 7 of our grandchildren are fun-loving, unspoiled, good sports. Everybody pitches in and everybody has a great time bonding together. That’s what it’s all about, and the main reason we do it. I save the wonderful thank-you letters I get after each trip. Did it ever occur to any of you complaining bloggers that there could be something wrong with YOU, and that you need to adjust your expectations?????

@Nana Hmmmm, sounds like you hit the daughter-in-law jackpot. And ALL SEVEN of your grandchildren are fun-loving, unspoiled, good sports? Truly, you are beating the odds.