As my hubby noted, we vacationed in San Diego last week.  It was a fun time together as a family, but it wasn’t without meltdowns, complaints, bad attitudes, etc.  There were a few moments where I wondered, “How is this a vacation when I’m trying to give the kids lots of fun but they respond with meltdowns and complaints?”

I learned long ago that family vacation doesn’t really mean a complete vacation because we still have to wear our parenting caps, even on vacation.  So, how can one have a nice family vacation without having to deal with continuous meltdowns and complaints?

From experience we know what works for our family and how much the children can handle life outside of their home routines.  When we’re on vacation, we don’t pack our schedule with back-to-back activities because that’s a recipe for disaster.  Rather, we have one “on” day and one “off” day schedule.  We spent an entire day at Legoland and the following day, we took it easy and hung out at the hotel pool.  After a long full day at Legoland, the kids need a break whether they know it or not.  They need to catch up on sleep in order to maintain their homeostasis.

Legoland was an all-day affair.  On our second visit there, in spite of having taken two days of “downtime” at the hotel, the kids were nevertheless beginning to show signs of missing their regular routine.  By mid-day, two of the kids had a conniption over nothing.  We knew their behavior was due to having missed their naps.  But their behavior was still unacceptable.  They were disciplined for their behavior and afterward we had them sit in the stroller to sleep.  Unsurprisingly, they went to sleep almost immediately.  For some, putting the kids in a stroller to sleep seem waste of money because after all, they just spent lots of moeny on a theme park.  To have the kids miss out on rides and activities seem a waste of money and time.  As for us, we’d rather have sane kids over over-stimulated or over-tired kids.  How much fun are they truly having if they’re exhausted?  I doubt they’re having that much fun.  And neither are we.

I believe that parents exasperate their kids — in disobedience to God’s Word — if they keep on pressing on to give their children as much fun as possible even though they know their children are exhausted and melting down.  We have to consider our children’s needs first.  Even though we may feel compelled to get the biggest bang for the buck at an expensive theme park, our children’s needs come first.  Even when the children acted out, we shouldn’t make excuses for them.  We need to deal with their behavior immediately and appropriately.  Of course, there’s a fine tender balance.  They are tired so their self-control is out of the window, and we need to be especially tender and careful in addressing their issues.

Another nugget of wisdom we found was that the right amount of time to be on vacation is approximately one week.  Any time longer than that, the kids get antsy and start to act out more than usual.  One week is just right because it gives us enough time to do what we want to do, but not too long so that we feel we’re simply tired of our vacation destination.

Lois was making calzones in the kitchen.  From scratch.

She stepped away for “just a moment” to change baby’s diaper.

She came back to the below… well sorta.  The following was taken after the children were properly chastened, but not before removing the evidence of their actions.

Well, we’re back home now, with a full 24 hours since we got home from San Diego.  Six days of fun, sun, and a little bit of sleep.

It was a terrific vacation, all things considered, including two 12 hour drives to and from our destination.  We enjoyed 2 full days of fun at Legoland California as well as good times with our friends who helped to secure our 2BR/2BA housing accomodations through their timeshare.  We got to celebrate a child’s birthday, and that with a first-time-meeting-in-person family of eight that we’d met over the blogosphere.  We were privileged to meet up with old friends, worshipping with their new church family, Grace Bible Church, the day after we arrived in San Diego.  And what Ding family trip wouldn’t be complete without multiple trips to Costco, Target, and our favorite (and not locally available) fast food joint, Chick-Fil-A!

As for Lois and me, we were perhaps a bit unrealistic in our hopes for ourselves.  We packed 6 different books, hoping to get some reading time in.  Alas, as usual, parents are never truly on vacation.  We didn’t get to go out on our anniversary (which lands on the same date as the aforementioned birthday).  And somehow, mysteriously, our camera disappeared en route from our hotel to dinner at a friends’ place.  Thankfully, we were able to pick up a new one at the nearby Costco, while still mourning the loss of the old one, so we could continue photo-documenting our trip.

But all told, our worst fears weren’t realized (unending crying on the long drive, losing a child in the amusement park, etc.) and new fond memories were made.  Here are a few photos recording those memories…

Kids in the van, still in their jammies, and cheerful in spite of being awoken at 5am to begin the long drive down (maybe it’s the sugary snacks we rationed out every hour or two to help keep them looking forward to something positive!):

300+ miles later, we realized our van was badly overdue an oil change.  So we stopped at a quick-lube joint and were served “with excellence, humbly, with a servant’s heart.”  Hmmm, I think I’ve heard those expressions somewhere before.

As you might expect, Legoland CA was the highlight of our trip.  In fact, it was the main reason we chose this destination, as the park was hosting the last of its “homeschool” days which provided admission at a greatly reduced price.  At the end of our first day, though, we felt as if we’d barely covered a fraction of the park… and then discovered for a mere $15/person we could purchase tickets for a second visit (within 9 days).  And so we did so, and went back again a couple of days later.  Here are some photos from our Legoland visits.

Kids modeling with Bob the Builder (made of Legos, as much of the park’s features are):

Kids checking out a model of the White House in the “Miniland USA” feature at the park:

… and standing in front of the Luxor Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip:

“Hey that looks familiar!” as they look onto a Lego-art wall mural:

The kids got to do a bit of driving themselves…

… and I even got to be in one of our hundreds of photos, with my lovely wife…

Calissa (at right), had some precious time with her friend Mercy, who was born just two days after her:

I think we were hoping to get smarter by standing under the huge Lego sculpture of Albert Einstein:

And we enjoyed some rides as well…

What photo montage would be complete without our now traditional “make a monster face” pose?

Of course, with five kids ages 7 and under, many trips were made to certain facilities…

The closing act was a great time at the water play area…

And to prove we were all there at once…

One planned visit that turned out wonderfully was meeting a previously online-only acquaintance, the Fisher family, who live in the San Diego area.  We got to celebrate Calissa’s third birthday, enjoy some loving hospitality, and talk theology all at once.  Here’s a photo of the kids (9 out of a grand total of 11) together at the dinner table, making (of course) monster faces:

“Fishmama” and Lois together:

Other highlights of our trip included three (!) trips to Chick-Fil-A for delicious nuggets, hanging out in the hotel room and by the pool, “hotel schooling,” and yet another long but enjoyable drive home during which we listened to an entire audiobook presentation of The Wizard of Oz.

Enjoying lollipops at the halfway point of Kettleman City on the way home:

The sunset as we approached Los Banos on the way home:

Approaching Gilroy, the kids had endured/behaved so well on the long drive, we decided to reward them with some simple toys from Wal*Mart:

Wow.  We may not do it again soon… but we would most certainly love to do it again!

When our oldest was a year old we took him to Hawaii for vacation.  We thought it was going to be a real vacation, but we quickly learned that even though we were in paradise, it was NOT a real vacation with a toddler in tow.  We still had to parent, stick to his nap schedule, and take care of his needs.  What a surprise to us then.

Now that we’re a homeschooling family, I learned yet another lesson.  Just because we’re on vacation, it doesn’t mean school stops.  While packing for our trip to San Diego, my sons reminded me to pack their school work, and of course I happily obliged.  I was not sure whether we were able to do any school while in San Diego, but again, I was proven wrong.

This morning while waiting for our baby to wake up so we could go out and see San Diego, I did a writing lesson with my oldest.  After which, my second oldest demanded that I do “school” with him too.  I’m so amused by these two boys.  Do they not know that we’re on vacation?  Of course they do, but school still goes on in their minds — it’s simply part of life, and not in a rote or boring way.  I’m just so delighted that they love to learn.

We spent one full day at Legoland yesterday and oh boy, was it exhausting for us adults!  The kids still had energy to go on and on despite lack of naps.  They certainly exerted lots of physical energy in running and  playing.  With so much physical energy spent, their little minds need some mental exercises as well, and this is why I believe doing school work with them while on vacation is beneficial.  Both physical and mental activities satisfy their hunger.  I really love homeschooling.  Or should I say “hotel schooling?”  It’s really an awesome way to teach  and satisfy the kids’ mental hunger.

Please note that I didn’t bring ALL of their school work.  We’re on a reduced school load while on vacation.  After all, this mama needs a vacation too.

Here are the boys “doing school”:

Recently I had an interesting conversation with my almost three-year-old daughter.

Seeing how cute she is, I asked, “Calissa, where did I get a cute girl like you?” (Note: I was not expecting an answer)

Calissa: “God.”

Me:  “God?  Did you say God?”

Calissa: “Yeah, God made me.”

We’re gearing up for the summer and to be out in the sun.  I made sun hats for the kids with extra wide brim so they’re protected against the sun.

Here are my models showing off their new sun hats:

Do you casually say “I will pray for you” when someone just shared a struggle or a trial with you?  You want to comfort them so you promise to pray for them, which is a good thing.  However, do we merely say it because it sounds right?  It sounds quite spiritual as well.

But in actuality, do you pray like you said you would?  Too often we make the promise too casually and forget to pray.  I admit that I’ve been guilty of this in the past.  We need to be reminded that a promise is a promise and we need to be true to our words.  The recipient of the promise may not know whether you prayed or not, but God does.  Nowadays when I say “I will pray for you,” I really do make a point to pray.

Let’s make sure our offers to pray are not mere “words” of false comfort, but a promise to offer up intercessions on others’ behalf to the King of all creation.