Back from Vacation

Every time we come back from vacation I feel like I need another vacation to recover from it! And this time is no different. Of course, taking three children and a dog on vacation takes a lot of effort. But it was worth it. We had a great time in Maine staying at the place Jon's parents have up there. Jon spent most of his summers up there growing up so he really loves to take our kids there now. We hope that in the near future we will be able to spend more of our summers up there (Jon would like to go for two months but I think we will only do one) but for now Jon needs to work for summer school and take classes which eat up the first chunk of summer.

We had a great time, swimming and boating almost every day. We spent one day at Santa's Village as well. Jon's parents were up there most of the time and the kids were able to spend a LOT of quality time with Grandma and Pargie. We don't see them as often as we would like becuase we live two hours away from where Jon grew up. So having them be able to be up there for much or our vacation was great as well.

The only reason we were able to manage a week's vacation is becuase Jon's family has a place in Maine. There is no way we could afford to stay in a house with a preschool tuition and Jon going back for his masters degree right now. We are very thankful to have his family camp (not really a camp, a small house but they call it camp) which gave us the opportunity to get away. All it cost us was gas. The food we bought was food we would have bought if we stayed at home. We even added in a few extras- Santa's Village, ice cream cones, a trip to Maine Animal Preservation (which was discounted due to a library pass).

The only downfall to the week was that I experienced a lot of anxiety. I have gone through this after each of my children's birth, but it was exasperated by being out of my comfort zone. I felt bad that it made Jon's vacation less relaxing than it could have been (and that is putting it mildly), but at the same time I don't have a lot of control over it. I tried everything I could to keep it under control, eating healtheir, sleeping when I could, even walking away from ituations that were making me anxious (things that I KNOW are prefectly safe but still make me anxious). I am waiting to see if it gets better now that we are home. If it doesn't I am not sure what my next step will be. After Madeline was born I had post-partum depression and required medication to help me get through it. After Owen I had anxiety and a little depression (is there such thing as a little depression? It was milder than after Madeline was born) that did not require medication.

I'd share the pictures but Jon put them on the computer and I can't find the file he stored them in. When he wakes up I'll bug him into finding them and post them later!

I am still amazed we fit everyone and everything into the car (thanks to the roof storage container Jon's family got us for a new baby gift). And that we remembered to bring everything home with us!