It was pushing 11 months since I had taken a full week of holidays before escaping the office last week for a little R and R.
Traditionally, of course R and R has stood for ‘Rest and Relaxation.’ But when you have two kids under six and a week fairly jammed with activities based around them, perhaps ‘Running and Rushing’ would be more appropriate. ‘Ripping and Racing,’ maybe?
Regardless, here I sit back at my post on Monday morning, attempting to ‘Restore and Reboot’ (last one, I promise) a brain that hasn’t had to assemble anything longer than a 20-word text message in the past seven-plus days in terms of writing. It may not seem like a significant time away, but the brain is still a muscle and it needs regular exercise to operate at something resembling peak efficiency.
Reflecting on the week that was, it was a good one away – albeit fairly hectic. Mind you, there was some semi-relaxing downtime sprinkled in there for good measure. But as I mentioned previously, two young kids generally want maximum action, and you better be prepared to deliver on a full week outside of a regular routine. As I’ve commented countless times in the past, I see why people have kids in their twenties opposed to the thirties.
We started out with a couple days at a family member’s casa in Waterdown, using it as a launching point for a day trip into Toronto and Ripley’s Aquarium last Tuesday. We also spent a good chunk of time in said family member’s pool, seeing how swimming has become Finn and Piper’s primary activity during the warmer months. Fine by me; at least they’re outside and getting exercise.
The aquarium went over very well with the tykes and we managed to manoeuvre it without losing either of them along the way through the throngs of people there. I even accomplished my good deed for that day by helping out a young fella who had been separated from his parents inside. I could sympathize, as I was also a wanderer at that age; I still have a fairly vivid memory of getting lost in a Niagara Falls mall during a family vaycay when I was six or seven. A very nice woman at a perfume stand got on the PA and had my folks wrangled in short order. Just paying forward the good deed three decades later. “What comes around is all around,” as Ricky from Trailer Park Boys is fond of saying.
Most that know me personally no doubt know that I enjoy a good ruse. This one was actually my wife’s concoction. After leaving Waterdown Wednesday morning, we told the kids that we were just heading home. Finn, a little bit sulky and already suffering from pool withdrawal, asked if we could go swimming at a friend’s house that afternoon. “Well, we’ll certainly look into, bud.” It’s not overly hard to lay down a deception when the two in the back have absolutely no sense of direction.
And so instead of heading northwest we hopped onto the QEW and headed south to Niagara Falls and the infamous Great Wolf Lodge, home of one of the craziest indoor waterparks going. Upon arriving and parking, Finn astutely commented, “This isn’t home.” Nicole told him this would be our home for the next day. He wasn’t impressed. Until he saw that waterpark, that is.
So after countless water slides, pools and all things heavily chlorinated we managed to escape southern Ontario without incident, and with plenty of good memories to boot. I even managed to get in nine holes on Friday before the next big undertaking, Finn’s sixth birthday. A few days ahead of the actual mark, my wife and I apparently are gluttons for punishment, and we loaded up six tykes for a day at the FunworX play centre in Kitchener. His choice, obviously. As I commented to another parent there, it’s amazing how a kid’s version of heaven could easily be described as hell for the attending adult. Chaos times six.
We were lucky, our kids and the four others that came to the party were fairly well behaved. Still stressful, but it could have been much worse. We utilized Sunday to do as little as possible. But again, with young kids, that still equates to quite a lot despite just bumming around the house on a rainy afternoon.
I was asked by one of my co-workers on Monday morning how the holidays went, to which I quickly answered, ‘very well.’ Absolutely the truth. Although I couldn’t help but adding that there was little question that I worked harder last week than I ever would have had to at the office.
We will be beach bound for our next week of holidays in August. This promises to be much more low key, when that old R and R adage might actually fit the mould to which it was intended. On second thought, I maybe wouldn’t quite bank on that.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you back here in a fortnight.
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This is a bi-weekly opinion column; for question or comment contact Dan McNee at dmcnee@midwesternnewspapers.com.
