Vacation or Obligation?

Every year, I take the kids on a trip to NJ to visit with family.  Some years this trip has served as our vacation.  The last two years, we have made multiple trips up.  The hubby dreads these trips.  He thinks the kids are bad, he hates staying at a million different houses and mostly just doesn't want to be in NJ. Normally I let him off the hook for at least part of the trip.  This requires begging another family member to drive one part of the 12 hours with me.  I may be crazy but I am not crazy enough to make the drive all alone with kids. 

In April my sister, Cat, had her first baby.  While I have been longing to come for a visit we waited until the baptism to make our trip.  And here we are.  For a long while, I was planning this to be a vacation. By that I mean, I was going to make lots of plans to take the kids to different day trips and places. But the hubby told me going to Disney is cheaper than these NJ vacations we go on.  So...we are going to Disney later in the year. But that is a story for another blog.  Anyhow I was telling my girlfriend all about these trips. You know how each day is reserved for a family member or friend visit.  She told me that I was not going on a vacation, I was going on a trip of obligation.  It never occurred to me in that way before, but she was right. 

So here we are. In NJ. On our obligation trip. Yesterday we visited with my grandmother (GiGi).  What a great visit we had.  Of course, there was the part of the visit where she thought Angel was going to be "sexy" for Halloween. Her hearing isn't all that good and when Angel told her "Jessie" she heard "sexy".  It was funny to say the least. We have the baptism coming up.  And then a day to spend with my girlfriends from growing up (and their kids for those who have them), a dinner with hubby's side of the family, a sleepover with the "girls", and a dinner with the rest of the high school clan.

Even though this is a trip of obligation, it is one obligation I am so happy I have!