Summer Vacay 2023

I did it again; I prioritized day to day life over planning a summer vacation! I swore not to do this again and have reminded myself of the importance of summer vacations. But alas, I just got caught up in life. I’ll offer feeble attempts at excuses but there are none really.

Our rental property business, while thriving, is going through some transition this summer. We sold one of our assets, closing in mid-May and also had two empty units early in the summer. Also had a couple of lease renewals this summer which takes a little prior coordination to execute. Bottom line, a little busier than usual tending to our rental property side hustle.

While my day job is not terribly demanding, it seems like this summer is shaping up to be a little busier than usual. I’ve got a great boss who would still gladly let me take some time off but I just didn’t ask.

Most of our potential summer vacation conflicts came on the home front. I shared recently that we required our oldest son to get a job when he came home from college for the summer. He dutifully complied! He’s working five days a week since getting home in early May.  Of course, he could probably take a week off without much trouble, but I think he’s still hesitant to ask as a new worker. Also, he is exploring the purchase of a new car. I must admit, I do enjoy car shopping with him!

Our youngest son, a rising high school junior, enrolled for summer college classes! How cool is that? The way his high school does “dual enrollment” as they call it will give hive him a great GPA boost. More importantly, he will graduate high school in a couple of years almost a college junior! Very proud of his ambition and diligence.

Lastly, there is just a general sense of apathy about vacations, in all of us. No one really seems excited to pack up and go anywhere! Not sure where this came from. We traveled a lot when the kids were younger but in my humble opinion not enough to warrant a “been there done that” attitude.

Due to all the aforementioned variables, I just didn’t prioritize planning for a week-long vacation wedged into the middle of a hectic summer. Now it’s probably too late to plan anything substantial. Not a good excuse at all. We will still take some weekend getaways, but that’s no replacement for the good old fashioned family summer vacation that I’ve blogged about in the past.

I know time is running out on summer vacation opportunities with the family.  The time will come sooner than I’d like to admit when the boys just won’t be interested in traveling with mom and dad anymore. Worse yet, I’m seeing my sons displaying some of my traits that probably aren’t the best; prioritizing work and school above taking time to travel as a family.

How do I get our family back on track in the vacation area? Well, I guess I don’t know for certain. Regardless, I know the buck stops here with me as the designated travel planner of the family.

I’ve pulsed the family and they seem interested to go back to Korea soon to visit our extended family there.  We usually go in the summer but may consider an old-fashioned Korean Christmas this winter. We’ll see how that materializes.

Until then we’ll just have to maximize our family time over the weekend trips, family meals and passing conversations in the kitchen. I suppose we are not terribly different from most modern families. I suspect I’m not the only one struggling with this dynamic. Maybe summers just aren’t the same as I remember growing up or even just a few short years ago.

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