By Royal Proclamation: Unplugged

We just got back from a relaxing few days on a free vacation.  Oh, those are the best kind, are they not?  We were invited to be families' guests at their timeshare on a lake nearby...for free.  Um, let me think, well, I don't know, ARE YOU SERIOUS?  Of course we said yes and helped with meals and such, but the rest of the stay and most things on site were free including free activities.

As we were getting ready for our trip, Levi made a royal proclamation.  The King says...No Kindles, no DSes, no computers, and phones for emergencies only (he did have to check in with work a couple of times...joys of being the boss).  Yikes!  I knew when he made his proclamation that it was a good one, but part of me was thinking of my sanity.  Selfish, I know, but sometimes I just need a little peace and quiet, and a house full of three kids does not lend itself to peace.  Sometimes, I will put on a movie, or TELL them to go play their video games.  Now before you rail on me, I don't do it all the time and the kids actually have screen time limits for summer and no video games during the week in the school year.

I got to thinking about our typical preparation for vacations.  Charge three Kindle Fires, two DSes, one Leapster, two phones, and one computer...for a weekend getaway.  That is a bit ridiculous.  Okay, I will admit to you that I wasn't exactly enthused about his decision, but stood behind it none the less.  I even stood behind him when he broke it to the kids...smart place to be.  They weren't too thrilled.  We did allow them to bring one movie each because we knew that we would get some rain.  We told them to bring some books and choose some board games.  This seemed to mollify them a bit and they know that once we make a decision then that is that, so they grumbled a bit, but it wasn't that bad.  I suppose since we watched a few movies and some soccer that we weren't 100% unplugged but we watched these things as a family so it was better than sending everyone off on their own devices.

When we arrived and put away our things, we headed off to bed, as it was late.  The next morning we enjoyed putt putt, swimming, and ice cream.  We played games, ate, watched a movie while it rained and then took a hike.  The next day we played tennis, swam, played on the playground, archery, shuffleboard, horseshoes, ate, played some more board games and watched a movie.  The last morning we played tennis again before packing up (they really liked that) and let the kids watch another movie as we cleaned up and got the cars packed. Three movies...I know, but we have three kids with very different tastes (Pirate Fairies and Clone Wars don't mix well) and we had PLENTY of active time in there.  I am pooped.

But a strange thing occurred and I did not realize it until we were on our way home.  NOT ONCE, not once did the kids ask for or complain about their lack of video games.  They even had an arcade there and other than a quick game of free air hockey (from someone who abandoned their game when the kids were checking the arcade out), they didn't ask for quarters or ask to hang out looking at all the games.  It was a pleasant shock to be sure.

This may be the start of a family tradition...VACATIONS...UNPLUGGED.

Here are a few pics:

Sunset over the lake.

Horseshoes...yes, we stink...note the horseshoe outside the wood to the left...yep, that was mine.

It was fun anyway.

Now archery is another story, this was one of mine...I rock, and I am humble too.  

Things got quite competitive on the range.

This is a little toad the kids discovered on the putt putt course.

Little things you wouldn't notice if you don't slow down!

I made my eight year old get my ball:)

Something about being truly present with the ones you love is really special.  

I hope you can UNPLUG AND PLUG IN with your family too!