We started our family vacation trip adventures last April. We had always gone away with extended family up until that time. And we still do, but last April we went to Washington, D.C. on our first trip as a threesome. From there we hit Boston last Labor Day. This trip was to Montreal.
My spouse and I had traveled to Europe on average 2x a year before our son was born. We did it all as far as we are concerned. We are happy to go on vacation with the main purpose of introducing the world to our son. Watching his happiness is our joy. That sounds corny, but it is our truth. We had 11 years together before our son was born, we did all we needed to do travel wise by that point.
Also, every trip is a new experience because our son is at a different stage of development each time. This trip he was 9. The last one with just us 3, he was 8. And we don’t vacation, we travel. We have been showing our son the major cities of North America, and that means a lot of walking, not laying on a beach. This is a habit he will get from us. This was how we traveled before our son was born, we would land in Italy and walk so much, no matter how much we ate, and we ate constantly, we still lost weight!
Additionally, all of our moods are much more relaxed when we travel and it shows. As I shared on FB, I don’t love my son more on vacation, there is just less distraction so we can be more lovey dovey. We are a tight knit family unit, so this works out well, and adds to our enjoyment!
And it seems we are raising a shopaholic who has a new favorite activity of stopping in as many kitschy tourist shops as possible! He bought a Daniel Boone type hat this trip that he would not take off. He saw it in 1 store and knew he had to have it, I did not hear the end of it until I bought it for him. And he thanked us profusely. I am glad that he appreciates when we spend our money on souvenirs.
He is so much fun to watch, he noticed that we were over charged on beverages at one restaurant, and he then said something to the waitress. He asked a lot of questions this trip, it is a pleasure watching him become a man of the world!
Speaking of restaurants, we do not eat out when we are on vacation, we have adventures. I don’t go into detail in the blog post, but we engage waiters and waitresses, in all languages, and we banter about. We have a wonderful time. And in turn, the service staff enjoy dealing with us. That is how we enjoy life out!
Back to our son, the comedian. He has us in stitches throughout the day. He makes a prefect addition to our travel club, he fits right in with us and the adventures that open up before us. Here he is engaged by a Montreal street performer. He loves the attention, he loves to ham it up, can you guess which dad he takes after?
DAY 1
We arrived in Montreal Wednesday early afternoon and we hit the ground running. What that really means is we went right to Chinatown and tried Canadian Chinese food. We wanted to make sure it was just as good as in the States!
We found our son checking out every souvenir shop in site, I don’t know where he gets this from, although we did spend the rest of the day at the local department stores! After all, we had to see what different merchandise was carried in Montreal! This was the first souvenir, a must have ring in Chinatown!
As a side note, I had some duck confit for dinner. There were a number of French foods on my list to enjoy while in Montreal, this was the first! I would like to note that when we followed the guide book’s recommendations, we felt we had better meals. That’s just our side of the story.
I love the fact that you can wake up at home and then have a good half a day in another city. I feel like the vacation starts right away. Somehow on the reverse end, the travel day home always seems to take forever, but as my sister-in-law taught me, as long as you acknowledge that, you can be at peace with it! Just a little travel tip that helps me keep my head on straight!
More later….
Disclosure: We received a museum pass and a hotel discount in Montreal. All opinions are always 100% our own and honest.
hcl says
I LOVE Montreal!!! When my little guy was an infant..I had a job that took me there 2 days a week. I miss going there!! I would have come on your vacation in a heartbeat! LOL…
xoxo
hcl
hcl says
I LOVE Montreal!!! When my little guy was an infant..I had a job that took me there 2 days a week. I miss going there!! I would have come on your vacation in a heartbeat! LOL…
How’d you like the traffic?”
xoxo
hcl