Chaos, driving, and the Beach

With 6 children, there is a level of chaos that exists in our world whether we are on vacation or not. That can be frustrating at times because in my mind, I just want to relax. Children still have to be fed and bathed, clothes washed, floors swept, etc. For the first few days, these kids were waking up at 5:00 in the morning. I was not getting enough sleep. Thankfully they have settled into their new surroundings and we are able to sleep in a little more. When I post pictures of our day, you usually don't see all the work that went into getting to the beach.

Friday was one of those days. The morning was awful. At any given time at least 3 kids were crying and wailing. That one sends me over the edge. The incessant, unrelenting crying makes me want to escape really fast until all the noise is gone. Everyone has to be fed breakfast and lunches have to be packed for the beach. I have about 300 distractions during the process of packing lunches. As a result, we got to the beach without complete lunches. Cody was missing a sandwich, Sam was missing chips, and all around I didn't pack enough. We improvised and made it work. It took us an hour to leave the beach once we were finished, packing everything up, walking to the car, changing out of our sandy, wet clothes. You don't see any of that in the pictures.

The kids are getting tired of being in the car. They have been in the car A LOT. They tend to start fighting, crying, complaining. "Are we there yet?" is the mantra that we hear over and over. The beach we went to was a farther drive than we realized. Then, when the day is over, you have to drive all the way back!!

I say all of this because many of you say, "I don't know how you do it." Well, let me say, some days not so well. I don't want to paint this picture on my blog that we are the perfect little family that never struggles, all my kids behave perfectly all the time, and our clothes are always matching. That is the farthest thing from the truth. It encourages me to read about someone's life and know that they have struggles. Maybe it is the "misery loves company concept." Either way, it is comforting not to be alone. I have to ask God every day to give me the grace and wisdom to be the kind of mom He has called me to be. Having Rick really helps as I navigate this role. He balances me and gives me a different perspective.

So, there you have it. Vacation is fun. I LOVE it. But, don't let me fool you into believing that vacation has no worries with it. It is a different kind of chaos than our everyday life, and for now different chaos feels like a break.