Recently my family and I came back from a much needed vacation.  My husband and I took our kids on a cruise to the Caribbean.  A much needed get-away and one that should be taken more than once every five years.

We are so involved with work, the kids with school that taking a vacation seemed like so much work, a lot of money and there's always the thought, "Will we all have fun together for 10 days?"

I remember my husband sending me an email with a picture of a cruise ship and a comment on how fun this would be.  That's all I needed to get the ball rolling and make the reservations.  We had about three months to make payments, and our flight to Florida would be paid for through frequent filer miles.  My husband made "Platinum" in 2010 so he isn't around much, except for weekends.  A big price to pay for "free" tickets.  They weren't so free when you think about how his entire year was sucked up flying back and forth.  We appreciate his hard work though, and are grateful for employment even though his office is half way across the country.

Anyway, my husband wanted his "cruise" idea to be just he and I.  But I figured the kids aren't going to be around much longer - one in college, one a junior in highschool and one in middle school.  This vacation was considered the last Horrah! before Michael decides to move out and then our daughter will be off to college studying solar systems and all we'll have left is our Little Buddy and two cats.  Where does the time go?

In all my preparation and dreams of how great this vacation was going to be, it certainly didn't live up to my dreams, but then it never does.  We actually had a GREAT time, and I'm so glad we took the kids.  Our son, Michael brought his girlfriend too, whom we love and adore.  We started at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and took in the new Harry Potter exhibit, and ride.  Wow!  The wait to get in was two hours, but well worth it.  The ride was spectacular - it felt great to fly through the air, up and down mountains and through passageways!  They sure did go all out.  I felt like I was actually at Hogwarts!

After Universal we boarded a Carnival ship for a seven days cruise to the Eastern Caribbean.  We had a great time taking the kids to the islands, swimming in the ocean, shelling and just relaxing.  My husband and I were surprised how much the kids wanted to hang with us on the ship and even on the islands.  I guess we're not that boring after all!  It was a very successful family vacation, and we were all ready to go home when our ship pulled back into port.

I have to say that five years is way too much time between vacations.  i have vowed to at least go every other year and start saving for it right now.  We have talked to our college son and mentioned that we'd love to take another cruise and that we'd love to have him join us again.  The only difference is that he'd have to pay his own way.  He was cool with that, and is already planning on setting money aside for our next adventure on the open seas.  I love that! 

If you haven't had a family vacation in quite sometime, or worse yet never at all - it's time to start planning.  There are so many fun things you can do on any type of budget.  The most important thing is to be with your kids.  Enjoy them, laugh with them and get to know them.  I adore my kids, and a parent's job is never done - but I am noticing that my two oldest kids are transitioning from being dependent to becoming independent.  It's bitter sweet, and I'm so proud of how kind and compassionate my kids are.  They will be great parents someday!  I guess we did good honey!

Ok, back to work and back to reality!  Life is grand.....