Summer Vacation.

What will my children remember from their family vacations?

We are lucky. Our kids are great travelers. They are wonderful on long car trips. They know how to pack books, drawing implements and car-games (Having their own i-pods and DSi game systems helps when all else fails--sometimes sooner.) Every year I pick a book to read as a family and I haven't gone wrong yet. Last year it was The Graveyard Book. The year before that was Little House on the Prairie--not an overwhelming success with Caleb until Pa got eaten by wolves (my addition.)

This year we read Holes by Louis Sachar. 

The kids were inspired by the book

We also traveled in a foreign country. I hope that they learned something from that. Not everyone will speak your language, but anyone can be your friend. Communication doesn't have to rely on words, although a little bit of Allons nager does help.(Caleb learned this phrase. It means "lets go swimming." He used it a lot. He still remembers it.)

nos amis

We were lucky this year to have traveling companions. Our pals Rosie and Michele from Winnipeg, Manitoba made their way eastward and played tour guides through Canada for us, and campfire buddies in Maine. Michele is an artist, so she and Hannah had a lot to talk about. At least Hannah had a lot to talk about. Michele was great at listening. The two of them worked on projects by the light of a lantern as the rest of us enjoyed the campfire. Win-win!

But Michele wasn't the only one to inspire my daughter! Hannah learned a new move from Rosie. I like to call this move, "The unexpected sign."

The master

The apprentice.

There are often creative ways to punish children who misbehave when you are on vacation. Like this lovely bubble at L.L.Bean. Unfortunately the kids actually liked this. Especially Hannah who has a soft spot for little fishes. And big ones. And cute ones. And ugly ones.

Caleb is not so fond of fish.

Traveling can always be fun as long as you do it with people you love, travel to places you enjoy, and keep an open mind for new adventures.Coming out of Quebec back south we drove through New Hampshire. It was some of the most beautiful country imaginable. We had never seen the White Mountains before. If you remove our huge heads, they are behind us, and they are stunning--trust me. We will have to go back to New Hampshire to get better photos and to do some hiking, biking and whatever it is that New Hampshirites (New Hampshirinos? New Hampsherians?)do for recreation.

The Band of Stalwart Companions

But, no matter where we go, I don't think we'll find better traveling companions. Our Boler Buddies (Michele and Rosie) turned a good time into a really great a memorable time.

Honestly, I was having a hard time planning this year's family trip. It was my first vacation without Mom waiting at home to hear that we had gotten home safely, to cluck over the amount of money we spent and to kindly indulge in viewing our vacation photos. Rosie was a hero, rescuing me from my doldrums of vacation ennui by planning the portion of the trip that took us through Ottawa, Quebec (visiting her cousins at Vignobles St. Remi--Bonjour to Natalie and Fabien, our wonderful hosts, and their beautiful, friendly kids) and then to Freeport, Maine where we camped and visited L.L.Bean and enjoyed campfires and Lobster (although I think at least one couple at the Lobster Pound of Unimaginable Carnage* might never be the same.)

What will my kids remember from all of this? Probably the fact that their mother has the ability to embarrass them anywhere in two countries.

 I think that they're just lucky I didn't find a "Free Tibet" sign. I mean, have you ever checked out the airfares to Tibet? I'll take it free any time.We can test our non-lingual foreign language skills there next.

Happy summer vacation.

*"the Lobster Pound of Unimaginable Carnage" is not the name of the lobster pound, just a description of Rosie and Michele's first experience in eating live lobster--which was actually dead at the time.