Image: Flickr Commons -- https://www.flickr.com/photos/peerlawther/
Image: Flickr Commons — https://www.flickr.com/photos/peerlawther/

Here we go! It’s been 50 months since we’ve stuffed our suitcases full of sandals, shorts and sunscreen for a family vacation southbound.

This time we’re off to California with an aching in my heart….Sorry, I can’t say that without turning it into a Led Zeppelin song. The itinerary includes Santa Monica‘s beaches, Westcoast food, shopping...The Happiest Place on Earth…Hollywood’s glitz and tracing a lifetime of being exposed to everything California…Oh! And for a change of pace, the desert and it’s weird plants and otherworldly scenery.

Family vacations are about making memories, and this will be a good one, I’m sure of it. Especially if we set these goals and make these wishes come true…

A California Vacation Wishlist...aka Mom’s Vacation Mantra

  • I will not cook. Not one thing for two weeks.
  • I will not pick up everyone’s crud around the hotel room.
  • I will not tell everyone to get up 3 times, because I’m on holidays. On holidays, I tell you.
  • We will not discuss the Canadian Dollar every time we eat/drink/touch anything in the USA
  • The Todd and I will laugh and joke and forget all the little things that bog our brains down while we’re home
  • My kids will hang out together and make some lasting memories while screaming down rollercoasters and every log ride we can find
  • I will bring home a cool new mug for my coffee cup collection…and my husband will shhhhhhhh about it (yes we have enough mugs, yes I will get rid of an old one)
  • We might be able to finish a fancy drink and not fall asleep 2/3 of the way through it
  • I will come home with a new perspective on life…and as I settle back to grumbling about driving kids around to endless soccer, rowing, band practices when we get home…We’ll always have California…and the 2,500 photos I took.

Adios and arrivederci! See you back here in a few weeks!

Mel Z – Midday Show 10am – 2pm on Ocean 98.5