Can you really do it?

Last Tuesday I was on holidays and suddenly had one of those …

… moments of clarity.

My husband, 5-year-old, 2-year-old and I were with my parents in Collingwood, Ontario (yup, this time last week: out-of-town, on holiday, pure vacay. SIGH).

We had joined my parents, who are fractional owners of a timeshare in Collingwood right on the Georgian Bay and near a golf course, for a week of family fun and relaxation.

Here’s my photo upon realizing the moment.

We were about four days into the holiday at this stage.

It was the moment I relaxed.

Ahhh.

Shoulders down. Sun on back. Quiet. Content.

It was also the moment I realized how much I struggle with the entire notion of simply relaxing.

Doing nothing has become not only strange, but bad in my mind.

Productivity means success!

I need to be doing something!

Even if I’m “relaxing” I somehow feel the need to maximize that time. Because it’s ticking down. And so very fleeting. So make it count!

Right?

We’d arrived at the resort after a seven-hour drive with pee stops at every Tim Horton’s along the way for the 5-year-old (aside: I should do a coffee table book about public washrooms of Ontario. I think it would resonate with parents of preschoolers. Opinions?) and were bombarded with flyers and instructions and pamphlets for things to do.

With renewed enthusiasm after the ride, I leafed through them all considering zoo visits, toy shops, mini putt, family zumba, and boat tours trying to figure out how to maximize the fun awesome TOGETHERNESS that was going to be OUR FAMILY HOLIDAY and ….

Yeah.

Tuesday.

I took an after breakfast walk by the marina with my parents and daughters while my husband golfed.

My youngest focussed on finding the perfect daisy.

My eldest went ahead with grandpa and wanted to watch him skip rocks.

I collected the bouquet from my youngest and decided none of us needed a zoo.

This was pretty much all that was required for family fun at this stage.

So how did we spend our week?

We swam twice a day in the indoor pool, complete with water slide (open at 4:00) that my eldest adored. During this time my two-year-old figured out she loved swimming on her own in a life jacket and much of the time was spent either in the hot tub as a family, waiting at the end of the water slide for the eldest, or pretending to be Ariel’s mother in an intricate underwater role play orchestrated by my 5-year-old.

As an aside, for those who missed last month’s “If Disney Princesses Actually Had Mothers” piece that was all the rage on the Internet, I was playing Athena – Ariel’s very much bucking Disney trend and NOT DEAD mother, as was pointed out from time to time in various commentary.

We played on the play structure. We walked by the water. We rode a pontoon boat. We went to Wasaga Beach for the morning. We visited a candy store and walked around the Blue Mountain Resort.

I made it through two books. One of which was Lionel Shriver’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin” which, despite my husband ruining it for me 40 pages in (he’d seen the movie) still was amazing, but creepy and made me hug my kids closer after each read.

We went to bed early and slept in.

And given the many breaks in the suite, can you guess the theme song of our holiday?

It’s funny how the TreeHouse theme song now almost soothes me rather than grates. Ahh! They will watch. I will read. We will all be calm.

Aside from that?

My parents watched the girls while my husband and I had a relaxed and wonderful meal out at Catch 22 in Wasaga Beach.

I pondered infusing olive oils.

I bought two comfortable sundresses.

I drank excellent Armagnac.

I relaxed like I haven’t in ages.

It was awesome.

I’ve noticed a number of fellow bloggers posting SUMMER OF AWESOME bucket lists.

I’d fully meant to do one too. Because there is much I know we’d enjoy.

But after this?

I think, reading notwithstanding, that at 5 and 2 we’re just not really there yet as far as the “chugging through check lists of fun” goes.

So we’re just going to let it roll for one more summer.

Because my Summer of Awesome?

Involves a lot of doing not much together*.

In fact? I’m going to make that the first item on our to do list.

And?

DONE!

WHEW.

I think we all deserve a well deserved break after that accomplishment.

What about you? Big plans this summer? Or are you putting your feet up and letting the kids drink slushies and watch movies on the couch until they pass out (not that I do that)?

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*I TOTALLY reserve the right to do a retrospective bucket list of stuff we did manage to get of our butts and actually do!

Photo credit: Beach umbrella, ring and ball courtesy of Iamnee at FreeDigitalPhotos.net. The sun is a free image and the headless dolly belongs to my daughter.