vacation time! our polish vacation! | post by @anja_mari

And so we went, my boys and I, one nicely compacted in my stomach, the other pulling on my arm. Every year I go, and every year brings some new experiences, first one kid, then one and a half kid, next year two kids...Oh the lesson we learn about each other during these vacations.

 First and foremost, traveling with a three years old is glorious, as compared to the younger ages, those three years old are strong and resilient to inconvenience of international travel and their attention span is so much better to keep them entertained longer. Simon and I survived a six hour delay due to a broken plane and then a 5 hour layover caused by a missed connection. I must say he did better than I  in terms of retaining energy and positive aptitude, I was bummed and crying, he was jolly and content.

having Simon around for family time, family travel, visiting and being visited was the best experience to him at this age, he made memories and created bonds that will stay with him - hopefully - a lifetime. But not to sugar coat it all, it was also challenging time for the both of us - me being tired, weary, pregnant self and him, perfectly aware, energetic self, surprised at a sudden lack of routines, experiencing yet again all the new flavors and tastes and customs - was doomed to clash on occasion or two. The mixture was sometimes rather proof explosive, and we had to find our new rhythm yet again, he fought for his presence in creating our daily routine there more fiercely, but also more consciously than any previous time. I believe it served us both as a teaching moment. We made it work, one day at a time, both learning to stay flexible most of all.

 It was also incredibly rewarding to finally see his polish - stored in some drawers of his brain - burst into real speech. I knew he had the whole catalogue of words and codes stowed away, but he finally started usinf it all, trying to build sentences, and interact in the language, his polish existence finally made a proper appearance and made me the proudest.

Things we did? all family vacation, there is always a lot of planning and to-do's, some items from the list fall through and some just fall through the cracks, being pregnant and with a toddler does slow you down and usually ideas like "planning a weekend getaway sans the said toddler" never materialize, but it is okay, sometimes vacation just needs to be lazy and not overbooked and "adventurous" day in and day out...I do feel this pressure though, to squeeze vacation like a lemon, to make the most of it, to inhale the whole wide world while at it. But I didn't, I did just a little chunk, like the last week to join us, we took him to the polish seaside and he saw Gdansk, one of my favorite polish cities. So now without a further ado, here is a million pictures.

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