Getting Back From Vacation And Back Into The Groove
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for my blog. First I was sick as a dog and then the family headed out for spring break. I’m back on a more regular basis now and am hoping to get caught up on the world of miles and points and get back to sharing lots of tips and stories with you.
It occurred to me as I was typing a post earlier today that thousands of families are either on their way home from a vacation or on their way somewhere to Easter. We’ll all be trying to get back into routines in our own different ways.
As a father of two kids, there’s all the normal challenges at the end of a vacation. Kids have stayed up late and need to get back on a sleep schedule. Parents need to build that night time routine quickly while doing laundry, going through mail and arranging priorities for the week ahead. It’s one of the reasons we usually come back from our longer trips a day early. We arrived back home Friday evening and tonight is our second night building that routine. Last night was a big rough, tonight a bit more normal. Tomorrow night they need to be ready to go back to school. While it would have been great to get an extra day or two away, we like having some extra time to get back to normal.
I’ll leave you with a quick humorous story about our flight home. We were in Cabo San Lucas (technically stayed in San Jose del Cabo) this past week at the new Hyatt Ziva resort. We had a sick kid for a few days and then lots of fun, so it was definitely a vacation that ran the gamut of emotions.
On our flight back we were to clear customs in Dallas/Ft. Worth. We had brought back 2 small boxes of Kinder surprise eggs, a treat our kids love but aren’t available in the US. We had purchased them in duty free on our way out of SJD airport. They were in a translucent bag hanging off the bag of my suitcase, so not terribly visible. The customs agent that cleared us at DFW had his eyes open for all forms of contraband and told us he was seizing the surprise eggs because of the US restriction. Now, before anyone jumps all over me for allowing my kids to have a treat that the FDA doesn’t certify, we don’t let our kids open them unless under our supervision. So, no choking hazard.
Anyway, after giving us a solid admonishment he let us keep the two small boxes of eggs and warned us about the FDA restriction for the future.
It’s a good thing he didn’t look inside my suitcase.
Happy Easter (if you celebrate)!
Oh please (dear FDA) — if Kinder eggs were such a danger, poor unsuspecting children the world over would be dying left and right. My son enjoys them all the time when I take him to Europe and somehow even at the innocent age of 3 he figured out which part you eat and which part you don’t. If they ever tried to take them away from me at customs, my eyes would roll so hard they’d pop out of my head.
Aleks, glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. My 3-year old seems to have figured it out as well. I’ll let our kids enjoy our contraband while it lasts! Kinder speak easys for everyone!
Ed, My grandsons watch the YouTube videos of thomas the train eggs. I tried to order the $5.99eu and 6.99 to ship each one. I bought plastic eggs and little trains and Cars character and wrapped them in aluminum foil. They never missed the chocolate. Had lots of fun opening them.
Kathy, that’s a pretty darn good idea. 😉
Our kids watch the YouTube videos all the time. I get a huge kick out of the fact that they can stay occupied for 15 minutes watching people open chocolate eggs.
As someone who leaves for Cabo in less than 24 hrs, could you tell me what store/s there I might find such dangerous eggs (which I would never consider bringing home to my children)?
Susan, for starters, they sell them in duty free at the airport, probably the easiest place to get them. There’s also a convenience store called OXXO (and I think another called Stop?) that carry them.