Seven Quick Takes: A Trip and Family Culture

Ok...bear with me.  I know it's not Friday anymore.  It's Monday.  But, I was hoping to get some more pictures for this post before I published it since I took, you know, one over the course of four days.  But since no one can get those pictures to me for awhile, I am just going to post this anyway.  Take that Day 2 of the 7 day blogging challenge.  I got this--totally got this :)  

1)  I took the kids to Massachusetts to visit my husband's family last weekend because he was on a long road trip for soccer--go ahead, tell me I am the daughter-in-law of the year.  A self-proclaimed martyr right here.  I kid, I kid {sorta}.  

2)  While we were spending our days cooling off in the pool, walking the mall, playing in the sand, visiting the aquarium, and eating ice cream like it was our job, my hubby was adjusting to a three hour time zone change, traveling from VA to Phoenix to LA to Vancouver, playing three soccer games in five days, and being generally exhausted.  On the bright side, being away from Gemma home meant he was sleeping through the night, which is always more than I can say.

3)  In all seriousness, spending time with my in-laws can be quite stressful for me, but I had this amazing Confession the day before we left for our trip {Thank God for that}, and I think it really helped.  I went into the weekend encouraged to have a positive attitude and inspired to be charitable, patient, meek, and merciful.  I wouldn't say I knocked the ball out of the park in practicing those virtues, but just having them on my mind and praying for them did seem to make a difference.  Baby steps.

4)  Augustine's favorite part of the trip was visiting the New England Aquarium.  Both he and Gemma love all things fish.  His eyes were glued to the tanks as he excitedly identified several of the fish he has seen in books--and, of course, in Finding Nemo {pretty cute when he shouts, "it's Nemo!!" but even better when he shouts, "it's a powder-blue surgeonfish!!"  Thank you very much, Animal Encyclopedia}.       

5)  My favorite part of the trip {in close contention with eating ice cream from Dairy Twist every night...} was watching the kiddos interact with their aunts/uncles/grandparents.  In the past, they have both been shy and clingy during our visits, but this time {thanks to Skype?}, they both seemed pretty comfortable just doing their thing and enjoying the family. 

6)  Perhaps on this trip more than any other, I realized how differently my husband and I were raised.  I am not here to say which way is better, as I am sure there are pros and cons to both of our upbringings, but as a psychology major, it is really quite intriguing.  {Obviously, parental/family influences are huge, not to mention the impact of culture/geography--growing up in the midwest vs the east coast}.

7)  Some of the differences seem really minute, like the fact that my husband's family never locks their doors, or even shuts them for that matter.  And then you have my family where everything was always locked {totally developed some OCD up in here}.  And there then are some weightier issues that would be boring to talk about here but that I definitely have opinions on.  I want to sit down with Luke and decide how we want those issues {and even the minute ones} to look in our family.  I want to write out a "family culture."  A mission, of sorts, to outline what is good and acceptable and expected and normal for us.  A little family identity, if you will.  I think that's important.

This is day two for me of the seven day blogging challenge hosted by Jen.  I wanted to join the party sooner...but, alas, my computer was broken.  It has been great reading blogs all week via my iPad, but typing on my iPad?  No time for that!