Family Vacation
Submitted by: Irishcoda at Snapshot Memories
Ever since I wrote about Aunt Betty, I’ve felt nostalgic for the vacations my family spent with her family in Ocean City, Maryland. They started around 1974 and went until about 1983…after that, we grew up and grew apart.
We looked forward to Ocean City vacations all year. Usually, we’d go for a week in August. My parents would split the cost of renting a unit with my aunt and uncle. The units were big enough to hold us all comfortably: my parents, me, my brother, my aunt, uncle and two cousins. We never stayed in the same place twice…that was part of the fun.
Here are my parents with my aunt and uncle.
I love everything about the ocean: the sight, the smell and the sound of the surf. On Sunday morning and every morning afterward that I could manage it, I would get up just before sunrise to go down to the beach and watch the sun come up. Most of the time I went alone because I couldn’t persuade anyone else that the sight was worth it.
There was always something to do, rain or shine, day or night. On a cloudy, cooler day, we’d walk along the beach and collect shells or go down to the arcade on the boardwalk.
On sunny, hot days, look out! We’d be in the water, body surfing or riding the waves on rented rafts. These pictures are of first me and then my brother riding a raft.
We didn’t need TV at all. In the evening, there was lots of ways to entertain ourselves:
Going to the boardwalk at night was always fun. There were two fantastic artists there. One sculpted in sand and I know his artwork has been on the internet. The other worked in chalk crawings. Both artists’ work was religious and beautiful.
Other things we’d do on the boardwalk: shop, visit the arcades and play games, and go to the amusement parks. Those were always a lot of fun! I enjoyed taking my young cousin on the scariest rides or in the haunted houses. She loved going with us!
Our most favorite night time activity, though, was a big roundof UNO. The more of us that played, the more fun it was and we had some side-splitting times with the game!
Ah, those were the days!
Submitted By: Joanne at Forever Parents
My own childhood holds happy memories of several family vacations. Growing up in New York City, we vacationed in places like Ellenville, in upstate NY, where we visited Ice Caves Mountains, and Dutch Wonderland (PA). But this post is about a family vacation that I took with my children and husband…a vacation where we celebrated our one year adoption anniversary.
We adopted our three children in October of 2003. They were siblings that had been in the foster care system for four years and the biological family had their rights terminated years before we ever came into their lives. If you’d like to read more about our adoption journey, click “Our Adoption Story” in the tags or categories.
In October of 2004, we decided to celebrate our one year adoption anniversary with a week long vacation. My two oldest children attended physical and occupational therapy early on (neither go any longer) and their therapist, Kathleen, pulled a few strings and got us free passes for Universal Studios. At the same time, a friend of our let us use their timeshare for the week. It made our week much more of a special time because we felt really blessed by the goodness of other people. 
We had such a great week and we met some cool people. One family that we met was from England and we ended up hanging out with them quite a bit. They even let us use their passes to Wet & Wild (there’s that feeling of being thankful again). During our stay, it was my son’s 12th birthday, and they celebrated with us at a nearby McDonalds. But not just any McDonalds…this was the world’s largest McDonald’s playplace. Of course the kids had a ball…and by that I mean my husband also. lol
We got a taste of cultural differences when the mother (from England) & I were talking about adoption and she asked about us adopting my son and youngest daughter, who are both biracial and brown skinned (my husband & I are both white). She said that her daughter (who was about 4) asked her why my two children were colored. I was taken back by her choice of words but judging by the way she said it, she meant no harm in it. I told her that “colored” was a term that isn’t really used anymore. She was surprised and said that where she was from that was the word they used to describe brown skinned people. They had just moved to Spain before their vacation so I don’t know if she meant there or England.
It was a vacation we’ll always remember and treasure. We celebrate our adoption anniversary every year. It’s a special day for us and we want to honor it.
