Things that might cheer up a grumpy academic:
- Taking a road trip with 2/3 of the brood. There is nothing quite like driving on the freeways of the vast land that is the US. Maybe I need to moonlight as a trucker. Seriously, if I didn’t worry about blood clots in legs, I would drive cross-country all the time, everywhere.
- Enjoying a lovely hotel room with the kids. Watching Friends reruns on Nick at Night (evening/night program on Nickelodeon), which is now a family tradition when we go on vacation, since we don’t have cable.
- Splashing with the kids in the hotel pool. Holding a reluctant swimmer Smurf with one arm and playing “pool catch” with Middle Boy using the other arm.
- Sleeping on a very uncomfortable pull-out sofa, so the kids could sleep on the king-size bed. Thanking lucky stars to live in the US, because everyone back where I came from sleeps on pull-out sofas their entire lives (apartments are too small to have separate bedrooms, so most rooms are both living and sleeping areas).
- Dropping a ton of money at an amusement park. Getting immersed in the kids’ enthusiasm and joy as they go on various rides. Forgetting to be grumpy altogether.
- Feeding the kids delicious and overpriced food at a restaurant with wild-animal animatronics.
- Driving back without stopping, with the kids snoozing in the back seat nearly the whole time. Vowing to get more music for the car for the upcoming 10-hour trip for work (yep, I will drive).
- Looking at the pics of Smurf and MB. Melting.
xykademiqz 
This is a bit random but…as an academic, did you purposely have your kids very spaced out age-wise? In your experience, what do you think are the benefits/costs of doing so, vs. having 3 kids very close in age to one another? (This is coming from someone in grad school who doesn’t have kids yet, but probably will eventually, and is trying to decide on the best time to have them…)
PS. Love that picture of Smurf, he has the most adorable green (hazel?) eyes!
Smurf has AMAZING eyes. Holy cow. Your kids are adorable, and your vacation sounds great. Glad it got you out of your grumpiness for a while. I am looking forward to those ages.
Ahh, wonderful. I just spent yesterday lazily playing w the jub and her younger cousin in a backyard pool at grandmas. So rejuvenating!!
@mc3 – my parents are academics and they told me they purposefully spaced the 3 of us out 4 years to avoid having to pay for 2 college tuitions at once, lol. :p As it turns out we all got free rides so it didn’t matter so much! Another nice thing was free babysitting for the baby.
This is just great!