The family vacation where we were actually able to be a family

Favorite Vacation Moment

Badlands and Black Hills, SD

by jenniwilmot March 11, 2008 | Helena, Montana

When thinking back to my choice of my Favorite Vacation, I would have to say that it was when our Whole family went to South Dakota. Now, before I go any further, let me give you a little back ground. We have five children. Two of our boys live with their mother in another town, making family vacations for us a challenge. Spring break time frames very rarely fall under the same time frames. Four years ago, my husband was deployed to Iraq for eighteen months. Before he left, my folks took my husband and I, and the three children who live at home to Disneyland. It was wonderful. We tricked the kids and told them that we were going to go down into Hollywood, and that the bus was just going to drive past Disneyland. When we actually started to get off at that stop, their eyes got so big and they just couldn't believe it! The smiles were bigger than their faces! When you ask any of those three what their favorite vacation was, hands down it was Disneyland. But it wasn't mine. It wasn't my husbands. Don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time, but our two other boys couldn't be with us. So after my husband returned from Iraq, we took everyone to South Dakota to see my husbands family. It was wonderful! We were all together for a family vacation! Even though it wasn't Disney like we had hoped, we were together. Watching the kids at Bedrock Village hanging out with Fred and Wilma was amazing! Seeing their faces light up when we went thru Bear Country USA was the highlight of the day. My husband is set to deploy again in 2010, and we are going to shoot for Disney again, and hopefully, this time we will be able to all go as a family. But no matter what, I will always treasure the family vacation where we were able to be a family.