The World's Common Tater

We just returned from our annual summer trip to visit family in Kentucky. The trip is split between my mother-in-law’s house and my brother’s house. That makes for two very different types of vacation.

We always start at my MIL’s house because it is the shortest drive from our house.

The Typical Day at My MIL’s House

I wake up before everyone else. I get some coffee, read the newspaper, play Worlde, and write my TV post.

Eventually, others are up and we eat breakfast.

My son finds a movie or show to watch on her tiny TV and I read while it plays in the background. My wife shops.

We eat dinner.

My wife and kids play cards with my MIL while I watch TV or read upstairs.

It is a very slow, uneventful few days and then we head west to my brother’s house.

The Stay at My Brother’s House

On the first day, we arrived around lunch. After lunch, my son and I played my brother and niece in basketball and then we jumped in the pool.

We played pool volleyball.

We played cornhole.

We went out to dinner.

We played Catch Phrase.

The next day my sister and her family spent the day with us. There was more pool volleyball, a cornhole tournament, and more Catch Phrase.

On our last full day there we started the day with three hours of kayaking on the river.

When we returned my sister and her family and my nephew and his family was there. There was more pool volleyball, more basketball, two cornhole tournaments, and more Catch Phrase.

It was fun, but is it exhausting.

We finished the vacation with another half day of doing nothing at my MILs.

I prefer the chaos and constant activity on vacation, but I do appreciate a day or two of downtime.