Family Vacation

We are about to leave tomorrow for what I think is our first real "family vacation".  Not that we haven't travelled as a family, but up to this point the travels have been mostly back East to visit my family.  J and I have gone on a few trips with out the kids - but of course that isn't a family vacation.  I never really went on family vacations as a kid.  I remember 2 such events.  The only one I remember before my parents divorced was when I was maybe 5 or 6 and we went to the beach.  I only remember that my dad was trying to teach us to body surf and I ate it big time in the shallow water and sand.  Actually I don't even know if this was a real vacation or just a day at the beach.  The only other "family" vacation was when my Dad decided to take us (my sister, step-mom and step-brother) on a cross country trip.  I was about 9 and too young to really appreciate seeing so much of the US.  We drove north to Maine, south to Florida, West through Colorado and then California.  We drove from LA up the coast into Oregon before heading back east and home again. I remember a handful of things from that trip.  We got tired of setting up our tent, so we kids tended to camp out in the back of the van.  I remember Mesa Verde (in CO), Four Corners, Hollywood studios in LA, dipping our feet in the Pacific ocean, Mount Rushmore and just lots of roads and non-descript campgrounds.  

We don't take a lot of true vacations.  I suppose part of this is just getting caught up in our normal routine and it is hard to plan training and racing if you are going off on vacations.    Most of our vacations we have taken tended to be more active - we hiked Machu Pichu, went on ski/snowboard vacations and we had planned to scuba in Australia (although that didn't work out so well).  It is hard to do these kind of things with a 2 and a 4 year old.  So our vacation plans are relatively tame and tourist-y.  I am hoping that our first family vacation is a bit more memorable and hopefully it is fun.