Our Pandemic Vacation

Happy end of June, friends!

With the end of another month, we’ve hit all sorts of milestones.

• We’ve passed the 100th day of our state’s Shelter-In-Place order.
• We’ve started a new season… YAY SUMMER!
• And as of today, we’re exactly 3 weeks away from baby boy’s arrival via c-section. (and crossing our fingers he doesn’t come earlier!)

When SIP started, I wouldn’t have believed you that we’d be going into summer in the state that we are in. But it is what it is. Our SIP norm is our new norm:

• We’re still not visiting friends and family outside my mom and brother.
• We’re still using food delivery services for our groceries.
• And our family activities still involve long walks as a family, bike rides, and picnics.

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While all of this is our new norm, we did manage to sneak away from our home to a do a short family getaway in Monterey.

And it was glorious.

We didn’t tell the girls until the day before so they were completely surprised. While our usual summer family vacation would be longer than 2 nights, I felt that with the pandemic happening, 2 nights would be perfect, and it was. We were gone long enough for it to feel like a getaway, and it was short enough to ease some paranoia.

Don’t get it twisted. I didn’t plan this getaway paranoia free. I made sure to chose a hotel with a very flexible cancellation policy and one that listed all their COVID procedures clearly. You better believe I was reading the same procedures every day to give myself peace of mind that this was a safe decision. And when our eldest daughter found out we were going on a trip, she goes “Don’t forget our masks!” So you better believe I had our masks + extras and lots of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes in my purse ready to go.

Usually our main reason for going to Monterey would be the aquarium, but since it was still closed (& to be honest, I wouldn’t have been ready for that anyway), I planned our getaway with activities we would normally do at home: walks, trunk picnics, lots of outdoors, and lots of takeout. But what really drew us to Monterey was the beach, and it was the best thing to see my beach babes frolicking in the sand with beaming smiles from ear-to-ear.

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I shared our trip on my Instagram stories (@zherranne), and I got a handful of questions about the trip in general. Mostly about how folks were behaving in terms of the wearing of masks and social distancing. And also questions about where we stayed. I did share this on my stories, but I wanted to share with you all also:

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This trip was exactly what our family needed.

All-in-all, while I was hesitant to even drive 2 hours away from home for a short getaway, I realized as we were leaving that it was exactly what we needed. Our main excuse for going was that it would be our last family “hoorah!” as a family of 4 before baby brother, and it was. But ultimately, we all needed a change of scenery after being home for 100+ days.

When I think back on the pandemic and what I did during SIP to take care of my family, I want to remember that I also took care of their mental well-being. Even though my kids are so small still, the difference the trip made on their emotions and moods was a complete 360. Need proof?

Check out these happy faces for yourself:

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If you’re like me and this pandemic has given you extra anxiety, don’t be afraid to get outside of your comfort zone and leave your hometown/city. Just do it safely. It doesn’t have to be far, and it doesn’t have to be overnight, but the change of scenery will help you mentally in the long run. Just wherever you go, be safe.

• Social distance
• Wear your masks
• Wash your hands
• And don’t put yourself in a situation or location that will make you feel uncomfortable.

Have a happy summer, friends!

And to see more from our trip, check out our latest vlog below from our channel @LivNGwiththeNgs.

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