With two small children it’s debatable whether a long weekend away is a holiday. Mike doesn’t feel like his ‘batteries’ are re-charged. Not surprising when you reflect on the energy output it takes to pack us all up, go away and come back versus the actual R&R time achieved. The relax time is the easy number to calculate…..about 3 hours (while the little ones napped)!

The preparation and re-trench time is much greater….A full week of work means a busy Friday evening for a Saturday morning departure. When to do the things to prepare for the week ahead that we usually do on the weekend? Friday night I guess. Oh, and pack for the holiday. A bag for the kids (warm & cold weather gear because the weather man can’t make up his mind), one for us, food (a couple bags), entertainment (soccer balls, buckets/shovels, pool toys), bikes & helmets (kids), play pen, booster seat, DVD player and DVDs, and of course, the snack bag. We’ll stop by the liquor store en route! All that takes several hours of lists, packing, packing the car, unpacking, laundry and groceries to start the week.

Now for the $. We booked on Thursday night and for where we stayed, we paid a good rate $150 per night in a 1 bedroom with kitchen, laundry and swimming/hot tub facilities. The annoying part was the $15 per night parking – unavoidable as there was no where else to legally park over night. During the day – yes, overnight – no. Some food, drinks and treats $100 (which we would have spent anyway) and a nice dinner out $120 (sans enfants!). About $600 for the weekend when it’s all tallied up.

Are we well rested? About the same as if we’d stayed at home. Did we have fun? I’d say yes. The kids loved the pool, the parks and staying in a hotel. We got a few quiet moments while they were sleeping and an evening out thanks to Auntie. I suppose like most things it’s about managing expectations and assessing whether you feel you’ve received value for money. In this case I’d say we had an excellent mini-vacation at a reasonable cost.