I should reword that title – we had a trip to Michigan in May to visit our families but I have to admit it didn’t really feel like a vacation. As most of you know, we moved to Texas last year and the majority of our family lives in Michigan. We traveled back there with the kids for the first time since our move this May. Our boys were just 2 and 4.5 at the time. Let me share a few important lessons we learned during this trip. 

We have family in 3 different areas of Michigan and we obviously wanted to see everyone. So, we flew into Detroit and spent a few days in those 3 different areas. A Tour De Michigan really. Exhausting. Fun, but exhausting. 

First off, I should share that we had a horrible flight from Dallas to Detroit. I did not follow my own flying with toddlers advice and booked our flight during our 2 year old’s normal nap time. We were that disruptive family with a screaming child for half of the flight. It was really hard. I came prepared with toys and books and snacks but they were essentially worthless for an overtired and overstimulated toddler. 

Lesson learned – no flights during nap time! Never again! 

Bryan and I were obviously drained after that – and then we had to get in our rental car and drive another 2 hours to his parents. 

Lesson learned – not coupling a road trip with a flight on the same day again. At least not until our kids are older. 

So, we made it to Saginaw – finally around bedtime for the kids. We then spent a few days there and Bryan and I were able to attend one of his oldest friend’s weddings – that was a highlight of our trip for sure! 

Then we headed to my hometown in Central Michigan. My parents are divorced. They are cordial but they still obviously want to have their own time with our kids. This was honestly really hard to navigate. I don’t think I did a great job of splitting time with them.  I felt like everyone was just overall disappointed by the visits they had. We didn’t really have set plans – I think we were just going day by day. This made for busy days with multiple visits kind of crammed in. 

Lesson learned – set expectations and a schedule for the family visits. Then everyone knows what to expect and we can hopefully minimize any disappointments.

The last leg of our trip had us back in Detroit. We spent time with my sisters and my new niece who we hadn’t met yet! This was another major highlight of our trip. We also had a play date with our group of friends and all their kids. It was really fun to get everyone together. This trip landed on Noah’s 2nd birthday, so we celebrated him too!

The birthday boy! (photo credit)

After a few days here we flew back to Dallas. Luckily our flight this time around was much smoother for our toddler. No meltdowns. I actually read my book and our youngest fell asleep on Bryan. 

Bryan and I kept saying we just wanted to spend our time in Metro Detroit.  It was easy to see a lot of people this way and it felt way less stressful to not have to be doing long car rides. Unfortunately, with our families though – the Tour De Michigan is kind of necessary. We want our kids to see all the grandparents and their great-grandparents. It would be impossible to get everyone in Metro Detroit to see us. And I do honestly like being in our hometowns too.

We are still very much discussing and figuring out what our future Michigan trips look like. I have a couple ideas for the future and I know things will get easier as our kids get older and are more flexible. 

Lesson learned – we are still in the process of figuring out what makes the most sense for these trips.

In a perfect world, this is what I see happening: 

We do 1 long trip every summer. 7-10 days in Michigan. Then we can split our time and hopefully relax a little bit at each stop! Northern Michigan in the summer is also idyllic; I would love to take our kids to other places in Michigan too. I think that’s only feasible if we have a longer trip.

In a couple years, once our boys are a little older – I would also love to give our parents the option to keep our kids in Michigan for a week or 2 longer than we stay. Bryan and I can get back to work. Then, the kids can have a little longer reprieve from the Texas heat and spend more time with family.

Finally, once or twice a  year, I will probably try to visit Michigan sans kids to see my friends and my sisters in Metro Detroit. That would be just a quick trip – a long weekend and that will definitely feel like a vacation! 

Truthfully, I don’t see us coming back to Michigan for the holidays or at least not very often if we do. Planning trips around those weekends is just so, so expensive. Maybe, we will consider it in the future for Thanksgiving as our parents get older. Selfishly, I don’t really want to travel around Christmas. I like the idea of creating our memories for the holidays in our home with the four of us. 

In summary, this trip/vacation was a definite eye-opener for me. We have some work to do in navigating the challenges of living away from our families. I’m hopeful we will figure it out though and I know things will continue to get easier as my kids grow. At the very least, I’ll hopefully not have another screaming toddler on the plane again! 

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for me below!

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