Beating post-vacation blues

Ellen, left, and Ann follow mom and dad into the grocery store after getting off a nine-hour flight home.

By Jane Han

So here we are, back in the Texas heat, as I sit here trying hard to recall the very best moments of our month-long vacation in Hawaii.

Playing with sand on the beach, cooling off with the ocean breeze and hearing the palm trees sway, taking afternoon dips in the pool, getting spoiled like crazy by grandma and grandpa, and simply living every day like a vacation without obsessing over naptimes and house chores ― the past month was true paradise, especially for the kids.

I intended to share more details about the trip, but jetlag has invaded my brain yet again.

And so I’ll just stop bragging and move on to life back at home.

Ah yes, the post-vacation blues.

Jetlag is nothing new, but cooking three meals a day though.

Was it this hard? Really, this hard?

The morning we arrived, I managed to drag myself to the supermarket and hauled back home bags of groceries, but between jetlag and three kids, it’s not easy getting food on the table.

What else isn’t easy is that all three girls are sleeping on a different schedule.

It’s my fault for not being strict with their naptime and bedtime the day we arrived home.

So now, three days later, I’m pretty much stuck staying up all day and most of the night attending to at least one child who is awake and wants to eat something or drink something or do something.

I have quite a bit of jetlag experience under my belt, so although this present moment feels tiring to the bone, I know this too shall pass in about a week’s time.

Despite dealing with the post-trip blues, I can see that everyone is still glad to be back home.

Ellen, Ann and Lauren couldn’t be happier to be reunited with their toys.

Advice for parents: If your child is getting tired of his toys, go on a vacation. The time spent away from them will most definitely kindle the spark again.

My girls have yet to ask me to “turn something on” for them as they are spending almost all day going in and out of their playroom, building LEGO, playing kitchen, and just having so much fun after not having access to any kind of substantial play item for the past four weeks.

Yes, sometimes, deprivation is a good thing.

As for me, I, too, am glad to have returned to my essentials ― vacuum cleaner, washing machine and kitchen goods.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

But I bet other moms secretly agree or at least understand what I mean.

When you have kids, you want to be the most efficient as you could possibly ever be.

For the past month, I stayed at a fully-furnished condo so I was equipped to do all the basic chores that I would need to do. But not having all the right stuff I like and am used to slows me down easily by a third.

OK, now I’m starting to sound like a competitive clean freak.

So after an extended vacation in a place like Hawaii, the five of us minus Lauren, who can’t talk yet, randomly and ironically find ourselves talking about how much we’re glad to be home again.

The one thing we miss dearly is my parents, and for the kids, their grandparents.

Ellen and Ann abruptly look for grandma and grandpa even while they’re playing among themselves. They miss getting and giving hugs.

I don’t blame them.

The best part of my vacation was being with my mom and dad.

The worst part about living half way across the world is that no one really knows exactly when we’ll see each other again.

Just to lessen the sadness of goodbyes, I intentionally and forcefully emphasize a date when we’ll ``likely’’ travel to Korea, but deep down inside, I know that that date has no significance.

But still, we part ways holding onto that date.

Who knows when our next vacation will happen?

It always takes a week or two to get over all kinds of shades of vacation blues, but this time, I’m in a rush.

Ellen and Ann will be entering preschool in just two weeks.

Time to get the girls ready for school!

From backpacks and lunch boxes to nap mats, so many things to purchase and prepare for the Big Day.

All the details about back to school season next time.