3 Times I Felt "So Adult" As A Kid

While reading Buzzfeed the other day, I stumbled across a great article: "14 Times You Felt 'So Adult' As A Kid." Immediately, stories from my childhood popped into my head so I thought I'd share vignettes from just a few.

• Buying your first CD with your hard-earned allowance money. I'll never forget this day or the lyrics to any of the songs on Britney's "Baby One More Time" album. My dad, Pat and I hopped into our tiny red two-door pickup truck and went to the redemption center to cash in Bud heavy bottles for precious coins. After we received the loot, my dad took us to Strawberries' music store and let us each pick our own CD-I chose Britney Spears and Pat chose Lui Vega's "Mambo Number 5" and we spent the rest of that Saturday jamming out to our Walkman CD players. And now I feel really old because Strawberries, CD's and Walkman no longer exist.
• When you were allowed to prepare your first meal by yourself. As the youngest of five kids, we'll just say my upbringing was a little more "lax" than your standard. I can't remember how old we were (old enough), but for some reason Pat and I were home alone and hungry for some breakfast. As the older child, Pat assured me that he'd take care of breakfast for us and popped some Eggo waffles into the toaster oven...along with the plastic plate that our mom always served them on. Well, plastic and heat don't quite interact so well and we had a bit of a situation on our hands. After that, we were allowed only cereal or granola bars for breakfast and banned from using the stove or toaster oven until an adult was home. 
• The first time you got to put some fancy lipstick on. I could write about my experiences with makeup, but a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Me (middle) with my cousins Grace (left) and Eily (right) with blush, blush and more blush, just the tiniest touch of lipstick and matching bathing suits.

Do you have any great childhood stories about wanting to grow up? Comment or share!

As always, "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."-AB

Family Vacation-All I Ever Wanted

Family vacations were always cause for excitement. 5 kids, 2 parents and a dog piling into a minivan or, if we were super lucky, getting on a plane. It didn't necessarily matter what the destination was or who we were going to see, but the fact that we were changing scenery and adding a little excitement to our otherwise boring suburban lives was thrilling enough.

Disney, ski trips to Maine and Vermont, Arizona, Washington D.C., the Bahamas, Italy, Ireland twice and countless trips to our house in Claryville. These are the places we've traveled and explored together. Although I may not have realized it when I was younger, I think these family vacations have helped to make us as close as we are by creating priceless memories and shared experiences.

 Disney, 1996. Check out those grins.

Arizona, 1998, visiting the grandparents.

The "younger years" family vacations were a blast for us; they meant all-you-can-drink soda (which always made Pat throw up), no bedtime, relatives galore and best of all, missing school. We'd play the license plate game, jump on hotel beds (or cots) and devour the crappy continental breakfast as if it were decadent cuisine. While these vacations meant tons of carefree fun, I've definitely appreciated the vacations we've had in more recent years for different reasons. 

These trips were when I was 16 and we traveled to Ireland, when I was 18 and we traveled to Italy, and most recently, when everyone came to Dublin to visit me while I was studying abroad.

Ballyhaunis, Ireland 2008, in front of the house my grandfather lived in

Rome, Italy 2011 (only missing Dan, he was in flight school)

Wexford, Ireland 2013

These three family vacations all have something in common: rain. Just kidding, they were all so fun and so meaningful and so memorable, but it does happen to be raining in all three of the photos above. We make the best out of rainy days though, you just can't slow down the Quinns. I think I appreciate these trips a little more because we're all older and busier so any time that we do get to spend all together is that much more meaningful.

During our first trip to Ireland, we were able to see where my grandfather was born and lived before coming to America. The best part of this trip was that he was there to explain everything to us-from the shed he was born in to the house he eventually moved into. There were still dishes and teapots in the house, as if one day they just picked up and left. Experiencing where my family comes from with my entire family is something I'll never forget.

Now, family vacations are more about the stories we'll share with our kids someday, the time spent together and the memories created than unlimited sodas and missing school. They're about getting together, experiencing new cultures and taking time away from our busy lives to connect with each other. Some people may dread their family vacations, but for us they're an excuse to leave reality behind and have a blast together. And I guess it doesn't hurt that my family happens to be a really fun set of goofballs.

Do you have any family vacation stories? Comment or share!


As always, "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."-AB