My wife and I reflect upon our 13.5 years together in two primary ways. Fear not: I'll focus only upon the positives here (:))))  -----   The romantic in me would hope to hear the distinction made between the time we first met and the time we first declared our love for one another. The marketer in me might let our demographics, say, our marital status do the talking, i.e., married or single. But the practical person (buried way down deep) makes IMHO a more meaningful distinction - and the one that aptly distinguishes our two worlds: the time before we had children and the time since then. -----   Before, everything was different. We were free to do whatever we wanted to do, wherever we wanted to do it, and whenever we wanted to do it. We were held back only by professional commitments and budgetary consideration. -----  After an embarrassingly long and impossibly glamorous trip to St. Barth's, we decided - together - to have children. After all, where else does one go after that? St. Barth's is a very difficult place to top in terms of offering... excellent food, lots of fun things to do, a distinctive & welcoming culture, unique shopping, beautiful beaches, luxurious accommodations, incredible weather and tasty nightlife - all the things I look for in a vacation. Moreover, it was time as we were, ourselves, running out; we knew that couples in their mid-thirties who were truly ready for children often encountered problems actually having them. -----  Once we became married with children, our vacations changed radically. At first, we stopped taking them as we didn't want to be away from our newborn and it seemed uncool to put her on a plane at such a tender age. Once we got over it and oh-so occasionally ventured out on our own, we felt guilty and besides all our conversations were about them. We tried traveling with 2 year-olds but that didn't go so well; we were practically asked to de-plane, mid-flight. ----- Now that our daughters are plane-friendly, we go on family vacations. They are lovely affairs but they are not what they used to be. Our happiness is now directly driven by how happy our children are. To make them happy is to do what they want. The challenge is suggesting options that are at least partly of interest to us - this way, everyone has a good time. These are vacations with a lower-case "v." ----- We recently took a week-long trip to Mexico with another couple and our collective offspring. A fun time was had by all and it was fun because our children enjoyed themselves. Together, we ate and played and enjoyed the culture and shopped and swam together; we even lived in the same room. We got some (but not enough) time to sun bath as we shared child-watching duties. We got some (but not enough) time to drink and venture off the property - with one of the two other adults we travelled with - as we shared baby-sitting responsibilities. ----- I have learned to enjoy these family vacations and now far better appreciate what my own parents went through when they took me along. Family vacations are wonderful things and are best enjoyed when sandwiched (or rotated) between Vacations without the family. The hedonist in me misses having time to read a book a day and wander off the property - with my own wife - to do whatever we want, wherever we want, whenever we want. But it's a small price to pay when all we'd do, while enjoying our long-lost freedom, is talk about our children anyway...