Poll Results - Summer Vacation Fun

This was one of the most interesting results for me - mostly because Sutton and Charlotte didn't dominate!

And, I'll say, that I fully agree with the results.

The Thompson Family –

Madilyn and Elizabeth’s summer vacations would be very… structured. Well-planned, I should say. After all, Sutton is her mother’s daughter.

Unfortunately, they don’t have ample time for vacations and outings together with the entire family, as Charlotte would frequently be too busy to take weeks off at a time.

Sutton would make time for special beach days and weekend trips up to Martha’s Vineyard with her family with the girls, whether or not Charlotte will be able to join them.

But Madilyn and Elizabeth would both be enrolled in different summer camps, for several weeks during the summer, as well. Typically based in activities they like or places their friends are going to.

They definitely make time to spend a week or two on vacation as a family every year, and it’s always to somewhere the kids would be thrilled to go. Theme parks, resorts, and – especially when they get a little older – international trips.

And Charlotte is very much the parent that will go big in terms of renting an entire amusement part out or going to insanely exclusive resorts: anything to ensure her family’s privacy while they all have time to be together.

The Parker Family (nee Dalton) –

Caroline is 100% into planning trips for the three of them to go on!

By the time Abbie is in high school, though, (a time we are nearing very soon, canonically, in the HCLU!) she is very dedicated to soccer and ends up going to intensive soccer camps for most of the summer throughout her teenage years.

Because of that, Caroline takes to planning trips that are 3 or 4 days – things that can be packed into long weekends. Road trips, trips to the lake.

If Caroline and Hannah can finagle it, they do their best to try to nab a longer vacation with Abbie in the few weeks between camp and school starting.

The Vandenberg/Watson Family –

If you think Taylor is not singlehandedly the most fun her niece and nephew have all summer, you’re crazy!

Brooke is most definitely more of a fan of… structure. Like, when Taylor volunteers to have Jo or Henry for a sleepover at their home, Brooke plans out the whole itinerary, including an age appropriate bed time.

Taylor loves having Jo or Henry in her care for the day – she’ll happily bring them along to the yoga studio or, if she has the day off, on little day trips and adventures.

And they fucking love it, because – who wouldn’t love being spoiled by their favorite aunt?!

The Beckett-Sharpe Family –

CRYING at how low they were in terms of votes, but also crying because it is so accurate.

Listen, I guess the way to look at it is… fun is in the eye of the beholder?

Jamie will absolutely be attending science camps and doing a lot of scholarly activities during school holidays. BUT she actually enjoys them!

Especially because a lot of these activities are a joint effort between Ellie and Mia. She does get involved in a lot of little science experiments, but also gets to run wild in their backyard, which is full of age appropriate acrobatics. Bonus points: when they built the backyard play area, Ellie taught Jamie all about the physics behind it all.

The Beckett Family –

Riley and Gianna’s family won the poll with resounding results: and for good reason.

Gianna is a stay-at-home parent, for the most part. She does work on her lingerie line, but does all of her design work out of the house. And, after such a terrible upbringing with her own parents, she is very, very dedicated to being a present and involved parent to the children she considers herself very lucky to have with the love of her life.

Riley, though not working from home, always reserves 2 or 3 full weeks on summer vacations to spend with her girls, as well. She has so many memories of how much fun she and Ellie had with their parents during the summers, and she wants that for her children, too.

Together, she and Gianna come up with a whole host of summer ideas for the girls – and the girls all get input, as well.

The week before summer break, everyone gets to throw in an idea for something they want to do for the summer. Whether it’s daily activities like arts and crafts, special movie nights, building giant forts in the house, going to work with Riley (something all of the girls love to do, especially when Uncle Joel lets them play with the cameras in his off time).

They go on weekend trips frequently, as well as going on international vacations – the only thing Gianna has positive memories from in her upbringing is having had the ability to see the world. So, she wants that for her kids, too.

No expense is spared on fun and together-time – and they frequently take cousin Jamie along on their adventures as well (and Ellie and Mia, too, if it’s a bigger trip)