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After three weeks in the United States, our little family is back home. We’re happy to be back to our routine, but also sad to have finished a wonderful vacation. The saying “All good things come to an end” is very appropriate to how we feel about finishing a vacation at Higgins Lake.

There aren’t many places that can hold our interest for three full weeks, but Higgins Lake does. This year, we had many of our extended family members come at the same time, which made the trip so fun. From my parents, my brother, my grandmother, and my aunt and uncle’s family of five, and even my cousin and her little family, we had so many people at the lake that there was always something happening.

And of course it is the people that really make the vacation. We had the cabin to ourselves for a few days, which was fun, but the atmosphere definitely picked up when the rest of the family showed up. We were really happy to have my grandma there, who is of course our children’s great grandmother. With my parents there, that made four generations all together! We enjoyed this opportunity for her to see our youngest child, and for our older child to form a real memory of her, as she is now old enough to recollect this event.

Our children of course latched on to my cousins, who are in their teenage years. It was a happy moment for me to see them grown up, as I remember when I was their age and they were just infants. Now we are the family with young children, looking forward to having children who are old enough to do more things.

They were very gracious, and spent many hours playing with our children, who just wanted to do little kid things. My cousins were great with them, which made us so happy as parents. But after three weeks, it was time for us to go.

That moment provides a good opportunity for us to evaluate our home life, and how that compares to vacation. I love vacation, and there’s no better place I love to spend my days off than at Higgins Lake, so I had been looking forward to it for a long time. And yet, after three weeks at the lake, I was ready to go home. Higgins Lake is special because we don’t spend all our time there. If we did, over time it would just be a routine.

We already have a good routine in Rambouillet, and it provides the feeling of home for us. It definitely sets us apart as the family that flies back to France, while many of our extended family drives home.

This year I made a bit of a mistake by taking long layovers in New York City in both directions of our return trip. We were tired in both instances, and I found that when I am focused on getting to Higgins Lake or home, I can’t enjoy New York City, especially with two little children in tow.

But we were the only part of our extended family eligible to cross the Atlantic this summer, with the global pandemic leading European countries to ban American tourism for the time being. As French residents, we were still eligible to travel. We’re happy to be back in our residence where we belong.