Last week, my family vacationed at the beach. It was a glorious 7 days of sun, sand, relaxation and rejuvenation. We enjoyed one another immensely, and I would have said the week was absolutely perfect—except for one thing.

Our green living practices did not travel with us.

It started before we left – I bought bottled water for the car ride. Ordinarily, I would have the girls fill up their own water bottles, but we were planning a nonstop road trip with no way to refill.

It got worse when we did our grocery shopping upon arrival—we chose a condo with a kitchen to cook our own meals rather than spend money at restaurants all week. My vast collection of grocery bags? At home. Did I remember to request paper instead of the environmentally worse plastic? Nope.

Then came the constant showers—I did mention the sand, right? We showered at the cabana on the way out of the beach. Then, we all took full showers when we returned to our villa. The vast amount of water we used in a week is beyond my comprehension.

I did dutifully sort my garbage and recycling—but couldn’t find a drop off location. I considered loading our recycling trash into the car, until the hubby set them on the ground outside our door, and we saw the bugs descend.

And, don’t get me started on the gas—flying with 3 kids? Not living inexpensively. Driving across 4 states? Not living green.

Especially when your daughter gets sick in the middle of a 5mph traffic nightmare and your husband throws the cup out the window! While I appreciated not driving the next 30 minutes with a cup of vomit in our vehicle, I have never EVER in my life littered. But last week? We littered. On the highway.

My little green freak was too sick to be horrified. I won’t be reminding her of the incident now that she’s well. Instead, we’re moving forward as if our little break from green living never occurred. We’re home now, where we tend our organic garden, stir the compost bin and regularly use aluminum water bottles, curbside recycling and reusable grocery bags.

It won’t help our efforts to dwell on mistakes and get discouraged. It’s over—we can only do hope to do better next time.