Vacation- All I ever wanted! Vacation- Had to get away!

I went on vacation and fell in love.  Yes, it’s true.  I went with expectations of enjoying some time with my family and maybe catching some good beach time but it turns out, I fell in love.  Many of you know Clint could not go with me on this trip.  It was me and the kids and a total of 23 people in one house.  Yet, each morning, I would sneak away to meet my new baby and we would spend a few stolen moments together.

We met here the first morning I was there.  I was just relaxing on the beach and he caught my eye.

It’s not like I could resist jumping up to see him and meet him.  I knew my eagerness would scare him away but it did not.  He approached me cautiously but didn’t flee.  My heart leaped with joy.  In 17 years of vacationing here, this had never happened to me. What I thought was a one time meeting became an every day experience.  At the same time every day I would race to the beach to meet him and there he was.  Even my son met him face to face.  I suppose my only regret is that we missed each other my last day at the beach.  Maybe he was too sad.  Maybe he knew I would be too sad.  Maybe it was the idiot teenagers chasing everything that moved in the water that caused him to stay away.  Perhaps it was for the best.  Goodbyes are never easy.  I tried to get a picture of him one day, but he raced off too quickly.

This is a rendering of him along with a picture that looks very much like he does:

What?  Like you never went to the beach and met a sea turtle that you had a crush on and then met up with him every day? Oh, please, it isn’t like that kind of stuff just happens to me.  Is it?

But it wasn’t just folicking with sea turtles.  Oh, no!

Everyday I spent laughing with people I love, sharing amazing food and spending time relaxing and refocusing.  I did a lot of writing.  This was the view from my office:

Oh, but it certainly was not all work!  Not at all!  I spent some wonderful time with these people whom I love:

I think some of my favorite times were spent with my brother and sister.  We always laugh when we are together.  Always.  Being with them is so good for my soul.

Of course, I spent time with my amazing children.  And, well, you know the tale: Getting two teenage boys to pose for more than a couple of pictures is sheer TORTURE.  It is practially downright abusive to them.  But, I did get a few.  Here is one of my favorites with my and my babies:

At the end of the day, there was much to laugh about.  Especially for your kids when they knew that you were about to be attacked by a flock of seagulls.  And totally not the kind that will sing to you.  The kind that absolutely will poop on you.

But at the end of the day we all enjoyed beautiful sunsets together.  We knew another perfect day was ending when we saw this:

Though some of us night owls tended to get back up after the house of 23 was quiet and calm.  when we did, we were treated to beautiful sites such as this:

So, there is a brief glimpse into my vacation.  Oh, there are tons more pictures I could share but the time, the bandwidth, the “that is so sucking vacation chill from me” is going to cut it here.  (I have many more on Facebook!)