Seaside Memories

 Our family loves a beach vacation where we can all relax and just have fun together.  For years, we went to Hilton Head and loved it there but then we switched to the Seaside area about 5-6 years ago and we have made so many fun memories there.  My sister and her family always come with us and last year my friend Stacy (who was my first friend--we met around 4)  and her fun, sweet and beautiful daughters came and spent time with us.  I had not seen Stacy in many many years and our kids had not seen one another since they were babies.

Luckily, every year we have a good vacation but some have definitely been better than others.  There was the year we went to Hilton Head the week before we moved here.  That was not our best vacation. We had a lot on our minds that year but we still made the best of our vacation. Then there was the year that Will scratched himself with a bird feather as we were leaving our driveway and by the time we arrived in HH he had a raging staph infection.  He was told to stay out of the sun for the week (due to antibiotics).  It's hard to stay out of the sun at the beach!  Some years we've had more rain than we'd like but still we always have fun.   Last year, for me anyway, was really, really special.  The kids were all at an age where it was effortless.  No one fought.  No one was grumpy.  We laughed and had SO much fun. It was truly one of our best family vacations.

I invited my friend, Stacy and her family to come spend a day or two with us as she lives in Florida.  We had such a blast they ended up staying with us until check out!  It was fun having a house full of kids.  I cannot say exactly what it was but it was a stand out fun vacation for me last year.  I loved it so much.

Also, the last 2 years we have coincidentally been there the same time as this kind, fun family.  I had only known Paige through blogging but she and Dan and her girls are just as wonderful in real life as they are on the blog. Paige and Dan are really fabulous parents and people.  I adore each of their girls.  They are all unique but extraordinary too.  LOVE them.  And we love Trevor too.  My boys look up to him.  Emily actually rode her bike over and spent a day with us at the beach last year and I loved spending time with her.  She has a heart of gold.  Wish I saw them all more often.

This year as we prepare to go again, I am really sad.  My sister and her family cannot come this year.  Paige and her family won't be there.  And I am not sure if Stacy will be able to come visit either (although I am still hoping they will ALL come at the last minute (denial much?))  I know we will have fun as a family.  The boys have a fishing trip planned and we are going on a dolphin/shell island boat trip.  We have our little traditions and things we love to do there. But it will be different too.

I wanted to make a little video of our trip last year but never felt totally motivated to do it until Tuesday.  It was Kate's birthday and I was missing her and needed to occupy my mind.  These take a long time to make. I worked on this on for 4 hours straight. It was a great distraction. My good friend, Shana inspired me to do this as she made an incredible one last year.

Anyway, have a look.  My favorite part is when Kate is doing my brother in law's hair in the pool and my nephew and Kate are just laughing and laughing!