Vacation Memories

We vacation each year on a peaceful island off the coast with my dad and one of my sisters just an hour from the town where I grew up. Although the ocean is only five miles from my parent's house, there is nothing quite like having it mere steps away from your front door and, since we need not travel far to have that luxury, we don't!

Some of my favorite moments:

~ My boys having a blast swimming and playing in the sandbar.
~ Short and spontaneous 'dates' for lunch, coffee or just a walk with my husband. (With three little ones we have to do whatever works!)
~ Enjoying the company of friends and family who visited. (Another perk to vacationing near home!)
~ Lots of girl time to chit-chat with my sister.
~ Afternoon walks to the coffee shop for iced chai teas.
~ Watching my boys with their ear-to-ear smiles as they enjoyed the rides!
~ One-on-one time with my middle guy, coloring on the front porch.
~ Playing Red Light, Green Light while watching the sunset over the bay.
~ Eating ice cream sundaes every night.
~Soaking up my oldest boy's anticipation for his walk to the market for a newspaper each morning with Grandpa.
~ Treating our boys to their first taste of cotton candy!
~ Walking to the used book store with just my husband while all three boys napped and picking out new books to read together.
~ Window shopping and gathering crafty inspiration at the cute little shops with my sister.
~ Gazing at all the beautiful homes and daydreaming about owning one someday.
~ Walking to the candy shop so the boys could pick out six pieces of salt water candy each. They even got their own little paper bags to put it in. :)
~ Lazily browsing through magazines on the beach with my sister while the boys napped.

Of course, being the homebody that I am, the longer we were away, the more attractive our cozy little house became so that it was quite the sweet reunion when we pulled up our driveway at the end of the week. Some of my favorite things to return to included our king-size, memory foam bed (I've become a bit spoiled), my big, cozy tea mug, my convenient gas stove, my beloved sewing machine, and my sweet little Pippa.

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Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;

- John Howard Payne