Family Vacation

I’m emerging from sewing 700 tags on t-shirts to share a bit of vacation I am longingly remembering from last week. Bear with me, I tried my best, but 28 pictures is my edited group.

I am grateful for siblings and parents that like each other and want to share every waking (or sleeping) moment together. We traveled to Lake Anna, 30 minutes north of Richmond, Virginia to a rental property my sister-in-law Sonya found. It was a gorgeous property. The long piece of land that could  be viewed from the big windows of the second floor kitchen/living space was ideal for vacationing with kids. The moments when they were pent up with energy I would send them running, running, running, to the end of the point. Only once did I care to leave the compound because the surroundings truly were that convenient – playground, beach/lake, kayaking.

Oh, the kayaking. I love kayaking. Ocean kayaking with dolphins is the ultimate. Lake kayaking is ideal for beginners – zero waves. The days where I was outnumbered by children (most days) I got creative and tug-boated many on or behind. It was my idea of a truly successful vacation. And I also learned that Savannah, my six year old niece, is a killer kayaker. Tugging behind me she quickly mimicked my moves and she was well on her way to pulling her own weight. Rory also found a new love in “boating” and declared the whole fleet hers. We even ended vacation with a kayak parade, simply because we could.

Grandbabies fussed when Oma was swept away with Papa for a day here or a day there because they had already established a routine by day two: breakfast 7am, swim 8am, tub time 10ish, movies and snacks in Oma’s room, followed by lunch, yard play, naps (protested this part of the day), more swimming, more snacks, more movies, bed. Admittedly I was as zonked as they were by 8pm. An up and downside of vacationing with small children. Chris might have had the right idea golfing alone a few days. Cody gave me his best impression of how he thought his Daddy’s day was going:

Nights were filled with smores by the fire, games of Catan, and snoring babies in bunk beds.

We visited with Alex, my favorite little brother. Who graced as us with his presence all the way from San Francisco. He even brought his friend Andrew who was a super sous chef most nights to whoever’s turn it was to cook. Andrew also endured much by meeting us all for the first time including five kids between the ages of 0-6. He survived with flying colors.

Family Vacation 2013 was a true success! To enjoy family, all together, for an entire week is something none of us take for granted. We are all well aware that it would be easy to say no, but it is important to all of us to love, to live, to laugh through this thing called life.