Ten days away

We’re home. Ten days away seems like a moment, and a century. Because I am so big and slow and sore, I pretty much just sat and contemplated my children, my marriage and my life while I watched my family play the days away. I observed my thought patterns and recognized how often I was tempted to interfere, interject or intercede, but was too tired to bother. And in the absence of all of my chatter, I was able to simply witness my family and who each person really is. I felt emotions swell up inside of me like the waves nearby on the sand, and then pull away. I heard my internal judge, my editor, and my drill sergeant rant and rave, and then be quieted by the sounds of the wind, waves, birds and laughter of the children.
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At the end of our trip, I asked the kids what their favorite parts had been. One by one they mentioned moments, places and things they experienced and Guy and I smiled at their appreciation of the days spent together. Don’t get me wrong; there were certainly squabbles and scoldings. In fact, when asked what her favorite was, Ellie said, “Everything accept when we were fighting and getting in trouble” to which Tessa chimed in, “Yah!” It wasn’t perfect, but since perfection isn’t likely when a family of six is in a packed van for 8 hours or sharing a 2 bedroom condo for a week, overall, I feel really pretty good about the whole thing.

As I flip through the pictures of the trip, I see in my heart what is not in them: Guy taking care of everything; the shopping, the cooking, the loading and unpacking, being the fun parent while mama rested, rubbing my oh-so-sore back and tummy when I couldn’t sleep, even arranging my 5 pillows so that I could try to get comfortable at night. I hear Ethan and Adam giggling in their room, the girls singing and dancing, and all of us together with nothing to do except be together. There were a million moments I didn't capture with the camera that stood still in my heart. I am so blessed to have this sweet family, to be married to a dear and devoted companion and friend, and to be welcoming another spirit into our lives soon.

Sometimes it takes time away from your life to help you to actually see how great your life is.

I have noticed that as time goes by, somehow my memories fade and only the images in the photos remain as reminders of our time spent together. I think that my heaven would be to have every memory back, crisp and new like it just happened, but until then I have my pictures.

Here are my favorite ones…

All smiles

lovely...

Sweet time with daddy, "De waves make us feewl wike we ah moving!" says Tessa.

Adam takes on the sea!

Daddy at his best

Chapter 1: I read a whole book on vacation!

The boys making a seaweed pile

She looks like a sculpture to me

Sun bunny...

dead sun bunny...

Dad showing off Adam's father's day gift to him

Is that bubble bath in our toilet? Why yes, it is. From the people upstairs!

Thank you Cartoon Network. Because of you we had a whole week of sleeping in.

Mama making a mermaid out of Ellie

then back to my chair!

Sand castle, by daddy and the girls

On this day, they insisted they WERE NOT going to get wet and left suits back at the room. Ha. Yeah, right.

One of a million smiles

Sisterly love

My gorgeous family.

Just think, next summer there will be one more smile in the pictures we take!