12 July 2011

Our Family Vacation { Figure 8 Island }

After an amazing two weeks at the beach and a very long drive home I am back and ready to get to work. Ok, well… really...I'm totally overwhelmed by everything that is on my to do list and I have no idea how I'll get it all done, but I am back and I do feel refreshed.

The beach was absolutely amazing. I feel so blessed that we're able to sneak away for two weeks each summer for a little family time. The first couple days of my trip were spent in Raleigh, NC with one of my dearest friends. Emily and I met our freshman year of college at Ohio University and were housemates our senior year. Her son, Colin, is Jonas' age and they hit it off great, which meant lots of catch up time for mama and Emily. And boy did we have A LOT to chit chat about. I love hanging out with old friends and I love that even though we don't see each other as often as we should we ALWAYS pick up on the same page. This girl is amazing and we decided to do this trip every year.

After our too short of a visit with Emily we packed up and headed to Figure 8 Island. This is the same spot where we vacation every summer. Unfortunately, Jon came down separate because he had to stay and work through the weekend and shut down the restaurant (we close every July fourth week). I picked him up bright and early on Sunday morning and we hit the fish market. Speaking of....that's one of the best things about being close to the water...the fresh fish. For those of you who don't know, our restaurant is primarily seafood so we love hitting up the fish market and chatting with the locals about the season and what's coming in daily.

The rest of our week was spent enjoying the warm summer sun, the ocean waves and family. Now, I will admit that this trip wasn't quite as relaxing as trips in the past. It's hectic and nonstop with three kids, especially when two want to just swim in the ocean and the other one wants to crawl everywhere. When I got into bed last night and opened my book I was a little sad to see that I only made it to page eight. Yes, that’s right, page eight. I remember back in the day when I would read two books on vacation. I've got awhile till I get back to that point, but I don't mind. I want to enjoy every minute of our hectic life because I know it's going way too fast. In fact, during my long beach walks I spent a lot of time reflecting on who I am and what direction I want to take my life...but I'll post on that later this week. I also found it difficult to balance my time. I spent the days running around and playing with the kids, making breakfast and lunch and trying to get a workout in all while hanging out with Jon and the rest of the family. By the time we had dinner and I got Jess to sleep and the boys in bed my adult time really just began. I don’t get to hang out as often as I would like with my sister, brother and sister in law AND my parents all at the same time so we definitely stayed up later than we should have. We would hang out with my parents on the back deck, listen to music and sip wine. One night we even had a good poke game going. And I must say my mom really surprised us! She took me out. After the parents went to bed the “kids” would head to the beach to hang out. It was awesome to hang out with family, but every morning I told myself I needed to go to bed earlier. That never happened, but it was worth it!

So, I've decided to break our trip up into three posts. This is the first with some pictures from Raleigh and Figure 8 Island. The second will be our July 4th and the last will be from the weekend that we spent at Wrightsville Beach. Our house rental ended on Friday so Jon and I stayed with my parents until Monday, but we moved locations and went a little further south to Wrightsville.

WARNING: Very very photo heavy. The next couple posts will probably have tons of pictures. Thought I would warn you in advance.

Raleigh
Heading into Raleigh. The kids and I drove straight there. They were troopers. We did it in nine hours and only stopped twice.

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Emily with her son Colin.
And yes, we stayed up one night and drank wine and built legos. The things we do for our kids....
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Driving over the bridge to the island.
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As soon as we arrived the first thing the boys did was jump in the ocean.
Cloths and all.
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Jessica and cousin Colin.
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My super cute parents.
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6 comments:

  1. beautiful! looks like a wonderful vacation!
    nothing like the peaceful beaches of north carolina! we lived in ocean city, md for ten years-loved scooting down to nc to chill!

    following from mamalovespapa:)

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  2. Ahhh, the ocean! Looks like your boys loved the water! Gotta love the family vacays.

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  3. Hello Elizabeth,
    I would say that your family vacation was a huge success. Don’t feel bad my Mom always beats everyone at cards as well but we always have so much FUN! Thanks for sharing. Smiles, Paula

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  4. @hannah Thank you! And thanks for the follow :)

    @Melissa they LOVED the water. couldn't get them out!!

    @Paula those moms are sneaky....my dad did warn us though.

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  5. The water pictures are TOO PRECIOUS! They are adorable. So glad you guys had fun, sorry it had to end! <3

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  6. Love it! So wish we could have hung out longer!

    Steph

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