Vacation

Nothing slaps parenthood in your face like a vacation post-kids.  Years ago, trips to Rehoboth involved laying on the beach all day, listening to great music and reading lots of books.  Throw in a few impromptu naps on the beach and some bonding time with family and it was perfection.  This year, between juggling naps and feeding schedules, golfing for the guys and a little bit of work, it hit me: vacationing with kids is really just a vacation for them and a change of scenery for us.  Thankfully, my mom has more energy than all of us combined, and my parents watched the kids one night so each of the couples could go out on their own date night.  It was glorious.

The highlight of this vacation was watching Owen fall in love with the beach.  He went from:

toto

And, by the end of the week he was begging everyone to take him back out in the water.  He loved playing with his cousins, burying Uncle Andy in the sand and getting ice cream on the boardwalk.  At one point he randomly turned to my dad and said "Pop Pop, thank you for taking me to the beach."

One of my favorite moments (which I couldn't capture on camera because I was juggling Nora and a heavy beach bag of stuff) was watching Louisa, Owen and Griffin walking side-by-side, holding hands down the road to the beach.  Their love for each other, excitement for the beach and how grown up they seemed struck me.  Thankfully, I had my sunglasses on to disguise my tears so the lady walking next to us didn't think I was completely losing it trying to juggle four kids.

Vacation was wonderful this year simply because of the smiles on their faces, their giggles and shrieks of laughter, and the reminder that we are so abundantly blessed because of them.  So, even though I missed having more time to relax, go for a run or go shopping on the boardwalk, it was that much more fulfilling spending it with these guys: