Enjoying the final week of summer vacation.
I dream about visiting Venice and Paris and Barcelona and Athens and Copenhagen....
But these days the best place for our family to bond and make memories is right here. Close to home with the warm sand, the ocean waves, and the salty air.
"And there is a time for every event under heaven." -Ecclesiastes
There is nothing quite like roaming around a 100 acre park for a day.
We had so much fun.
We were exhausted.
One of us still had the energy to climb a tree.
Making memories with my peeps.
Dearest Outer Banks, NC,
Oh how I love thee,
For helping us create so many wonderful memories,
And for providing such a beautiful place for us to bond.
We shall be back.
Please don't ever change,
Please remain forever Simple and Pure and oh so very Welcoming.
Thank you.
We spent a week at the beach. It was cold and windy but the sun came out most days and we had the best time ever. All three kiddos are already looking forward to renting the same house next year.
I mainly took photos at the beach but we also spent a lot of time eating out and cooking in (why is it more fun to make pancakes for breakfast in someone else's house?). The house we rented had a pool table and we played a lot of pool. We took a four wheel drive tour to see the island's wild horses and we took lots of bubble baths. I read a lot. We ate the yummiest hot maple & chocolate donuts here. And we took walks - lots and lots of walks each day along the beach. But most of all we made new memories and shared new experiences. For many years I underestimated the importance of time away from home for our family. But there's something about being away that makes every single member of our family breathe deeper, step lighter, require less stuff (hardly anything really) and forget to bicker. Maybe it was the daily ice cream sundaes we made with tons of strawberries and whipped cream.....hmmm.
Finally, I'd like to share a bit about how my views on editing down the number of photos I take has changed recently. For the past several years I have been editing my photos down in number quite a bit - I have been deleting what appear to be duplicates, photos in which one of us looks unhappy, photos that are not perfectly clear, photos of the kiddos doing like things....How many photos do I need of my kiddos sliding down a sand hill anyway? Well it turns out I need lots. Ever since I started organizing and documenting my photos with project life I have realized that I had forgotten so many of the fun things that we've done and most of the places we've visited over the years - really! And I need lots and lots of photos to truly remember. So while I will continue to edit down my clothes, books, and stuff to solely what I need and use I will no longer do the same with my photos. From now on I will keep the imperfect, the similar, the blurry because I want to be able to recall ALL of our moments - not just the ones I deemed "good photos" at the time.
Do you edit down your photos a lot? How do you decide what to keep or delete? Do you ever feel it's those blurry, imperfect shots you may miss the most?
We spent Thanksgiving 2012 in Washington DC.
We had a blast.
We ate Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant for the first time ever.
I missed cooking a turkey and all our favorite sides but realized that all that truly matters is that we are together.
I'm blogging about this in january 2013 because I don't journal or scrapbook and rarely print my photos. I'm afraid that if I don't record it here I may forget.
I cannot afford to forget a single moment because the years are flying by. My children used to look like this.
Thank you for coming along on this journey with us!
I have been absent for so long but keep coming back to this bloggy space because you all have been so good to me. Thanks so very much!
