vacation summary

I've missed writing in this spot, sharing bits of me with you, but in exchange for not being here, I made lasting memories with mark and my boys. I have a hard time relaxing (this will come as no surprise to some of you). my tendency is to keep busy, check off items on a list, make a new list, do, do, do. can you tell why vacation may be hard for me? well, I had a few rough days to start after being in zoom mode for the past month, but after those rough days, I began to chill. sand between my toes, surf under my beach chair, sunshine warming my body, shells on the beach, kites to fly, people watching, knitting with my best friend, schedule free days, not one ring of the phone, moments to enjoy, memories to be made. vacation was slowly recharging my battery.

we had another awesome vacation in hilton head, south carolina with the quicks (john, lisa, maggie, kenzie, and john samuel). lisa was my college suitemate and best friend at grove city. and over the years (through our diligent efforts to maintain close contact) she has remained my best friend, and our families have become close as well. so we call the quicks family/friends... not just friends.

"so is it still called vacation when you go through an entire box of laundry detergent?" lisa asked as we ended our week together.
these are just a few of my favorite activity photos of our week together (john had his new canon camera with him, so there are many more photos to see-check out my flickr):

beach time- wednesday we went for a long beach walk to explore the nature of the ocean. ie search for sand dollars and star fish. along the way, we saved many star fish stuck in the sand and out of the surf.

boogie boards- last year the quicks introduced us to boogie boards and each day we would try to ride the waves. early this season, I purchased a new boogie board for mark in anticipation of his wave riding on vacation. unfortunately the waves during the morning hours, while we were at the beach, were less than rideable. john said it was the new board curse. so one evening the boys decided nighttime riding might be more fun- mark, spencer, and john spent an evening in this rough surf. connor's picture was during the day in shallow water- no worries about safety.

go fly a kite- lisa and her family each have a kite and spool they use each year at ocean city. they shared this tradition with us, and we were hooked! mark and I had the best time flying kites! the breeze was strong, so the kites were easy to put up and keep up. I don't remember flying kites as a kid; I'm sure we did, it's just not a strong memory.

happy. not wanting it to end is how I felt.

pool time- the pool buddies were back together on this vacation. if we were at the pool, connor and mark were in it! just sitting in the water proved to be the time when great conversation was shared.

our annual visit to salty dog cafe- after a day of shopping with lisa, we set up shop on the deck at salty dog cafe for our annual visit. lisa and I saved tables as mark and john organized the troops and met us for pizza and an evening of shopping. putt putt fun- we found a new favorite putt putt course-adventure cove! we had the kids in "line up" position in their salty dog t-shirts purchased the previous night!
traveling home- packed and ready to roll. as the troops gathered and said their goodbyes I snapped a few photos. how lisa and john packed that car is amazing! and yes...they were back in their salty dog tshirts.

now we're going through "quick" withdraw. our sadness of not being together will last a few days then we'll start to get back to normal and anticipate our next visit with our family/friends. thanks for the memories! all good things must come to an end, but our memories will stay with us forever.

* be sure to visit mark's blog (firstinitialp link from my page) to read his thoughts about our vacation.