Post Vacation Synopsis.....

Liam OBVIOUSLY too cool for the pool.

You know those vacations you go on where you think to yourself on the way home, "that was one heck of a vacation"?  I just had such a week.  Our dear group of friends decided to escape the sweltering Illinois weather by hightailing it to the gulf coast - St. Joe style. We packed up our cars, our children, and our babysitters (we took our two favorite twenty-somethings) and hit the road in search of white sandy beaches, bloody marys by the pool, and seafood dinners at night.

We were not disappointed.

 

Our trip started out on Friday when Dustin packed our tiny little hatchback full of beach gear and babies.  We got in tons of pool time, lots of eating, and even some much-needed adult time when our awesome twenty-somethings took over every night around bed time.

 

Our week started on Saturday, which also happened to be the day I lost my cell phone - never to be seen again.  I know this seems like an irrelevant beach update sub-point, but it was a surprisingly large part of our trip.  Mostly because I couldn't stop talking about it.  There was something liberating about not having a cell phone all week.  However, when I finally reactivated my father-in-laws old school flip phone circa 2006 I was slightly disappointed to hear that all I had missed out on for an entire week was one returned call from a friend and one wrong number meant for someone named Marliese from her aunt named Marliese.  I think Orlando Bloom and all of my super popular friends lost my number.

 

We spent many late nights out on the porch laughing endlessly at our own antics, as well as those of a speedo-clad Youtube celebrity that shall remain nameless.  (Mostly because I want to forget about him and his wily ways.)

 

Miles and Liam both learned to love the water - following the fearless lead of their good buddy Caleb.  

 

These friends....started out as my husband's high school friends...and have turned in to so much more for us.  To all live in one house, to laugh together, and love each other....that's pretty amazing.  I have to say that on Sunday as I was sitting around catching up on things I had missed, I missed them.

The only dreadful thing is this:

This weeklong vacation, this wrap-up to this chapter in our lives.....THIS is going to be the hardest part.  I can't help but think of it as a terrible joke - a tease of the universe.

  Another example of everything we're leaving behind.

But I do know this:

I know that no matter where we end up, no matter where the road leads us, these will be our dear friends....our chosen family.

(Especially if one of the above mentioned couples gets a the pool they've been semi-promising me.)