Family Vacation {October 20, 21 & 22}

Wednesday (20th) was spent a lot like Monday.  After a busy Tuesday, we decided to just play on the beach near our resort, watch movies, walk around and take naps!  It was so nice!  Seaside is absolutely gorgeous and we seriously picked the best 6 days ever to be there.  It was warm, sunny, and beautiful, and the ocean is so soothing & smells so yummy.  

Thursday (21st) was our last full day at the Coast, so we took advantage of it.  We spent the day strolling Broadway street in Seaside and visiting all the cute shops.  We loved the candy shop, the toy shop, the yummy lunch at a cute diner, and window shopping at tons of other stores.  We bought a kite-fully intending to fly it later that day-and then it was too late by the time we got home & getting too chilly.  I didn't even take the camera with me this day...how bad is that?  But, the boys had a great time and we were so grateful to be there.  We went to the Carousel mall and tried to talk Grayson into riding it with one of us, but he would have nothing to do with it as he's turned into our super cautious child...So Zac took Beckham for a ride and he adored it.  That thing went super fast & honestly, I couldn't blame Grayson-I'm not much into spinning in circles myself.  That evening we got the boys fed and to bed and Zac went and got sushi for him and I as our anniversary meal.  It was amazing.  There is nothing like eating sushi near the ocean-it's the best you'll get.  We loved it all and ate every last bite and then just laid in our bed talking about the week. 
We are so grateful we took the chance to go and that we had the boys with us.  We would have missed them at home and wouldn't have been able to be gone as long without them with us.  Don't get me wrong, there were definitely moments both of us would just look at each other and say, "Whose idea was it to bring our kids?!"  And it shouldn't be called a vacation but more a road trip/memory making experience, because we definitely didn't get caught up on sleep or just lounge around.  But, it felt different.  We all were much more relaxed.  Zac and I laughed a ton, let little things with the kids roll off our shoulders, and talked and talked and talked.  And for the most part, the kids did awesome & we can't complain.  And, since I waited so long to blog about it, I honestly can't remember anything negative because we continued to laugh about things. Now to just keep that tradition alive at home! We just knew we couldn't wait to make memories for & with our kids.  We love to travel and we want our kids to love and experience that joy as well, so I think a yearly trip will be on the agenda.  I'm glad that even though we took our work with us, we still went.  That we were blessed to be able to take our work with us.

More than that though, I'm glad we came to the realization that it's not healthy to wait to live our lives.  I think we've both had this thought that because we still have business & personal loans to pay off, we don't deserve to do anything fun for ourselves or our family till those debts are paid.  Then we realized that we are doing everything we know how to meet those obligations.  We are meeting our end of the bargain in our business & personal dealings, and we shouldn't just put life on hold for 2 more years until those are paid off.  So every once in a while, we're going to do something fun as a family and keep trying to do what the Lord wants us to do most-develop a greater love for each other, while still maintaining and upholding our obligations and dealings with others.  Zac and I stayed up way too late talking and enjoying each other by ourselves and it reiterated even more how right of a decision it was to go.  Even with our kids, we were giddy around each other...much like our honeymoon, and I loved it.  Sometimes just getting away really does help relieve stress & tension.  I am so glad we had this chance & those 6 days. 

Friday (22nd) we got up early, packed the car, checked out, and said goodbye to our "beach house" as Grayson kept calling it all week.  We had a great drive home and again the boys were champion travelers.  Barely heard from either of them the whole 8.5 hours.  Zac and I talked and worked on our structural tension charts (goals) for each of us individually, our family, and our businesses.  I stayed awake the whole time with him which is rare for me on long trips and I didn't even read anything in the four books I took on our trip!  I'm such an over-packer!  We got home and dropped the cooler stuff off, got jammies for the boys and headed to my folks where they had dinner waiting for us, along with the rest of the family.  It was so nice to be back and the boys were glad to be loved on by familiar faces & to tell a little about the trip.  We realized too how nice it was to go on trips, but also how amazing it feels to come home!  We headed home and we all crashed early.  Such a great family vacation!  The first of many to come!