Virginia Beach, Part 3

I know this is too many photos, but ever since I discovered how easy it is to make the blog into a book I use this as a way to scrapbook the kids' lives too so here is the third installment of our VB trip.

More fun in the pools...wading pools really are great for kids this age...

Striking serious yet cute poses at the beach...

playing together so nicely...and loving the sand and surf...I am pretty sure we are still finding sand in our suits 6 weeks later, but that's okay...

More rides and funny faces from Jon...

More surrey rides (yeah!) and more inflatable toys (0h brother) for the kids, but hey, it's vacation. At least this time it's inflatable dolphins. And the last night we went out for pizza and Noah was being silly by sticking the pizza dough (they gave to the kids to play with before the pizza was ready) to his face. What a silly boy!

And more time just to be together. It really was great to unplug and just hang out as a family. We were so present to each other, so undistracted, so totally in the moment and just having fun together. Preparing for vacation is always so much work. It's enough work to make me question why we're even going away at all. In fact, the day before we left for VA Beach I actually said to Jon, "Why are we doing this. Why don't we just stay home. Just staying home together would be relaxing too." But now I see why it's important to get away. No bills to pay, no phones to answer, no laundry to do, no flowers to water, no lawn to mow, no beds to make, no meals to cook, no grocery shopping to do, no dust bunnies taunting "clean me." We really, truly love our normal lives--our work, our friends, our home. We really, really, really do. Truly. But, this trip did remind me how fun and important it is to also get away and just be present to one another as a family. For most important reasons, see below.