Our Time to Breathe

It is no joke or exaggeration that the days pass sometimes with one breath or within a blink.  The tasks I have set before me are still sitting there because a whole new set of surprise tasks decided to jump and demand attention that day.  I want to sit and play with my kids, roll around and giggle, taking mental pictures of every smile.  But, instead the laundry, house cleaning, and general maintenance of this house and family take up a majority of my day.  

Oak Island North Carolina is our breathing spot.  We have visited there 8 times now and spent some of the best times of our lives there.  Last year we had our Vow Renewal there and this year we just needed a renewal of spirit, patience and vigor.  This was the first time we had ever been there alone without family or friends joining us.  It was time just carved out for us.

 The ocean waves and smell of the salty air were welcomed after a LONG night in the van.  

During the week we spent a lot of time playing in the waves, getting sand (oh, so much sand) in unmentionable places, watching Olympics, eating, snacking, laughing and sleeping (the name of our house was "The Nap Monster" after all).  There wasn't any profound adventures or new places we visited.  It was a week just about being us.  It was what we needed.  A re-centering.  

Here is a Photo Journal Tour of our Moment to Breathe...

Our view

The girls loved breakfast on the TALL chairs every morning.  The Mommy and Daddy "cooking show" with the funny voices gained many laughs.

Crafts were made

Waves were played in

How many heads do you see?

This is how we get sand in those places!

Low tide means time for kite flying!

kite spring injury around the ankle.  She's out!  But, she has Kitty, so all is good.

Craft table was constantly a high traffic zone.  Wish I had a space I could always do this at home.

Sisters!

Oh yeah!  We were there too!

Ferry to the Fort Fisher Aquarium

Grossly overpriced Hurricane Machine we just had to try.

Cowabunga Dude!!!

The things we let our children do to us!

Us...

Oh, so Journey.  Next performance coming right up!

Tranquil Trinity

Lana banana

Sunshine Skyla

Goodbye Ocean!  See you next year!!

Ocean, you will be DEARLY missed, but, as usual, you have given us loads of wonderful memories to cling to during our festivities of chaos.