Escape, heal, bond, bask, live, slow, enjoy.
Her sandy beaches, her sun-lit skies, her dry roads and fragrant air called to us and once again we drove over twenty-four hours to park ourselves for two weeks in her warmth. Florida is like home to us now. My husband and I have vacationed there every year since we were eighteen. Our children are quite enjoying the tradition and we never stopped praising our God for His countless blessings in the past several days. I'm rather missing the habit of writing them down... just to "set in stone" that I really am thankful :)
Gratitude:
658. for warm weather every day of our vacation
659. for little girls' polka-dot skirts
660. for white stuff on the ground that's not cold :)
661. how he read the Word in the morning in that lawn chair
662. for sibling helpers
663. for my starfish-finding girl... because she's a seeker
664. for how he never wanted to take those goggles off and he called them, "rogger-goggles"
665. for flip-flops and a week and a half with no leotards!
666. the way she bonded with her sister in that back seat (for so many hours, it could have been difficult!)
667. how she looks deeply at all her findings and loves collecting 
668. the way he loved the ocean and wanted to go shark hunting
10 comments:
I've missed your blog!! But happy to hear (and see!) that you had such a wonderful vacation. What a GREAT tradition!
Great pictures! You're making me very envious!! Sounds like a great trip.
WONDERFUL post Heather!! Such GORGEOUS photos and thankful list!! Welcome HOME!! Crazy LONG drive...just like California is for us. But, for warmth, Florida is much better this time of year...what a blessing to have that trip as a yearly tradition. :) We've been to Florida once...it's a very interesting place. I like the boardwalks...something we don't really have much of here.
Love to you!
Camille
I love your photos, Heather! You are such a talented photographer and great mom and wife! Thanks for sharing your blessings with us :o)!
What a great vacation!!! I love all the photos - especially the one with no leotards and lots of flip flops! The shark hunting thing is cute, too.
HOORAY for sunny vacations when you've got winter weather at home!! Those are the BEST! I'm so happy for you, Heather, that you and your family were able to take a break together.
Loved the pictures!
Oh what a wonderful time Heather! I'm so glad you all got a few warm weeks to enjoy and relax. Love the sweet curious kids. Beautiful!
I had been wondering where you were... :) I'm so glad you all had such a fabulous trip. How do the kids fare with the drive? The longest we've done is 6 hours to the beaches in California. I can't imagine 24 hours. Hurray for grace and such a beautiful destination!
Thanks, Friends, for the lovely comments!
Heather: the kids are so great in the van all the way. I save the portable dvd player until many hours into the trip and only play one movie so that they don't have over-stimulation right away. That way, they can play license plate games and colour and read before they get "desperate" :)
I always pick them up a few new items from the dollar store and each child gets a little bucket below their seat filled with these goodies. We've been doing it since they were babies and two of them were one month old at the time of our trip. I nursed, burped, and changed them at every gas station and they slept in between! Oh, the memories!
Doing it since birth really helps, I bet. Our kids fly well, because they are used to it since we would make several trips to the midwest and WashDC every year...
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