Home, but technically, still on vaca!

Wow, I must say my favorite vacation EVER has been the one we just took to Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. It was a spur-of-the-moment trip, planned when I blurted out to Jack and Lois, our dear friends and former neighbors from Virginia, that we should go to the Outer Banks together this summer. Well, it took Lois no time to find the most wonderful home for us to rent, and we were off. This place, the Lazy Parrot, was paradise, the perfect place to wake up and fall asleep each day, sandwiching our 4-wheel-drive outings to the sandy beaches up and down and beyond the island. I can't say what was so magical about this trip. Perhaps it was that it was our first family vacation with the four of us - Camden, Benjy, Curt and me. All together. Perhaps it was just the pure wonder of Hatteras Island. So different from any other beaches I've seen. Not commercial. Just pure sand, shells, and sea. Well, and some darn good seafood, too! Perhaps it was Jack's cooking. Man, I've MISSED that cooking since we moved away. (sniff sniff sniff) And, maybe it was the joy in the boys' eyes as they skipped in the surf, boogie boarded on the waves, and dug holes in the biggest sandbox there is. We're ready to go back. From now until next summer, we're saving vaca money each month so we can do the island again with Jack and Lois. There's really no other place to go now that we've been to Hatteras, now, is there?!

Some favorite moments from vacation:
~ OK, totally silly, but I LOVED putting my clothes in the dresser drawers in the master bedroom of the house. Insanely silly, yes, but still, it made the whole place feel like home, if just for a week.
~ Reading an entire book: Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. THIS is a good read. Probably my fave in a long time.
~ Camden and Benjy really bonded here. They played together, needed each other's company, WANTED to be together. They were truely friends here.
~ Reuniting with Jack and Lois. We were practically inseperable when we lived next door to them. We ate with them, played with them, camped with them. Heck, we loved them, and we still do. Being back together was perfect. Just perfect. :)
~ Sitting in the hot pink plastic deck chairs on the back porch.
~ Sleeping in. Going to sleep early. ahhhhh.
~ Hunting for seashells in what I called the "seashell graveyard" off Billy Mitchell beach with Curt. What a wonderful husband. He knows me. Really KNOWS me. He knew I wanted conch shells so badly I could taste it. And he found me not one but LOTS!
~ CNN. Yes, even on vacation, I need my news.
~ The sound of the ocean crashing on the sand. One day the waves were so rough, none of us would jump in. And still, we fished, hunted for shells, and played in the sand. Playing, content, not missing anything. Just happy to be together listening to the roar of the ocean.
~ Knowing that God is the amazing One behind all of this. And I guess I should thank Him for the streak of perfect weather we had, too.