My niece Charli…the just-as-of-last-week preschooler, the leader of the cousins (or as she calls herself, the WEEDER) , the stealer of my makeup and now my jewelry. OH and it’s official, we are of the age to have SLEEPOVERS! Charli stayed over this weekend and it was a girl party! We had a blast singing and dancing, riding bikes and going to the park, playing in clothes, shoes and jewelry…and of course, taking pictures! IOh how I love her….

During the chaos that is known as wedding season, I escaped to little oasis of heaven known as the beach…in Florida. Ok, maybe a very sandy, hot, sand in the eyes and mouth, stressful with a busy 16 month old kind of heaven…but it was still heaven. We took a few days to head to Florida with my family for a little summer vacation and for Sophie to have her first chance at putting her toes in the sand. One of the beauties of having a child has been how it’s helped me learn to enjoy life a bit more, to put the work away and really being IN the moment…seeing things for the first time again, through the eyes of my little girl. It’s truly one of the coolest things to watch her as she learns to navigate the world and discover all that is in it. She lit up with incredible wonder when she saw the beach. It was soo sweet…an expression and emotion that I wish I could bottle up forever. See, her daddy is an ocean LOVER…could stay in all day long…..and I had a feeling she would follow suit…and sure enough, she did. When she saw it, she said the biggest, longest, WOOOOOOW. And then when her toes met the soft, powdery sand….she was mesmerized! It was precious. Then, she ran, full speed, into the water. And LOVED IT! And scared me half to death! We had the fun of sharing the trip with my awesome family…and her two cousins, Charli & Maci. It’s safe to say that after about 2 hours of being on “vacation” with three little ones, ages 3 and younger, we realized that the word vacation was NOT appropriate because there was almost no relaxation between all the busy-ness, fun, fights, sharing wars, crying, nap battles, playtime, mealtime, dashes for the pool and ocean, etc. We learned to enjoy it in a new way after just accepting that maybe 1 hour per day of personal time or relaxation…while they napped… would have to suffice! It really was a wonderful, special time….and after not having a vacation in years…it’s something I could really get used to!