Summer vacation

After a full week of vacation with our fantastic friends at my Aunt and Uncle's beautiful home in Hilton Head, I feel grateful to have spent the time with people I love dearly. My parents were right, Hilton Head is fabulous and it meant even more to me that we went there knowing how much my parents enjoyed several trips to the Island to visit my Aunt and Uncle........

My Aunt and Uncle's homes in both Atlanta and in Hilton Head were so beautiful and we feel so lucky to have them in our lives. They welcomed our dear friends into their home and the set up was perfect for the kids, we thank them for this. My girlfriend and I have agreed a house is the only way to vacation these days now that we have children. We rented a home in FL last year and I am beyond happy that we were able to pull off another summer vacation with them. It was an amazing time to see the kids all together and I look forward to spending more time with all of them and hope our annual vacation becomes a lifelong tradition.........they were such an amazing family to travel with... so thoughtful, generous, laid back and fun....it meant more then you will ever know that you spent the week with Ted, Elle and I and that you got to know my Aunt and Uncle even better. We love you all so very much........you continue to inspire me as a new Mom and person. Thanks for your continued support and friendship.

I could not possibly sum up the vacation in a few paragraphs but as we made our drive home today after stopping through Atlanta last night- I thought of some of my most favorite memories...

• Finally getting to see my Aunt's new homes in both Atlanta and Hilton Head- my eyes watered seeing pictures of dad, my grandparents, us as a family and reading the guest book that my parents signed exactly a year before they died. They had such a great time with family.....I really missed my parents this week....Nicky and I both signed right under my parents in the guestbook......
• Pizza night the first evening we arrived in Hilton Head; my Aunt, Uncle, Ted and I sat around their beautiful kitchen island (the runway) and caught up on life
• Staying up late..... drinking wine....talking......
• Walking along the harbor with the lighthouse in the background and for a moment, watching our daughters hold hands for a picture.....where has the time gone......I think back to roommates in Chicago and here were are...family vacations with our children
• Preparing the "welcome home party" for the boys who spent the day catching dinner...okay so it wasn't a party but we did have a tray of margaritas waiting to celebrate that we would be eating fresh fish for dinner
• loading up the car for a day at the beach several times....timing their naps, making sure they had lunch, getting all the sand off of them, swimming in the ocean.......taking deep breathes as I tried to take it all in that I was on vacation with my dear friends and family...
• Lunch at Salty dog cafe and enjoyed a yummy frozen drink with friends while trying to keep our kids busy so we could at least get a few bites of our food in~we then of course, picked up tees for us all
• Watching miss Elle try to eat a sandwich on the beach...it reminded me of my childhood at the lake. Mom always packed us sandwiches for the beach....
• waking up, drinking coffee, in my Aunt and Uncle's beautiful home......eating Nicky or Ted's yummy pancakes and planning what we would do for the day.....most likely, "beach day"
• Our last evening spent with Mark and Nicky and we had the awesome chance to celebrate their 5th year anniversary with them- Ted cooked us a great meal and we popped open a nice bottle of champagne and stayed up late laughing so hard we had tears.......
• Dinner with just my Aunt and I.......we laughed, started to cry, covered about every topic imaginable........we have had a rough two years as a family and the heartbreak continues but yet, we still cherish every moment spent and it brought me moments of peace as I sat there knowing how happy this would make my Mom and Dad.....here we are two and half years later......Mom and Dad and Grandpa are gone......and here my Aunt and I sit, in Hilton Head, enjoying dinner and some wine providing comfort for one another....

I continue to be incredibly blessed for all of the beautiful places I continue to see but most importantly I feel so lucky to have wonderful friends and my own family to share these memories with...........my parents are always with me...........and they have made me the person I am today. The pain remains but the joy is slowly coming back in......I have accepted, well sort of, that there will be really good and really bad days still........I know this....