A New Kind of Vacation

This past weekend we kicked off summer with a long weekend at my family's house in Atlantic Beach. Our little mini vacation couldn't have come at a better time because Jamie was still home from school, Ben was in dire need of some time off of work, and lots of our friends were able to go as well!

Julianne and I were able to leave Thursday, so we packed up the babies and everything we owned and hit the road that afternoon. Liam and baby Smith were amazing, they slept the whole way and for a minute there it felt like a high school road trip again :). Jamie got there right after us so the 3 of us and the babes immediately hit the beach for our first of many walks of the weekend. My parents arrived shortly after our walk and once we all got settled in, we ordered a Branch 'must have' beach meal to start our weekend off right: Ionni's chicken ranch pizza...my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

Friday, Julianne headed to the Andrew's condo to get set up there and wait for Smith and his parents to arrive while my family hit the beach for the day. It was entertaining to say the least. Between panicking about Liam staying out of the sun, breaking our brand new and only source of shade, nursing on the beach, and feeling like I needed spanx on under my bathing suit, things got interesting! 

Ben made it right before dinner and we all enjoyed some fresh sea food, lots of veggies, and Klondike Bar's courtesy of Bill :). While everyone went to sleep that night, Joe and Austin decided it would be a good idea to leave Raleigh so they could wake up at the beach. I understand that thinking, but definitely not at midnight! Thankfully they made it safely...at 3am. 

Saturday was a circus. We had 7 adults, 5 dogs, and 1 infant in our house. It was nonstop all day, but we had so much fun. That night, my family gave Ben and I such a gift by letting us go on a date night with some of our friends while babysitting Liam AND our friends little boys George and Sam. 

Ben & I left our house with Taylor & Dorothy to meet Smith & Julianne and Matt & Lindsay at Windansea for dinner. Windansea catered our wedding, so it was nice to finally be able to taste the food that I had heard such great things about ;).

Halfway through dinner, Joe started texting me that Liam was screaming and wouldn't stop. I'm pretty sure he had no idea how that would make a first time mom feel because the guilt/anxiety/frustration/sadness/internal emotional roller coaster started happening. The only way to fight those feelings was obviously to distract myself with Dairy Queen - so after dinner we hit up the drive through for blizzards and I felt like I could breathe again, with the top button undone, but still. 

During the last 2 days, the boys got to go fishing, we went to a pig pickin, took many more beach walks, went paddle boarding, had a picnic on the beach, and got some sun! 

Our long weekend was so fun and our little family of 3 made memories I will cherish forever - but if I'm being real here, I'm not sure I will ever be able to say 'vacation' again without laughing. 

Oh.my.gosh. 

This parenting thing is no joke. It never stops - even when I am not physically with Liam, it still doesn't stop. A "vacation" for our family now includes triple the amount of stuff we have to bring, sleepless nights because of a cardboard mattress they call a pack n play, SPF 100, rash guards, and hats. 

So with that said, vacation was very different this year than ever before. But if I'm still keeping it real, I can honestly say I would never trade our new version of vacation for the old one. Because of our little boy, we are experiencing life in a way I couldn't have imagined possible and we are loving it.

Memorial Day 2013 - what an awesome intro into the new meaning of vacation!