New age vacation

Here I sit in the condo in St. Augustine drinking coffee and typing a blog post. Seth and Levi are playing golf, Lee is on the beach, Lila is napping, and Levi's girlfriend Ashley hasn't gotten up yet. We come to this same condo complex every year.  The first trip I made here with Seth and his family seems so long ago and far away. Maybe it's because all we did back then was read books and lay on the beach all day. Or maybe it's because Levi was in high school and instead of a girlfriend in tow there were usually two, maybe three, other boys here with him. Or maybe it's because it was the kind of vacation that screamed vacation to me because I did absolutely nothing. Yes, this year is quite different.

That's the funny thing about the career known as motherhood. Family "vacation" really isn't your typical vacation at all. My neighbor recently said she went on "vacation" and happened to bring her two bosses along with her.  One is three and the other is nine months.

Don't get me wrong. Watching Lila carry around the same shell for hours and try to suck her thumb covered in sand is nothing short of glorious to me. I wouldn't have it any other way. Everything is new and amazing for her which makes it new and exciting for us too. She has added a little spark to the "usual" vacation. That being said, there are still diapers to change (PS - I did NOT take a cloth diapering vacation and I am very proud of myself). There are still sippy cups to be washed, sweet potatoes to be boiled, and toys to be picked up. Add in sand to be rinsed out of bathing suits, multiple baths to get the sand off of the baby, and finding ways to entertain her in a condo and you have what still is my daily job. Yes, there are extra helping hands. Yes, I did actually read a book so far. But, vacation is just a lot more work than vacation used to be.

I want to soak up all the baby days because I know they go by so incredibly fast. Being at the beach is no different if not more so a time where I want to relish in the moment. I just really have to admit in this very moment that sitting here, alone, only hearing the sound of the keys as I type is my tiny little old school vacation and I am relishing this moment just as much.

Pictures coming soon ;)