The Beach

I haven’t looked forward to a vacation this much in a long time. Every year my family takes a week long vacation in Seaside, Florida. The whole scene is very manicured – especially compared to the kinds of adventures Jeremy and I have been on over the past few years… but we love it. Mostly we love all being together. It’s especially cool that my brother flies down from NYC every year to spend the week with us too.

This year we stumbled upon a recreation area complete with sand volleyball, a small basketball court, shuffleboard, and a croquet set. It felt very Dirty Dancing but we had so much fun. In the mornings Jeremy would wake up early with the baby and make me breakfast while I slept in. We would swim in our salt water pool, ride bikes into town to shop or grab goodies from Modica Market (the best little grocery store and deli ever), and challenge each other to shuffleboard tournaments. Mid-day we would take naps or get cozy with our library books. In the evenings we all pitched in to cook big family dinners and I would make everyone piña coladas or margaritas (my secret talent is that I’m really good at making drinks). I lived in my bikini and barely thought about work. We didn’t even make it out to the beach until three days in – and when we did we boogie boarded with my nephew until the sun got a little too hot on our pasty white skin.

I’ll admit that vacationing with a baby isn’t the most relaxing thing in the whole world. I had a lot of help though – one day I snuck off with Jeremy to pretend like we were Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey while my sister napped with Fox. And my mom, who was born to be a grandma, was always more than willing to take him off our hands. As we were leaving my sister mentioned that this is the only time we’ll ever go on vacation with Fox this age – which was exactly the reminder I needed to remain present to the moment and really be grateful for all the adventures Fox is getting to take at such a young age. I hope this is setting him up for a life of world travel and new experiences.

So what’s next? We’re going to be staying close to home for a while as we make a big move into a new home. That’s right. We’re moving out of our 1920s bungalow and into a 1950s split-level mid-century modern ranch. Stay tuned.