Change is Good

And good things change.
And that's OK!

{Fourth of July in Orange Beach, 2012}

Almost a year ago when my parents sold their house in Orange Beach Alabama my sisters and I basically thought it was Armageddon.  {Because mostly it WAS}.  All the memories we had made over the past 25 years, all the memories we planned on making over the next 25 years, just done. {cue: violins}

I live in a weekday city, surrounded by weekend towns.  Meaning during certain seasons, the whole city nearly clears out.  During the summer everyone visits the beach or bay, during the winter the guys go hunting.  It's not a blanket statement, but it sure was what we grew up doing {we beached it January through December, there was no season for us}.

We started off this summer deciding we would try something new, something that never made sense when we "locally" had a beach place to frequent, and ventured over to an area only a couple hours away - the mystical land of "30-A" - and discovered it really is all it's cracked up to be!

{See post HERE}

My family has always been huge on family trips and since my youngest sister and her husband live in Houston TX, we need excuses like these to get them down here to visit every now and then :).

Stephen and the kids and I were extremely excited to go back to Rosemary, this time for a week and with a lot of built in play mates.

This second visit was just as wonderful as the first, with lots of pool hopping, bike riding, cooking, eating, laughing, and RESTING.  That is one marvelously good thing about taking a week long vacation {something Stephen and I had never done before, besides our pre-kids trip to Italy in 2007} is that you actually are there for enough days to chill out, relax, and enjoy the "vacation" part of it.  Stephen and I are active, go-getting type of vacationers...we like exercise and outdoors and moving and taking it all in.  And this week long trip allowed us to do all of that, but also take it easy, relax, nap, sleep in, not worry about the next "activity."  I'm not sure our schedules will afford us week-long vacations on a yearly basis, {at least not Stephen's}, but I can so appreciate the long lasting effects of hitting the "reset" button and leaving everything "busy" and "important" behind, to nurture and rest in what truly IS most important.

Breakfast of champions + Chimas

 after the first pool morning - naps were a regular for this little lady

 we love our Wells

and cheese balls

 Competitive bike riding - on single speed rented cruisers - at 3 in the afternoon.  It's how we roll.

 this is what family photos are all about

 creepster Rachel bombing our pic

Somebody get this girl a bike - she was OBSESSED.

 splash pad behind our townhouse

 every time the water went off Wells would ball his fists and scream "Wahhhh-weeeee!"

 the only time of day our kids like the sandy beach

 Jacob is so possessive of his "little" cousin :)

 finding seashells with Mimi and Doc, our gracious and generous hosts

 photo creds for above and below: my sister Erin {xoxo thank you so much!}

 {kids do not smile on cue}

 a.l.w.a.y.s. wearing his sun-gasses