Day 28.

There are so many things I love about vacation. One of my favorites is that vacations tend to limit the amount of distractions that each one of us has (even though my husband and i had our computers this time, it's nice to step away from chores and to-do lists at the house). And when we limit our distractions, it makes it easier to just be in the moment, every moment with the kids. And it lets our kids be in the moment with us. Everyone eats breakfast at the same time. And it's fun. And we just do things with the kids. Not thinking the whole time we are doing things what else we should have been doing with that time. And in the process of being in the moment, we have lots of moments. Little moments. Big moments. Surprising moments. Ah haaa moments.

Let me tell you about some of the moments we had. We looked at all the little holes in the sand and watched crabs dart in and out of their holes, burrowing. (a yuck moment). We watched the dolphins swim in the sound - from our deck this morning as we were eating our cereal (a awww... moment). We collected seashells, lots and lots of seashells. And we even found 3 whole conch (I think that's what they are called) shells. (an excited moment!) And then while I was cleaning the shells later, I realized that the conch shells still had tenants in them (a freak out mommy moment!). Joey names our surprise new friends Larry, Bill and Bob.  We played mini golf and watched Ally's excitement at getting her first hole in one. We played ping pong outside and I realized I forgot how to play ping pong and Joey is really pretty good at it and Daddy is, yep, pretty competitive at it. We went swimming and I found out that Joey can do 4 front flips in a row without taking a breath. We played candy land and watched Vicki get excited as she won a game. (An amazing moment! She was able to do the color counting all by herself and she did a great job waiting her turn! It was wonderful to see how visibly proud of herself she was.) And at the same time, we were able to see a classic Ally pout. We played 'racko' and I realized that, yes indeed, I am not good at strategy/logic games... In fact, Ally whispered very loudly to me, 'mommy, next time you should listen to me.' :P

All of the moments that we had with Vicki that I would have missed. Some moments were easy to experience. Other moments were harder. When we played mini golf, we were pleasantly surprised this year. Vicki seemed to be in the moment with us. We didn't have to hold her hand every single second. She was actually watching a few of our turns. And when it was her turn, she seemed to want to participate. There were times in the past that daddy would have to hand-over-hand help Vicki with her golf club. And Vicki seemed to care less. This time, Vicki took the initiative and even tried to get the ball in the hole herself a few times. And even though she wasn't holding the club right or putting correctly, she had a lot of determination and kept trying until she figured out how to get the ball in the hole. And then tonight while we were playing board games, she has asked to go to bed after we were done with candy land. So we tucked her in and cracked the door to keep an eye on her while we played racko. After a little while, Vic came out and asked for daddy (daddy bed, Vicki bed) It was so great. She wanted to be with us. She wanted to have daddy with her. So often she just retreats into her own world, to have her actively ask to be a part of ours was tremendous. :)

But one thing about vacation that I don't like. Eventually it ends and you go back to your distractions, and your chores and your to-do lists. And somehow the to-do lists got bigger. And then you get so preoccupied with catching up that you forget all of the moments you just had. It's hard not to get overwhelmed with life. I am sitting here typing thinking about all of the things I have to do and it's stressing me out. I think that's why I tend to take a lot of pictures (of course, the caviot is that I stress out over having to organize all of the pictures I just took...) and do a lot of journaling. Because then I have those moments living on. They aren't just a fleeting memory. When i get overwhelmed I just click through some pictures, remember the emotions, the laughs, the smiles that I've tucked away, and I feel better. I never want to forget to live my life because of these moments, not in spite of them.

Each day I live
I want to be
A day to give
The best of me
I'm only one
But not alone
My finest day
Is yet unknown

I broke my heart
Fought every gain
To taste the sweet
I face the pain
I rise and fall
Yet through it all
This much remains

I want one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time
I will feel
I will feel eternity

And now I need a moment to recharge my battery. Goodnight all!! xoxo