On to North Carolina

Almost every year from the time I was a little girl to the first year Kevin and I were married, our family has been making the long drive to Holden Beach, North Carolina for our summer vacation. Now that my sisters and I have families of our own, we make it a priority to come together every 2 years at this same beach. Lucky for us, this was the year. So we packed up, said goodbye to St. Simon's Island, and drove into North Carolina. 

Since we are all becoming a bit more spread out, this time together was priceless. Our kids enjoyed playing together (if you ignore Ada and Eliana's sparring and Ada's bossing around of Micah), we enjoyed the waves, sun, and sand, and the time together as a family sitting around the table, sharing stories, laying on the beach, watching baby sea turtles make their way to the ocean, walks, and eating ice cream. I enjoyed getting to know my nieces and nephews a little better, seeing Cambel and Ada love the ocean, and being able to, at least for a week, see my sisters and their families and our parents every day. 

 Yep, looks like we have everything but the kitchen sink. 

Self portraits always have the added benefit of distorting everyone's size. Which would explain why Cambel's head looks distinctly larger than Kevin's. 

 Micah declared Ada his "new friend." The feeing was mutual, but Ada expresses her love more in the form of demanding that he do what she says. 

 Ice cream tastes better at the beach. 

 The original Harrimans

 My sisters and best friends

The whole family (getting this picture was nothing short of miraculous)

 I loved watching Ada and Micah play together

 Grandpa and Grandma and all of their grandkids (minus of course the ones on the way). Cambel's face expresses clearly how he feels about pictures.

 Corralling the cousins on the beach for a picture proved to be more than most of them could handle. Well, maybe just Ada. 

 Along with idolizing Lydia and Isaiah, Cambel adores Eliana. 

 There is so much fun to be had when you just follow Ada's directions. 

These boys decided early on they were not on vacation to get their picture taken and it was hard to get a shot of them looking like they were enjoying themselves. 

It is hard to believe another family vacation is over and the summer is winding down. We are so thankful for all the fun things we were able to do and the great family time we had with both sides of our family. 

Kevin said the other day that if something tragic comes into our life someday or if we experience a great loss, one thing that cannot be taken from us are the wonderful memories that we have (unless of course we lose our minds, but let's assume here we at least maintain our long term memories).  He is right.  These family memories will be some of the ones that we revisit in our conversations and in our minds, and the ones we will keep forever. 

Next up: Cambel's first day of Kindergarten