Summer 2011: Chapter One

I have a passion; well, many passions, but this one particular obsession is my favorite.  It allows me to escape, to create memories with friends and family, and to capture time...in photographs.  Those who know me already know that I am speaking of V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.

I love it.  I love it all.  The searching, the planning, the ultimate deal, the packing, the shopping FOR packing, the itinerary..I SAID THE INTINERARY...the traveling, the arrival, the hundreds of pictures, the adventures, the food, the laughter, the ultimate escape from life... just ALL of it!

I even love when I come home.  The clothes are unpacked, the laundry is done, the suitcase is back under the bed, and then I can sit and play with my photographs from "the trip".  Blogging, creating photo collages, posting them on Facebook, making and sending picture cards from Shutterfly are all part of the travel experience...for me, at least.  And every time I walk out of my door on a trip and each time I return, I am equally thankful for the chance to go.

Well, this summer I have the unique opportunity to travel a half dozen times.  Due to my still returning health, we have decided that I am not going to teach Summer School in July, but rather rest and rejuvenate.  I do this in no better way, than to travel.

Last week, I went on my first trip of the summer.  My husband and children stayed home and I traveled with a teenage girl from our church, Morgan, and we went to see an incredible family that recently moved to Delaware.  While there, the teenage girls and I slipped away for a night to The Boardwalk Plaza Hotel in Rehoboth Beach.  We felt like royalty.  It was amazing.  We laughed.  We shopped.  We ate.  We beached.  We hot tubbed. We saw my family.  We shared.  And of course, we snapped photos...166 to be exact.

In the spirit of loving my blog almost as much as I love vacations, I thought it fitting that I capture each of my trips with words and photos as the summer progresses. 

For, I may not be heading out to Hawaii or on a 3 week trek across Europe any time soon....but I am just as grateful for each time I get to say, "I'm going on vacation." and then I do just that.

Samara and Morgan

Boardwalk Plaza Hotel...It was amazing!

Bahama Mama

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Boardwalk Bound

Yep. We're tourists...

Rehoboth Beach

Who doesn't like a Paratrooper spin!

Jax: Sons of Anarchy (We wish...)

Precious Sisters: Samara and Finley

A Woman I Adore: Sandy Moore

Sandy, Finley, and Chuck Moore

View from the bridge as we head home to Virginia