Spring Break :)

I have returned home from my trip to the beach. And what a trip it was.  It was a big, beautiful week full of fun and sunshine and happiness and love!

My family first started traveling to Fort Myers fifteen years ago.  I was fourteen or so, awkward, with big hair and bangs and a tye dye bikini. We drove the 18 hours as a family down to the beach. It was all new and exciting. We've kept going back ever since.  I haven't been every year, and I've been with different people and stayed different places. My five best friends and I were together senior year. Sneaking alcohol and out on the beach late at night with a group of Indiana high school guys out for similar adventures.  My sophomore year at IU, took a trip with two of my same besties and other college friends to stay at the Lanai Kai, "Heaven by the Sea." (If Heaven is sticky and smells like vomit, I will be very disappointed.) We slept horizontally in the beds, baked in our bikinis all day and tried to avoid the excise cops at night.  After college, three girlfriends and I went again.  We were single, working girls, a little jaded and over the booze but had just as much fun as ever. Since then I've even went with my mom and her friends. It was before I had Lauren and after I had just met Ian. A lot has changed since then.

This was the first trip trip taking Lauren to the beach. It was very special to me. I love the beach just about more than anything in life. I am a worshipper of the sun, always have been. (I say, take me to the grave with a tan and I"ll be happy.) I dressed baby Lauren in her baby girl swimsuits and let her play in the sand.  I feel it, she loves it just like me! I put her in the sand by the waves, and I had to stop her from crawling out to sea. I swear she would have dove into the waves headfirst if I hadn't stopped her! She was fearless! It was fun to see my happy girl playing like that.  (However, there was a moment where I was pushing her stroller down the beach and I briefly wanted to shoot myself. Um, let's just say that pushing a sandy stroller while twenty year old girls that weigh one hundred pounds are laying out  all around me I had a real, "Wow, this is my life now?" kind of moment. It was sobering to say the least.)

The trip was even better than I imagined...full of early morning coffee with my mom, dad and sister, long runs on the beach in the morning, our afternoon drink every day on the beach, special time with my sissy and fun dinners with everyone enjoying seafood and more drinks. I really couldn't have asked for anything more. It's back to the grind for now, but it's fun to escape for a week with the ones you love to play in the sun. I already can't wait for the next trip!

♥ V :)