just kate: Vacation

Oh my word, vacation. I seriously want Nate's vacation to never end. We have had so much family time where we've just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves and our little people... And these little people are just basking in the glow of Nate's attention and loving every second of it.

In a nutshell, the beach was fantastic. We stayed at a fantastic beach house a block away, which meant we ended up with a private beach only available for the people with homes. Which meant it was mostly abandoned as it was the middle of the week in September. Well planned, Jacksons. Well planned.

Milo was fearless, sprinting into the ocean, splashing in the waves, picking up crabs. With his Daddy by his side, he was ready to conquer anything. Lucy liked the ocean and loved the sand. She and I spent a lot of time building sand castles, digging, just plain touching sand. And Nate and I were just happy to soak up the sun and relax. It has been so long since Nate had any time off and any opportunity to relax without being completely exhausted. That was the best gift of all for me.

First time EVER on the beach. We were going to let these little people just dip their toes in and then run to the grocery store for supplies. Everyone ended up soaked from head to toe.

Milo's hair in this picture cracks me up! Sea water plus strong wind gives him quite the spiky early 90s do.

NEVER still. Milo was supercharged and delighted every second.

This picture makes my heart melt.

You also know that we are total nerds, right? I started Milo's school year out with a "Blast Into Learning" theme, which means we totally took a little time away from the beach and visited NASA. Oh my word. We were all geeking out the entire time. You'd have thought we gave Milo the greatest gift on earth - he was more pleased than I can even explain (he wants to know everything about space). And Lucy was really serious taking everything in. She had a blast (pun intended - haha), and now when she wants to start a really good conversation with Milo, she brings up NASA. Smart girl. She knows how to lure him in.

Milo's face pretty much sums it up. This is how he felt about the NASA experience.

Above Milo is a slightly disconcerting wax figure of an astronaut...

Still looking at the wax figure. I'm grinning like an idiot because I got to TOUCH A MOON ROCK. Seriously, people. I've now touched the moon.

How cool is this? And this was a small one!

Anyway, if you see any of us in person, we will rattle off an astounding amount of trivia regarding space, space travel, etc., so get ready for that. After NASA, we spent one last night at the beach. The best part was that after we headed home, Nate was still on vacation for another full week (in fact, he still is).