2 / 365: Emma Vance, dressed as Elsa, playing her own version of Princess Play-Doh.
I asked the girls what they wanted to do this year as part of forming our family’s goals and resolutions for 2016. Honestly I didn’t think I’d get much from either of them (being the wise ages of three and one), but E.V. immediately replied, “I want to go to the BEACH!” Okay, kid! You got it!
Here’s what Ryan and I deemed a terrible confession: We’ve never taken our kids to the beach. They’ve never seen the ocean. Or played on white, sandy dunes. Or chased seagulls. I know that a lot of times a beach vacation is a luxury, but for many families it’s the luxury of choice. For us, it just hasn’t been. Between Ryan’s work, my projects, building a house, having a two kids somewhat back-to-back, toting two kids (and all of their subsequent things) several hours down I-75 to Florida never seemed appealing. Plus, did I mention how E.V. and Cricket HATE riding in the car? Trips over 30 minutes are torturous. Eight hours? No thank you. When the idea of taking a beach vacation has been discussed in passing, we’ve even gone so far as to discuss renting an RV to travel in to help make the trip more enjoyable, haha! Hopefully now that they are starting to comprehend that the car ride is necessary for us to go somewhere fun (the beach!), maybe they’ll tolerate it a bit better. I guess we’ll see!
Now that E.V.’s 2016 resolution to “go to the beach” has been set, we’ve been talking and dreaming a bit about it together. I asked her what we’ll do when we get there, and so far her bucket (sand pail?) list consists of: swim in the ocean, build a sand castle and eat a sandwich. Sounds about right! Ryan and I are notorious for delaying and canceling vacation plans, but this year we’ve got incentive to pen the dates onto our calendar. We need some time alone as our little family, anyway. Every trip we’ve taken has had an agenda, been with friends or to see family. I’m already looking forward to kicking back, no stress or plans or things to worry about, and just enjoying Ryan, E.V. and Cricket…and a margarita! ;)
