carolina dreamin'

We recently went on a family vacation to South Carolina.

And by "family"...I mean the entire family.

Me, my husband, my two boys, sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, mom and dad. All in our friends' three bedroom lake house.

And it was one of the best vacations ever.

As I hinted at in my earlier post, we experienced a lot: Jet skis (which my brother-in-law bought and brought back to Illinois with him), boat rides, fishing, swimming, the ocean, insanely-fast-melting ice cream cones, trivia night, missing swim trunks, scrogglings, inhumane Charleston heat, historic landmarks and Waffle Houses. This was all kicked-off with my parents' surprise wedding/vow renewal. We also laughed until we cried and caught up with old friends (who feel just like family). And I, once again, fell madly in love with The South.

I love how everyone waves at each other. Anyone under 25 says "yes, ma'am" and "yes, sir"; anyone over 25 is called "Miss" or "Mr" followed by their first name. Butter and homemade ice cream are embraced. Life seems to move slower and is savored. And the women don't need an excuse to wear a cute little sundress.

I suppose I should be posting pictures from the trip, all 400+ of them, but I'll save that for a later date. Instead, I'm sharing a little glimpse into a big dream. The picture above was Troy's homemade birthday present from yours truly. What a lucky man! (By the way, happy birthday to my husband who turned 34 yesterday.) As I was saying, we decided while visiting our friends that we would love to have a lake house/ beach house/pond house/puddle house someday. I mean, we're in no place to even consider it at this point. We still have to put 2+ kids through college...and I am yet to even buy dining room chairs for my lonely dining table.

Yet still...it's nice to dream. And now we have a tangible little change jar for that dream. I realize more and more everyday the importance of writing down your ideas, hopes and dreams, but that's a whole other post. I've even been decorating random nooks and crannies of the house with seashells and starfish, although Hobby Lobby seems to think we should already have our pumpkins, scarecrows and snowmen out. That, too, is a whole other post.

For now, we'll throw our pennies, dimes and nickles into the pot. So family, we hope to have our own lake house in about 30 years to share the good times in all over again. Until then, we'll be bunking with you, Creeds!