A trip away...

Two weekends ago, (ah! I'm falling behind!), my cousin got married in beautiful Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. There were activities from Friday afternoon straight through Sunday afternoon, and since it was all situated in such a beautiful location at a five diamond resort, Jason and I decided to spend a few extra days. The girls divided their time between Jason's parent's house and aunt and uncle's house, and they had a ball! They jumped in the bouncy house, went to the apple orchard, cheered at the Illini game (Marin started the ILL- INI chant at a restaurant after the game when she spotted all the orange and blue clad patrons), went to the petting zoo, and hung around Aunt Vee and Uncle Bob's farm happy as clams (Marin pushed a little toy combine, and combined macaroni noodles- hmm, there's a first).


Meanwhile Jason and I dined and drank our way through five days of perfection and complete elegance, rarely having to take our eyes off the ocean. I really could have gotten used to turn down service complete with raspberry chocolates, and classical music playing as I entered my room every night. In the morning, a fluffy robe was always waiting right next to cozy slippers and the weather report for the day. At the Ponte Vedra Inn, a door man would see me coming 20 yards away, and hold the door open with a "Good Morning, Miss." as I breezed through with nothing to account for but my sunglasses. While, in real life at home, I pry open doors with my feet and hold them with my rear end while I push an extra long stroller through. We stepped out our door and were right on the ocean and took walks to collect seashells, and at night we sat on the beach watching the stars until well into the morning. Seriously, I could have gotten used to all of that. But, I missed my girls something fierce.

Still, with the girls in careful hands, we made the best of every moment. And although I had to drag my breast pump through every five star dinner and cocktail reception, and pump in some seriously only-a-mother-whose-done-this-would-understand places, we lived it up. We missed my mom and dad who were on a Mediterranean cruise they had booked before Drew set the date, but we had such a great time with my brother and Katy, and we loved spending time with all of my cousins, whom we don't get to see often enough. We laughed so hard, and danced, and partied- a little too much on more than one occasion- our way through the wonderful five days. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, we closed the wedding celebrations with a brunch at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday afternoon and got a tour of the famous tournament course.

As an added bonus, we got to spend time with Jason's cousin who lives close by in Jacksonville. We went to dinner with her in Ponte Vedra shortly after we arrived and spent a day and night with her and her boyfriend on the tail end of the trip. We enjoyed a delicious seafood feast on the water and visited the World Gold Hall of Fame.

When our plane landed, I was so excited to scoop up those girls of ours I was practically crawling out of my skin. But ahhh.... it was good to get away with just Jason and I for a few days of beach front sunrise and sunsets right out our door. And great fun with my family all day long. Fuel for the soul.