All Good Things

...must come to the end.  Vacation is almost over.  We're on the way home in a few hours.  The packing is done, the children are saying good bye and we're off to the airport with hopes for short lines and no delays.

It was a fantastic vacation.  I am fortunate to be part of a great family.  There aren't any parents, siblings or children no one speaks to because of some disagreement in the past.  There aren't any "black sheep" that no one talks about because they're in jail or an embarrassment to the family.   In our family, I think everyone truly likes each other. 

During our vacation, our niece and nephew spent lots of time with our children, even though they're both teens and little kids might not have been "cool enough" for them to hang out with.  My children loved spending time with them.  It made me smile every time my giggling daughter ran up to her cousin Kyle wanting to be picked up. 

My children had fun with their aunt and uncle too.  There was a lot of time in the pool and with my son's new found freedom swimming with an inner tube, he made the rounds visiting everyone, being thrown up in the air to splash back down into the pool.  He had particular fun waking up Aunt Kelly as she tried to "sleep" in the little pool.

And of course, Nana and Papa are always a hit with my children.  There were adventures and scooters and new toys and stickers and Easer baskets and special chairs where they ate their meals and about eleventy-twelve other things I can't remember right now that made their vacation a special one.

From our perspective as the middle generation in the family, we are very fortunate.  My husband has wonderful parents, great siblings (we missed those of you who weren't with us this weekend) and mature and intelligent cousins to our children.  Family vacations in our family are something we always look forward to.

Thanks Nana and Papa for being such gracious hosts.  We love you.

The Big Boy Update:  Balsa wood planes.  Papa got some balsa wood planes on their vacation out west recently.  Today he and my son went out to fly them.  They've been gone for close to an hour, which must mean they're logging lots of balsa wood plane flying "hours". 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Puzzle helper.  My daughter helped grandpa put together his puzzle that he'd been working on.  She loves puzzles and wasn't intimidated at all by the thousand pieces that all looked alike.  I don't know if she placed any pieces correctly, but I have high confidence she believes she put lots of the puzzle together successfully.