This year for our vacation we decided to go up to Washington and visit my home and my family. It had been two years (whaa?!) since I had been back and for some reason I was a little nervous, but I was also really really excited! Because of everyone's schedules it was hard to get to see everyone we wanted, which was a huge bummer, but we spent a lot of time with family and went and made some extremely nostalgic day trips, which completely made it all worth it! Well folks, here it is!
Emerson was such a champion during the flight! We got SO lucky on the way to Washington because we had a free seat next to us. Em was able to stretch out and have a seat of his own! Yahoo! Not only did we get lucky with the seats, but the flight attendants were AWESOME! They introduced themselves and asked Em's name, they would stop and chat with him each time they walked by, AND they gave him one of those little pair of wings along with printout of our flight path! How cool!
He finally found his toes after 6 months of life! :) I just had to share!
These may not look like anything special, but this was Emerson's very first time exploring in the supple, soft, Washington grass. Ya see, down here in the south, we have nasty little critters like chiggers and fire ants that make life pretty terrible if ya get bit and seeins how Em has precious lil baby skin, we say no to crawling in the grass down here. At first, he wasn't quite sure what to do with the sea of green around him, but in the end, as you will see, he loved it!
These girls absolutely adored this little boy and spoiled him with toys and lovins!
We went exploring at the local farmer's market and found watermelons bigger than our baby!
First time swingin in a "big boy" swing. He loved it and could have stayed there for hours!
Playin in the yard with this old rascal! For some reason, this dog is so camera shy, but I captured him on camera....haha!
Going to the beach was probably my favorite part about our whole trip! I can't tell you how many beach day trips we went on when I was younger...probably 1,000! While we were there I was completely at peace and felt so close to heaven! Gah, thinking about it now makes me teary. The pounding and constant waves, the deafening wind, the rough sand on my feet...that is my solace and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I went back.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip! Three people that mean the most to me in a place that is very special to me..can't get better than that!
Love all of these babies!
We tried to steal the recipes, but settled for a picture with the sign. ;)
These two...I love them so much!
Diving board jump by the Aryan Prince.
Even though this is a silly picture, I cannot express how deep my love runs for this man. He means so much to me and proves over and over that he is so right for me!
Paddleboarding at its best!
He could not get enough of the water! He would kick his legs and squeal with pure joy in the water and cry when he wasn't in it. My little water baby!
PNW beauty at its core.
For never picking blackberries, Jordan sure was a great blackberry bush finder!
Of course Emerson was my fabulous berry picking assistant!
Jam and syrup in the making.
Can't wait to taste me some of that "jamming awesomeness" as my mom says !!
And in the end, Emerson loved crawling and playing in the lovely soft grass!
I was able to get a lot of pictures, mostly of Emerson ;) , but there were lots of things I wasn't able to capture in JPEG format, like sitting in the living room late at night talking for hours about everything, the divine meals, the walks around town, the joy of being with family, and the laughs and remembered memories of long ago.
Our trip to Washington was not just a vacation, it was a much needed reminder of who I am and where I came from. In the almost 5 years (!!!) it's been since I've lived in Washington I've become a much better and much stronger person. I left a little broken, I left a little hurt, but all of those sad, bad, and negative things have washed away with time and all that is left are my happy childhood memories. I'm grateful we finally decided to go back for a visit, it was just the slice of perspective I needed.
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