Continuation of Sabbatical Recap

K were we at week 5? Week 5: After reconvening with the boys in Salt Lake, the kids and I took off to Boise, ID on Tuesday to visit Nancy at her home. An added bonus is that Chelsi and Hailey and their kids were there as well. We partied the week away hanging out, swimming, bowling, water parking, and relaxing. Boise is a charming little city and it was great to see where she lived and for the kids to get to be spoiled at Nanny's house. We left on Saturday and flew back to LAX where my car was parked. Week 6: Beach week with my sisters and their kids! I love beach week and I think all of us look forward with much anticipation to this bi-annual get together. This year we rented a house in Huntington Beach. It was .5-1 mile away from the beach but the trade off was that we had a pool and hot tub in the back yard, which meant easy entertaining at the house! It's funny to see how things have changed from when we first started doing this 8 years ago. Back then it was a lot of work- feeding a lot of small kids (even though there were only 9 when we started compared to the 19 we have now!), hands on entertaining, cleaning, etc etc. Beach time was literally spent on the beach.  Now, meals are made and served with a come and get it announcement (well, kind of. Perhaps a slight exaggeration but a million times easier than it used to be), kids are fairly independent, moms are playing in the water jumping waves instead of building the millionth sand castle on the beach. Evolution is good y'all! The waves were incredible this year. We spent our time at Huntington Beach tower 17-19 and Newport Beach just north of Balboa Pier. And it was all TDF (--> to die for, for when I'm a grandma and can't google these acronyms anymore!) The beach definitely monopolized our time. But we did squeeze in a few other things: Angels baseball game, bike ride, Ruby's on the pier, big boys went to a movie with cousins, lots and lots and lots of swimming, at least a few stops to Bonzai Bowl for Maui Sunrises, also a couple stops at Normita's Surf City Tacos for killer fish tacos. To name a few! I loved reconnecting with my sisters and my nieces and nephews. Family is good. ***************************** Overall, this sabbatical exceeded my expectations. I was nervous about the last two weeks of the trip when I'd be doing a lot of packing up and moving around by myself and living out of a suitcase with much less structure and routine. I was worried it would be too long to live that way. But it wasn't. I loved all the time we got to spend with family and good friends this summer, I loved the days on days of quality time that  I got with my kids. I'm sold on the idea of long summer getaways! {supposedly} pictures to follow {again…}