The Countdown Has Begun

Previous years at the beach...

I've slogged through the packing list, bought new swimsuits and sandals for the girlies and stocked up on sunscreen...Yes; we're officially one week out from our annual beach vacation.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that we've decamped to a small, magical town in Florida with two other families that we adore. In anticipation of the trip, we've been pouring over pictures of previous years, and I was amazed to see Audrey literally grow up from trip-to-trip, which just strengthened my resolve to savor every moment with the girls.

The photo re-cap sessions also officially thrust me into the mindset I'm adopting for this vacation -- one of spontaneity and staying totally laid back (which when traveling with small children is no easy feat to say the least...) Luckily, we're headed to a spot where our biggest decisions for a week and a half will be whether we should we bike to the beach or walk...(Plus, we're planning to adhere to a strict cocktail hour before dinner, which should help with the laid back part.)

I'm also excited about completely unplugging. Between work and blogging and posting over on sk*rt, I spend a lot of time on the Internet, and as much as I'm endlessly inspired by all the creative energy out there, I've noted before that taking it all in on a daily basis sometimes leaves me in a sort of creative coma, in which I'm too overwhelmed to actually make anything of consequence myself. Jordan nailed it when she recently declared that all inspiring stuff she comes across on the internet is giving her sensory overload. Exactly.

A lovely (and convenient) side-effect of days spent in the sun and sand is that the girls tend to fall into bed awfully early, and Millie will likely nap several hours of the afternoon away. Bryan and I plan to alternate taking turns hanging at the house during Millie's snooze and going on mid-day adventures with Audrey. I'm really looking forward to devoting my time during the nap shift to exercising all that aforementioned stored-up inspiration and attempting to make something. To that end, I'm planning on lugging along some art supplies and seeing just what might happen....while staying completely spontaneous about the whole endeavor of course.