Anonymity

For us, it feels like summer has just begun. Being away from home for five weeks put our traditional summer on pause - those days of waking up when you want to, playing all day, making plans as you go, running around outside, going for a quick bike ride, being bored, the seemingly endless hours to a day.

Vacations are a wonderful thing. Experiencing something new, spending time as a family without the daily interruptions that life always seems to bring, getting away from the day to day grind, leaving all of our "stuff" behind. One of the things I find so alluring about vacations, especially one like we just had - five weeks in a foreign country - is anonymity. Being in a city where no one knows you, where all the background noise of life can be filtered out with a language barrier, going places you'll see once and only once, where responsibilities are limited, can be liberating. You can blend in and not be noticed. You can start each day anew and create the experiences you want to have.  For the first time, I really understand how people can pack up their lives and move, how they can sell it all and start over...but, life is not a vacation and eventually all of your life "stuff" will meet you wherever you live.  And I do think that anonymity would eventually turn into loneliness. We need our friends and family...our support system...connections to people outside our little family unit.

As nice as it was to have a break from reality and to be anonymous for a while, I am glad to be home.  Seeing my friends and family has been fantastic, like not a day has passed. That's the wonderful thing about those important people in your life...the ones that really make an impact and are here for the long haul. You can go away, come home, and pick up right where you left off. It's comforting to know they will be there no matter where life takes you.

The first few days of the mid-July start to "summer" , we played with friends, swam, built forts, ate comfort food, had random hose fights at 8 p.m., played with all of those toys that have been neglected for far too long, and succeeded in getting our bodies back on Chicago time.

There really is no place like home...now, if that home could include a water view, it would be perfect...

Late Night Hose Fight...these moments captured from the safety of the indoors.

Cole managed to put his shoes on and take his pants off to join in on the fun.

And away she goes...

I'm glad Skye has 9 more years before she can legally drive...she had a tough time staying on the sidewalk.

For Christine, a blog-worthy view from a splash park...

Skye used to spend hours on the swings...I feel like it was yesterday that she actually fit in one...

Once again pant-less, and this time, shoeless...

Who needs expensive toys?

This time last year, both girls were hesitant to even put their heads under the water....

And now this...their progress this year has been amazing. 5 weeks swimming almost everyday sure did help.

We are looking forward to catching up with more friends and family in the coming weeks and enjoying the month of summer we have left before we rejoin our scheduled lives.