TRAVEL TRAVEL TRAVELING!!

Oh the excitement... the anticipation... the joy at the preparation (NOT!!!! Come on my friends are you kidding me? I HATE the prep...) - HOWEVER - I do like the trip (albeit tiring) and just the fun of traveling.

We have done this wonderful trek to Garden City, SC (south of Myrtle Beach) since I was about FOUR or FIVE years old... 31-ish years!!! WHAT a tradition! This is something that as a little girl I would look forward to alllll year long. We would take that long trip down from VT/NH... And it was so easy to pack then - I just needed music, books, and whatever else in my carry-on but now... BOY do I know what my mom must have gone through - now that I am doing it!

Ahhh the tradition continues with the Marriners now... MY FAMILY! My parents fly in from UT and we travel all together. It's fun to catch up and visit before we leave. I really miss them -we're a very close knit family! Then we get up at an incredibly AWFUL (early) hour in the AM and travel 10ish hours north. My girls have been going since they were born and it creates such memories... Now I view the anticipation in their faces. I hear how they speak of it... And it reminds me of the innocence and just fun of vacation and traveling!!

Just tonight little Boo asks me "Momma are you excited for the beach (always how we refer to our vacation). And I could unequivocately answer YES!! Everything was packed and ready to go and now the excitement to get outta dodge and just go relax at a house, right on the beach, TRAVELING to a new, yet familiar place is just AWESOME!

I dislike the preps for traveling. I get nervous and stressed a bit (Chris would say A LOT more than a bit). However - I love to go places, I love to do new things, I love to see new places, eat and drink in the culture...

But right now - I love going to "the beach". I love being with friends & family. I love that we go EVERY year and I have only missed going twice (1st - 16yrs old - I was in Zimbabwe, Africa on a mission trip & 2nd I had just had my 2nd baby girl and she was only 2 weeks old). I even went 3 days after my surgery on my back last summer!!!

Our family loves "the beach". It's true. The travling, the fun, the excitement, it is alll part of vacation!!!!

This is a bit choppy and rambling... but I just am excited and wanted to write a little about our TRAVELING!!! It's been a wonderful summer... but we need our VACATION finally!

musing on travels... my mind wanders on allll the other places i want to go sometime soon....