Back from the Lake

Even though I know I don't have to, I feel the need to apologize for the lack of posts as of late.  It's certainly not for a dearth of material as I have about a dozen half-written posts in my drafts folder.  The problem, my friends, is time.  I know I don't have to explain how that having a toddler and twinfants is probably the gold medal standard for time-suckage but there are just not enough hours in the day to do all that I want to do, and the few hours of quiet time I do get are spent drinking copious amounts of wine (joking...kind of).  Sigh. Time is a precious commodity, and lucky for us we've been spending it soaking up the last days of summer in style with our little munchkins and enjoying every minute of it.  Because the other funny thing about time?  It goes by so dang fast.

We just returned last night from another epic family vacation.  This time, we headed to Northern Michigan where we rented the most adorable teeny-tiny cottage (only slightly larger than our boat in square footage) on Lake Bellaire to spend time with Scott's family.  It was bliss.  Lake living is where it is at and Scott and I have put it out into the Universe that one day we will have a cozy cottage on a lake somewhere where our girls can spend the summers canoeing, paddle boarding, fishing, hiking, dinghy sailing, making s'mores around a campfire, collecting fireflies, skipping stones and - in general - being kids in the great outdoors.  I don't know what it is, but there is something special about waking up and walking out your back door to the morning sun glistening on a lake.  The fresh air, the cool morning mist, the chirping birds, the feel of dewy grass underfoot...  Not sure if it's like this for everyone - for some it might be mountains or forests or deserts - but for me being on the water is so peaceful and calming.   It's probably why I love living on a boat so much, the constant presence of water right at my doorstep.  Everything somehow seems more tolerable, more beautiful, more meaningful, more special, just more when I am close to water.  Life is better.  I love it.  I guess that's the true gift nature gives us and why it's so important to get out in it as often as we can.

So there's that.  I could go on and on, but the babies are stirring from their nap and so I'll just leave you with a few pictures that I think sum it up nicely.