We arrived home our Memorial Day weekend in Florida on Tuesday morning. I edited all of the photos for this post on our flight home but I’m just getting a chance to sit down and write it.

Our flight back to Charlotte was at 7a on Tuesday and that is early, early for us! The occasion for our early flight was that my mom was already booked to fly to Charlotte on the 7a flight for some clinic visits this week. We booked our Memorial Day weekend trip after she’d booked her flight to North Carolina so it was nice that we were all able to travel back together.

I got up at 4:30a and spent an hour getting ready and doing some last-minute packing and tidying up. I didn’t wake Finn up until 5:40a – the literal last-minute we had to get in the car to head to the airport. He asked, “Mommy, are we leaving in the night?”

Finn quickly remembered my promise of a donut at the airport and was excited to travel in his PJs so he was in a great mood for the trip. I will say one benefit of being on the first flight out for the day is that travel tends to run pretty seamlessly. We had such an easy flight and fast experiences in the airport. We were home unpacking and getting settled in by 10:30a! It was nice to have the whole day ahead of me.

Backtracking to our long weekend in Florida…it was just the best. Like I mentioned in my last post, my whole family (my mom, dad, Mema and Finn) were all reunited together in Florida for the first time in a year. I got to visit with family that I haven’t seen in years and Finn got to meet five cousins he’d never met before!

The rest of this post will be more of a photo journal because I think these pictures do a great job of telling the story of how much fun was had and how many special memories were made.

YAY COUSINS! 

Finn and I arrived in Florida on Thursday and his cousins started arriving on Saturday. He asked me no fewer than 100 times between Thursday and Saturday when his cousins were going to get there.

I have two cousins on my dad’s side that are his sister’s children. We grew up spending all of the big holidays and special family celebrations together at my grandmother’s house in Georgia. Since my grandmother sold her home and moved to Florida in 2015, we’ve all been a bit scattered…and have let far too much time pass between visits.

We now have six kids between the three of us (plus my brother’s two who weren’t with us this time) and it was far past time that we all spend time together.

The coolest thing is that each of us had a boy within nine months of each other and let me tell you…those boys together were something to see!

They swam.

They had water gun fights.

They rafted.

They played in the sand.

They colored.

The boys are all three and four but there are two older girl cousins who are seven and 10. They were so sweet with the boys!

And spent a lot of time playing with them.

It was just the best. (Look at these sweet serious faces.)

ALL THE QT WITH FINN

I cherish our trips to Florida because I feel like my time with Finn is extra special. It’s such a happy place for us. I feel like the lightest, freest, least-stressed version of me and Finn thrives on the family time, wide-open spaces and freedom to play, play, play.

He was the absolute best balance of a velcro child needing all the snuggles and mommy attention along with wanting to adventure and play.

Every time I gave him the option to hang back while I went to run errands, workout, walk, etc…Finn always chose to come with me. This age is magical. He is the most fun sidekick of all-time.

I’m pretty sure one of Finn’s favorite moments from the trip is when I took he and his cousin out in the “deep end” of the ocean to jump waves. He’s talked about it for days.

I’m grateful the gulf is finally warm enough for me to venture in and have fun doing so because I am a wimp in cold water!

I spent so much time on these beaches as a kid with my parents and my brother. They are some of the best memories of my childhood. It means the world to me to now be sharing this with Finn.

I am the luckiest.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

There are talks and plans of making this Memorial Day beach week a yearly family reunion with my cousins and our kids and I sincerely hope that happens. I have come to appreciate family on a whole new level since becoming a mom and through my mom’s illness and lung transplant journey. The thing about it is that just like all relationships, it takes work. I think we’re all up for the challenge! Seeing the sheer joy and exhilaration in the kids is a great motivator.

Finn and I will be back in Florida as much as we are able to this summer. It feels extra important right now.

Thanks for being here and for following along. xoxo

QUESTIONS

Are you close with any of your cousins? How do you nurture the relationships with them and their children if applicable? 

Are you able to see family often? Do you live close? If not, how do you foster closeness when you’re far away? 

Do you have any beach trips planned this summer?