Summer Vacations

I love summer vacations. The trip we took was about a 13 hour drive down near Reno Nevada. We stay in a small town called Greagle, CA. It has been a tradition with Katherine and me for 16 years. Her family built this cabin 26 years ago and they have been doing 4th of July every year there with all the relatives. Some years we have 25 people, some years 10-12. It all depends on when the holiday falls in the week and who can get away from work, etc. Regardless it is always fun, totally beautiful and completely relaxing.

This year I had the blessing of Isabella joining me for the first time on a round of golf. She sat in the cart and we had nobody playing with us. It was the greatest round of golf I have had in years. We talked about stuff all the way. She held my clubs, helped me putt the ball and just was so sweet the entire time. I will never forget the first hole we played. I hit my tee shot down the fairway. So, we go out to hit the ball and I get ready to swing. Now, I taught Isabella that there were only 2 rules she had to follow during our golf date: 1) always stand very still when daddy goes to hit the ball; 2) always be very quiet when daddy goes to hit the ball. she did great on the first shot. But when I went to hit that second shot she said "dadda?" Of course I said "Isabella, remember what we said about being quiet?" She says " I know dad". She reaches down into her pocket and pulls out a golf ball and says "dad, I got this extra ball in case you lose that one". I absolutely lost it. I could not help but laugh and with a tears in my eyes I squatted down to her level and said "I love you so much, honey. This is the best day ever". It was so cool.

Such a blessing, kids are. So many times we look at our schedule as being too busy to spend time with our kids. Really, we are investing in their lives and future when we spend quality time with them. We also are modeling a behavior to them that says family matters. It doesn't matter if a vacation is 2 weeks or 2 days. It doesn't matter if the mini-vacation is 2 hours. I love the movie What About Bob. There's a classic line in there from Bill Murray when he is told to "take a vacation from his problems". Even in our regular routines it is good to take a few moments for these mini-vacations during the summer.

Attached are some photos from the annual summer trip to the cabin.

George