Summertime, Vacation, the Beach...FAMILY

I love summer.  I've loved summer since I was little and it meant being out of school for 3 whole months.  I love summer now that I have a school-aged child, because it means spending time with my Carley girl when I feel like I didn't see her all year.  I love the lazy mornings, sitting around and sipping coffee and letting the girls stay in their pj's for an ungodly amount of time.  And I love.love.love. family vacation!
Since I was a baby, we've been going to New Smyrna Beach.  Now as an adult, we've chosen to vacation at St. Simon's Island with my family, tagged onto the end of a trip to Sea Island with Dustin's family.  We do this trip at the beginning of June, and then at the end of July, we take a trip to NSB with the girls in the family and our kiddos.  You would not believe the fun the kids have together on this trip.
Our family has been through a lot.  I recently re-visited some emails back from 2008...yes, I saved them.  I have emails between us girls and devotions we shared and words of hope that God would not see fit to take Leigh Anne yet.  We know now that He did take her.  And we've struggled with that.  But we are still family.  And we still have fun together.  And we still know the importance of loving each other.  Friends come and go, but family is always there for you.  Maybe that's why we have such a bond to each other.  We know that no matter what, we will defend each other.  No matter what, we will love each other.  No matter what, we will support each other.
I see this same loyalty in my husband, and I am so thankful for it.  I pray that my girls have the same bond to each other and to their families.