It literally felt like a run through. We arrived in the City of Lights around six in the morning after an all night flight. Of course I didn’t sleep. Planning for this trip I had been more anxious than I would care to admit. The days leading up to it I stupidly over thought every detail possible; from my boy Gabe begging me not to leave, wondering if Brett would remember to do laundry, to traveling abroad with a group of 27 people. I had never been away from my husband and children that long.

This came about in early 2014. My parents invited me to attend an educational study abroad program set for July. My little sister and brother had attended these trips with them in the past, while I was busy having babies during those years. One day my Dad called and was proud to proclaim, “It’s your time now.” I was excited. I was nervous. Ten days meandering around France and Switzerland. We would travel with a group from the high school I attended, Cincinnati Christian, and led by my old Bible teacher. Talk about flashbacks. The majority of our group of 27 were parents of current or alumni students, but there were also current students and a couple alumni. I was blessed to have my parents, two aunts, my uncle, my dear friend/roomy who I convinced to go (also past alumni) and her daughter in our pack. I was in good company.

True to my nature, I researched everything up one side and down the other about the parts of Switzerland and France we would be visiting from its history to best restaurants to hit up. I also researched how to pack all of the clothes I wanted into a single carry-on. Yes, I probably researched this most.

Bless my parents for waiting so long for me to post these photos. After coming home I was immediately swallowed by work and homeschooling the kids until my winter slow down, and every few weeks my father has asked if I’ve been able to look at the photos. It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago that I was even able to go through them.  My father–he was my photography cheerleader through Europe–asking to carry my camera bag even though his knees ached, pointing me to good vantage points, sharing how happy he was that I was able to see these things….this was my highlight.

As I close out 2014 on the blog this week, I begin with Paris (more of France and Switzerland to follow). We were only there for four days and most of the time we were literally running from place to place, striving to keep up with our rigorous itinerary for the day. Although I didn’t get to slowly wander streets as I had always envisioned, I still made it a point to keep my eyes wide, soaking in every ounce of new beauty I could.

I saw….

-Adorably clothed French children calling “Mama!”
-The most dapper men I’ve ever witnessed in real life
-An older woman biking gracefully down a Parisian street. Her large hat sat above her curly grey locks, but it was the red dress that stopped me.
-Men holding their teenaged sons hands…beautiful, and I wish it was common here
-A busy and dirty city, similar to some of our own. My father claims that the Paris of today is very different from the one a decade ago.
-Picture perfect cafes, as if Audrey Hepburn may be dining at the table next to me.
-The language. I could listen all day. My attempts were purposely few, so as not to tarnish those beautiful sounds
-Window boxes with flowers everywhere I looked
-The light…the way it fell on the street in the evening, the way it reflected off the Seine. I could imagine why it inspired so many.

Instead of words, I’ll share a bit of what I saw around this magnificent city…

We love Edisto Island. Located in South Carolina, about an hour south of Charleston and about an hour north of Hilton Head, it’s our family’s little slice of heaven. It’s not popular, many people ride bikes to get places, and the beaches are not crowded…and that’s why we like it! The island prides itself on its unspoiled natural beauty everywhere you turn and the way it has made “time stand still” with its many 1950s-60s beach cottages still standing.

While packing for our family  trip this past May, Priya brought up the fact that this is the first time we have vacationed solo, just our family, in quite a long time. I still haven’t gone back in my head to figure out exactly how long it’s been since we’ve traveled with just the six of us for company, but she was right; we usually bring parents, Uncle Jason, friends, or we’re visiting folks at our destination’s end. Not this time. This round it was just us, and I found myself giddy with anticipation.

We were thrilled to break from our school year and hit the road! Staying in a small A-frame cottage two blocks from the beach we explored salt marshes, wandered dirt paths with live oaks overhead, cooked coastal dinners, rode bikes until our bums hurt, and made it our tradition to spend every evening together watching the sun fall into the ocean. Dusk meant color flooding everything in sight, and we found this to be the ideal time of day for treasure hunting.

We traveled to nearby Charleston and Fort Sumter for a day tour and then returned to our sweet island where we dreamed about owning a beach shack. The time away from the every day was incredibly good for our soul….so was the seemingly sketchy southern barbeque place we dared to try!

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I have to begin this post with a flashback–six years ago, standing on the same Live Oak covered road. I had dreamed of going back since, and we’re still scratching our heads as to why it took so long for us to visit once more. I think life just took over for a few years as we struggled to stay afloat, but we’ve made the decision that we will be back very soon and often.

Here we were six years ago soon after we became a pack of six–back when the babies were still babies….

And here they were this year at the island entry:

When vacationing near water our tradition is to head right for the beach…

Vacationing with older kids, we find ourselves in a new phase of life. No naps or early bedtimes.  Those dreams of “chilling” while they rest, or sitting on the porch while reading a book just really aren’t feasible right now. Since we don’t really do TV, our kids wanted to GO and EXPLORE from the moment we woke up until they crashed in the evening. They are serious outdoor lovers with a heart set on adventure seeking, which we also love, but we do cherish those moments of relaxation.  Brett and I are realizing we have to shift our view of “time away from it all,” while they’re this age. We’re okay with that. :)

My little history nerds in the making….

A favorite memory of mine from this trip was Brett and I packing up our coffee and sneaking out to watch the sun rise over one of our favorite places, Botany Bay Plantation. We were running to get to the beach on time, and had three other photographers right behind us!

The colors were unreal. For you photography nerds out there….we underexposed these shots, and the only adjusts to these were exposure and fill light.  No color adjustments necessary.

Caught ‘gramming. ;)