End of Vacation

Our last day at the cabin (Thursday, Aug. 9), we spent the morning packing everything up and cleaning the cabin.  We didn't have to check out till 6 that evening, so it was nice not to be in a rush to get things done.  We got most of the packing done, then took a break to go hiking.  That was another of those "best laid plans" of mine.  I grew up hiking all the time with my family. We haven't had many opportunities to go camping and hiking with our little family, so I was excited to take them for a hike.  The kids weren't so excited, though.  It was hot, I forgot to bring water, and the trail was pretty steep downhill.  Sara cried the entire way.  So, we hiked down for about 10 minutes, then hiked back up, and called it good.

We stopped at A&W on our way back to the cabin and got the kids root beer floats, which almost made up for the torture that we had just subjected them to.  Then we finished our packing and said goodbye to the cabin. Our drive home was less than peaceful, and everyone was very happy to sleep in their own beds that night.

As our kids get older, family vacations get more and more important to me.  I know that the memories we make on these trips will last forever.  I love that we had this week to grow closer together as a family.