6.16.2007

Home Again


The feeling I had upon arriving home is one of pure happiness. While I did have a wonderful time I am most content here. Oh, it feels good to be home!
We arrived in Virginia Beach safely Thursday afternoon and met a beaming Hannah, her bags packed and ready to go. I imagine times like these to be bittersweet for her as she is never with all of her loved ones at once. She was happy to be going with us but that meant leaving her mom and 5 other siblings (all younger) behind. Hannah is one that adjusts so easily to any situation thrown at her and I really admire her for this. She takes it all in stride and with a smile and I sure could learn a thing or two from her.
After we checked into our hotel we took a stroll down the boardwalk. It was chilly but we were determined to hit the beach. An orange sign pointed the way to "Boardwalk Art Show." What? Yay! An unexpected art treat. I was practically skipping down the boardwalk. There were several mixed media artists there and their work was just incredible. Especially an artist named Holly Hambrick. She has a website coming soon and I can't wait to see her work again. She was very nice and her assemblages very unique and wonderful.
I could have wandered the boardwalk for hours looking at the art but we needed to eat and the girls wanted to get down to the beach and the pool. We ate delicious veggie wraps and sunrise sunset smoothies. yummy! The girls played at the pool while I read the latest Cloth Paper Scissors. Again another unexpected treat. I forget that when Hannah is with us Olivia has someone else other than me to talk to, the play with. Plus, with Mamaw there it was easy for me to retreat a little and no one even minded. Little Miss Olivia crashed as soon as we got back to the room so us bigger girls watched TV, plus a movie- The Family Stone -which was just so good-it had me laughing and crying. Loved it. Love Love Love Luke Wilson.
The whole time was like this. Good fun. Lots of laughing. Hannah was so thrilled about the mall and it was even fun. I had a chai latte and was good to go. Mamaw gave the girls each money to spend and they spent it all, every last penny. Olivia was in Gymboree saying, "I feel like I am going sooo overboard today" as she snatched pretty patterned clothes from the racks. After that she kept saying, "This was a real shopping spree wasn't it? Wasn't it?" Maybe I need to take her places other than the thrift store and Target! Hannah liked 21 Forever, again another store I had never heard of. My fave store was L'Occitane. We don't have one of those here. No bookstore in the mall. Can you believe it? Maybe a good thing as that is where my weakness lies.
We arrived home late last night, having decided that we all wanted to get back to Roanoke. Hannah was so anxious to see her dad! They are out now buying tapes for the camcorder and going out for lunch. Kelly has an acoustic guitar gig tonight. He doesn't do many of those any more. When I met him he was teaching guitar and playing out several nights a week so tonight will be a real treat for us. He is playing outside at the Pizza Barn, on the deck there in Blue Ridge, Virginia. Wish you all lived closer so you could come and sit with me, kick off your shoes and listen to some good music beneath the stars.
xoxo,

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you had a WONDERFUL time at the beach, and from what I can gather, it looks like you might have gone there before the big "after school" and summer rush. I haven't been to Virginia Beach in ages. Your post makes me want to get in the car and go now!