We’ve always been a family that likes to spend time together but after my dad passed away in 2020 (our last big family trip together with dad was Sullivan’s Island in 2018) we upped the ante, dedicating a full week each summer to spend together. We’ve taken some pretty epic trips, including:
- Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky, including a day trip to Yellowstone National Park, and was part of an epic road trip my mom, the girls and I took across the country (you can see all our adventures on my travel page)
- The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Disney World (the trip we all still laugh about because it got us all sick)
- Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park (we stayed in an old convent that was walkable to town)
- Sea Island (though this was bittersweet, as my mom left soon after we arrived to be with her mom, who ended up passing away that week)
- Telluride (ranks high up there with Lone Mountain Ranch as a standout family favorite)
Listing them out like that feels a little surreal as it really has me more deeply reflect on how fortunate we are to have so many incredible shared family adventures.
This year we opted to spend our week together at mom’s house, “Camp Nana” as we call it, to enjoy lake time, porch talks, and just focus on being together. My mom lives in a beautiful place and we rarely all get to enjoy it together with the demands of work, school, and life, so a week of just getting to hang out together felt like a real treat.
Upon arrival the kids couldn’t wait to get into the lake, a theme that continued through the week. Mom has all the toys- boat, tube, jet skis, lake mat, and we brought our wake board. Needless to say, they kept us quite entertained and I’m pretty sure the girls left completely water logged.
We had planned a family book club. In the weeks prior we all read Because of Winn-Dixie (such a fabulous book and worked for our age spread- 10+). Then we compiled themed snacks: peanut butter bread, Litmus lozenges, pickles, Dump Punch- the works! We gathered to snack and discuss the book before all piling onto mom’s couch and watching the movie. It was a sweet afternoon!
My girls and my nieces are close in age, ranging from 10-14, and so mom threw in a little (big?) surprise that turned out to be such a fun day for the age and stage we’re at. We went back to school shopping! We hit up Target, Old Navy, American Eagle, Aerie, Rack Room Shoes, and more. The girls relished in the opportunity to go shopping together; it was such a fun day and we had a lot of success.
The fun didn’t end there. I can share about the golf lessons mom treated the girls to, which the all thoroughly enjoyed! But overall the whole week was full of highlights.
We had an adult dinner out, lots of porch talks, more tubing and boating, home cooked meals, martini happy hours, after dinner walks, more tubing and boating, The Sound of Music inspired shows practiced and performed by the girls, trying on of my old prom and homecoming dresses, lots of Spades card games, more tubing and boating, sweet treats including mom’s famous Cherry Cheese Junk (the dessert that secured her my dad’s hand in marriage), family workouts at the gym, coffee sipping mornings, and it all culminated in a family dinner out, which gave the girls the fun opportunity to all get dressed up together.
We’ll leave that as the pinnacle and skip over the part where David threw his back out the morning we were heading out. 😉 (he’s fine now)
I’m trying with everything in my power to not end this with where my heart and writing typically goes, reflecting cheesily on how grateful I am for my family and the time we get to spend together, but how can I not?
Another Stathas family bonding week in the books, something I know dad would absolutely love. We always cheers him and thank him for his hard work and love, which in tandem with mom’s set us up to enjoy these times together. Just wish he could be here in person to savor them, too.
What a sweet way to tie up the summer season before we shift gears into back to school. But more on that in another post!
Leave a Comment