Oh goodness, a real vacation...

My husband's middle sister, her fiance, their daughter, and his mother have all come to visit the US from Sweden. They arrived on the 29th and will be visiting us through July 12th. Since we knew I was going to be off this week and they were coming all this way we decided to plan a family vacation at the beach. And, because I haven't been able to see much of my family the past year (not entirely due to my school obligations, a lot of it was because the kid's school breaks didn't sync up with mine) we invited them along too.

The beach house!

We opted for Nags Head, NC which is in a part of the state known as the Outer Banks. It is a lovely place for a family vacation. On the one side we have calm shallow bays where we can take the kids and not have to worry since you can wade out hundreds of yards without it getting deep, on the other side there is blue sparkly ocean with waves and deep sea fishing. It is commercial enough that there are shops, restaurants and stores but not so much that everything is choked with gift shops. Honestly, my husband might already be planning our next trip here before we even finish with this one, we've liked it so much.

It has been almost a whole week with one or two trips a day to the beach and we've managed to make it without anyone really getting sunburned. We've gone through sooooo much sunscreen. Sunscreen and food! But luckily we're in a great beach house with a well equipped kitchen which has helped immensely. Plus we have balconies, wild rabbits, and a hot tub (that we haven't used because it is July in the South, but I keep thinking I should at least try it!).

I have had a great time decompressing and relaxing. Vacations are nice... I should take them more often.

But on Monday we go back to the real world of rotations! Even that doesn't start until the afternoon since it is just an orientation day! Starting rotations will make the reality of being done with the didactic year more concrete. And it means that there's less than a month until the incoming class arrives!