The wind is blowing, the leaves are changing and I'm itching to buy boots. Fall is right around the corner. Seeing how we never really had much of a summer in Wisconsin I think its time to finally post pictures of our...dum dum DUM...Family Summer Vacation! (Capitalization indicates the singularity of this event for a family whose livelihood depends on seasonal work.)
A little background: In the summer of 1996 I participated in a Rotary exchange program that took me to Harbury, England where I met the one and only Joanna Hancock, my assigned exchange partner. Unlike traditional exchanges where one switches places with someone, I spent a month living with her and her family and she came back to the States and spent a month living with me. A nerve-wracking prospect, spending two solid months with someone you don't know. Luckily we got on like the proverbial house on fire and those two months led to many more travel adventures and an enduring long-distance friendship.
Jo let me know this winter that she and her family would be visiting relatives in North Carolina and wondered if there was any way to meet up. Seeing as we'd be on the same continent and hadn't seen one another since her wedding nine years (!) ago, I had to make it happen. Planning ensued and before long we had a beach house booked for a shared week in Folly Beach, South Carolina.
It was an idyllic seaside vacation, whether it was the humid mornings spent on the beach, sleepy afternoons escaping the heat, exploring historic Charleston, enjoying local seafood restaurants or making meals together in our beach house. Most of all, it was really special for our families to meet each other. It was great to see her son, Wilfie, and Max running around the house at top speed, laughing and shouting (and inevitably annoying the downstairs residents, one of whom was apparently "dying of shingles"); to hold baby Lois and watch her warm up to us; to send the husbands out for beers while Jo and I stayed up late chatting; to be able to spend nearly a week together, two families, two schedules, and manage to have everyone get along and watch the inside jokes and shared memories develop.
Here's to the next Family Vacation-Bristol, UK 2018!
Me and my new little chicken friend
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| Dave and his little deer friend |
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| Storytime with Matt |
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| Climbing the giant web together |
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| Touring Charleston harbor by ferry boat |
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| Wouldn't be a vacation with Jo without some dangerous wildlife |
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| Our last day together |
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| Baby Lois was happy with me snuggling her, I swear! |
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| Best mates |
I am so happy you were able to spend time with Joanna and her family. I looks like a great time was had by all. Awesome!
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