Friday, October 3, 2014

the 2nd annual VOCV

hello and ohmigosh, it's friday!

we've been home from our family vacation for almost a week. it seems like the week before and the week after vacation are always completely nuts. am i right? the week before a vacation is crazy because you are are busy trying to organize, make lists, pack for you [and your family] - and packing doesn't include only clothes, you must bring food, entertainment [computers, games, workout gear], linens and household products [paper towels, soap, etc]. it's a lot. plus, you have your regular life to maintain during this week before your magical vacation. and once you return it feels like you are running on E, going 100mph, just trying to get through the week. there are 40 loads of laundry, groceries that need to be bought because there is nothing to eat, the house needs to be cleaned even though it sat clean and empty for a week [how does this happen!]...plus, there is this silly thing called work that you have to return to.
so yeah...that is three weeks of life that is just nuts all for a vacation. but it is worth every second of the crazy.

this was the 2nd annual vinson/o'connor clan vacation [VOCV - nice acronym, eh?]. our families met up in rehoboth beach, delaware. never heard of it? i hadn't either until we planned this little trip. southern delaware is beautiful. i keep telling everyone that i am not sure what i was expecting of DE, but what we found, definitely was not what i was expecting. what i loved the most is that it reminded me of home. everything about the landscape eastern north carolina is beautiful. it's luscious. green. full of farmland. vibrant. southern delaware was much of the same. farms as far as the eye could see, pine trees, beautiful beaches and marshlands.

   


we enjoyed relaxing, a lot. but we managed to do a lot too. here are some of the highlights of our trip.

cape henlopen state park 
this park was amazing, in many ways. it had well over 20 miles of biking trails [of varying terrain]. we biked as much as we could without our bodies revolting against us. we spent a good 3 days at that park, biking and saoking up all the history it had to offer. as cited from the park's website," With the onset of World War II, the U.S. Army established a military base at Cape Henlopen in 1941. Bunkers and gun emplacements were camouflaged among the dunes, and concrete observation towers were built along the coast to spot enemy ships." the history that lies inside this park is truly what attracted us to it. there are 13 observation towers along delaware's coast that were used during WWII. we were lucky enough to be able to climb one. it was amazing!

   


dogfish head
dogfish head brewery is located in rehoboth [the original brewery location, which is now a brewpub]. the current brewery is located in milton, delaware [which was only about 30 minutes away]. dogfish head [DFH] makes amazing beer. so knowing the brewery and brewpub were so close just made our trip. i think we went there every day of our vacation. and i am not even kidding. we enjoyed trying beers we can't get at home and beers they only serve at the brewpub and brewery. plus their food was delicious. we didn't mind becoming regulars for a week.

   



no sales tax
this should maybe be self-explanatory, but i'll offer some details anyway. there is no sales tax in delaware. i am not sure how many other states have this awesome law, but as a guest of delaware, i think it's wonderful. mostly because i benefit greatly from it. it is a very novel thing to see an item on the shelf for $12.99 and when you get to the register...guess what? the amount you owe is also $12.99!!! it's freaking amazing. and this also maybe shouldn't be so exciting, but whatever, it is.

time well spent with my family
this was by far my favorite part of the trip. we celebrated two birthdays, played cards against humanity [parents included. eep!], and shared lots of good beer [and wine and champagne!]. all of the silly and funny things that you do on vacation, you can take home with you as  memories, but you can't incorporate them into your life. well, because the people that made it funny aren't there [bye felicia!]. believe me you guys, it doesn't work - no one understands why they are being called felicia. but for real, i love learning more and more about my family. they live too far away and we don't get to do enough with each other, so this is our time to give each other a "crash course" on our lives over the past year. the more we do get together, the more we learn about each other and the closer we become. and that is truly what makes this vacation so special. vinson/o'connor clan, you all are wonderful, beautiful people. i can't wait for next year!




xoxo,
ks

1 comment:

Jaxon said...

Nicely said. Bye Felicia