Favorites Friday

*NOTE: This is a re-post of a post I did last year about our vacation. We are heading out today for a long weekend with my folks and The Norwegians :) We will have 5 days of extremely limited internet and cell service. Right smack in the middle of our wait for an update from the orphanage where our little Aidan is waiting for us. Right smack in the middle of waiting for that all-important paper document called LOA. Ugh. I don't know if I can handle the separation. But I will be strong, and try to bear the five days of lazy sun-bathing and hot-tubbing in the bravest manner possible. I'll try to suffer nobly.

What I will not suffer nobly is the advent of my big 4 - oh. Yes, bloggers, I am turning 40 tomorrow. I will likely spend the next days fending off waves of agony at leaving my 30's - they were so good to me, and fending off waves of despair at having to get used to saying the "f" word in relation to my age. It won't be pretty. But that yummy steak dinner my mom mentioned might just ease the pain. Maybe. . . .

Without further ado or sob stories that will bore you to tears, here is my re-run (with updates for this year in red) of Favorites about family vacation!

We're leaving (today) for our annual vacation with my folks at our family home on Keuka Lake (click here and navigate to the photo gallery page - it's quite a kaleidoscope of scenes of lake life at Keuka!) I've been going there with my family since I was 11 or so, and the whole area has lots of really great memories for me that I enjoy sharing with my kids while we drive. I admit, when I was a teen, I didn't enjoy going there for two whole weeks every summer: being away from my friends for that long felt like the cruelest torture imaginable. But now that my folks own their place and I'm all grown up, with grown-up responsibilities and pressures and deadlines, being there with its easy pace and quiet scenery is like a balm. Today's Favorites are just some of my favorite things about getting away to the lake with my family.

My Favorite Things About Vacation At Keuka Lake:

• The hot tub - doesn't that just say it all?!
• The beautiful sound of water lapping against the sides of boats docked along the waterfront and the little gem reflections of the sun on the water that my eyes catch between the leaves when I'm crashed on a lounge up on the dock
  
• The absence of most technology - I say most because my dad recently splurged on a tv and satellite dish to combat the long, rainy days of fall and spring when he's there alone (Ha! Last year, I loved the absence of cell service and internet. This year, not so much!)
  
• No make-up, no hair stuff, no real clothes - bathing suits, flip flops, sweats and grubby shorts & T-shirts are the order of the day
  
• My birthday with my family - we try to be there over my birthday as many years as we can. Somehow, it eases the agony of the approaching 40's and makes me feel young and carefree again. At least, until Shaggy stands up next to me and speaks in his deepening man-voice! (I'll get back to ya on this one. Not really looking forward to the free flinging of the "f" word that I'll no doubt experience by everyone but The Boss. He knows better, having just suffered the same agony himself last month!)
  

So, bloggy friends, I'll be off enjoying some time with my family for a few days; we'll be home late on Sunday, just in time for me to run laundry and start my new week with mounds of emails and blogs to read! Enjoy your weekend and try to find your own down-time to feel young and rested if you can . . . I sure will be!