Life is Better in Flip Flops!

Especially when spending the day with one of your best friends and her daughters, who happen to be some of your girls' best friends.  We may not get together often because we live a state away from each other but we always make the most of our time together!  And many of those times are spent in flip flops at the beach!  They almost all start with munchkins (neither one of us can be the first to break that tradition). We share a love of our girls, education, good coffee,  the beach, the mountains, a great egg salad sandwich, popcorn with m & m's (both plain and peanut) dumped right in there,  and great beer.   Plus it doesn't hurt that we both love to talk!

Neither of our husbands are huge talkers.  Maybe we just save it up.  We've been getting together since our girls were babies and all had matching reversible bikinis.  We've moved on to shopping dates (one of mine isn't much of a shopper so not sure we'll repeat that!), beach days, movies, sleepovers, and most recently a hotel stay with just the girls.  All of our days involve lots and lots of talking.  Almost nonstop.  Yet we get to the end of the day and still have conversations that are unfinished and more topics to cover.  One of us usually texts the other that we miss them already before the other has even made it all the way home.  We sign off our emails with see you soon friend.  She is the epitomy of a wonderful friend.  Someone that you don't have to see often but who just click when you do.  Someone that can talk about anything with no fear of judgement or criticism.  I respect her so much as a mom, friend, wife, and educator.  She isn't perfect and she admits to her faults which is just one of the reasons why I love her so much! 

Our girls just click too.  They all play together and then break off into groups of two or three depending on what they are doing.  They are silly and funny and all just like to have a good time.  On our last trip to the beach they were body surfing, cheering on their friend on her surfboard, skim boarding, building a huge sand castle, and building a trap to catch an unsuspecting seagull.  The girls were annoyed that later while they were busy in the water little toddlers were traipsing through their castle and wrecking all their hard work.  My friend told them to have empathy for the mothers who she compared to us when our own girls were little... so happy to just have their kids occupied so they could have a chance to connect and talk with their own friends.  Just think she said, "You made a toddler playground!"

Do you think the seagulls suspect they are up to something?  

Our husbands have a lot in common but don't get to see each other very often.  We each see the other's husband when we stay late or sleepover but can't remember the last time we were all together.  The guys are often in the market for the newest mountain bike, have similar tastes in cars, are hardworking conscientious businessmen who love their headstrong wives and athletic girls.  If they got together I'm not sure what they'd talk about, or if they'd talk at all.  But they do have a lot in common.  We just have so much to cover in such little time that we often plan our get togethers for when the guys are at work or too busy to take a vacation. 

Could this possibly be the last time we got the guys together?

Time for a reunion at the lake.  Another NH get together since
the last one was at Story Land.

I hope our girls feel this yearning to get together with each other when they are older.  This need to reconnect and talk all day and know their friends are there for them.  Even when they don't see each other that often!  

Miss you friend!

Oh and did I mention that even our dogs love each other?  We got our dogs on the EXACT same day without even knowing the other family was even considering getting a dog.  They got married in a small intimate wedding ceremony in our back yard later that summer.  The girls were of course their flower girls.  While they don't live together they still love and adore one another.  Her Cooper even walks Sadie around on her leash when it's time for us to leave as if begging her not to go.  And Nola?  When she came along we decided that she and Cooper were really just long lost brother and sister.  Both black labs with the same exact personality.  You think I'm joking about a doggie wedding?  I'm not! Cooper was wearing a bow tie and Sadie had on a veil!