47 days

 We have been stateside for 46 days now.  We will end that streak at 47.

Tomorrow night we catch the red eye for home. And I have so much to tell you about those 47 days we spent with family and friends.  But I can't.  Not just now.  Not because I don't have the time (I don't) but I also don't have the heart.  I can't sum it all up while I feel I am still in the midst of it.  Maybe next week, when I have some distance and when I have some clarity, I will be able to start dissecting it all.  Piece by piece.  But until then...

It has been a vacation jam packed.  Full of fun, laughs, love and heartache.  We have caught up with friends, both new and old.  We have attended a wedding and a funeral.  We have laughed, we have cried and we have lived. It has been 46 days that I will never forget. 

And I promise I will tell you all about it.  But like I said before, not just now.  I don't have the energy, or the words, right now.  

So I will leave you with a Wordless Wednesday post.  

There are 46 pictures here.  Each taken with my iPhone and posted on Instagram.  Each summing up one day of our vacation.  They can't possibly tell the whole story (that is up to me in the next few posts) but they can hold you over until then.

Until then...

June 8 - Leaving, on a Jet plane...

June 9 - A Dallas welcome

June 10 -  1st swim

June 11 - 1st Lake day

June 12 - Stinkerbell learns to pedal forward!

June 13 - Taking care of business.  The dentist.

June 14 - Safari tour.

June 15 - Another pool day.  Damn.

June 16 - Homemade Pina Colada's with fresh shaved coconut.  I am never coming home.

June 17 - Second piercing in that ear...and only that ear.  The first time it was done she was only 4 months old and it was done poorly.  It had to be done.  But there were no tears, no cries and a big smile after this moment (I captured the worst of it).

June 18 - Swings!  Nana and Grampa hav the best yard ever!

June 19 - She misses her Papa!

June 20 - Rough life.

June 21 - Taking a ride in Grampa's car.  AND Happy Birthday Papa!

June 22 - Oh to be a kid again!

June 23 - Best Friends together again.

June 24 - Off to see Monsters University.

June 25 - Pool side relaxation.

June 26 - A bit of learning, without knowing it, at the Austin Children's Museum.

June 27 - Showing them what Texas BBQ is all about at Opie's.

June 28  - My baby turns 4!!!

June 29 - half of this crowd is headed home! 

June 30 - Too many reptiles and too little water.

July 1 - Our daily ritual.

July 2 - Seeing the Austin Bats take flight.

July 3 - Choices, choices.  Firework selection for tomorrow.

July 4 - Happy 4th everyone!

July 5 - 5k and BBQ!  Does it get any better?

July 6 - Spike and MadHatter on a ride.  She has waited a year for this!

July 7 - Tie Dye!

July 8 - Another house full.  This time 11 kids and 8 adults!

July 9 - Spa time!

July 10 - Contemplating the silence!

July 11 - Happy Half Birthday Baby girl!  In Buffalo!

July 12 - Papa!!!!

July 13 - Niagara Falls!!!

July 14 - Crossing over to the other side!

July 15 - All dressed an ready to remember a live well lived and a man well loved!

July 16 (maybe 17) - Happy birthday to me.

July 17 - Family pool day.

July 18 - Safari park elephant ride.

July 19 - Cheers.  Wine tasting in Niagara.

July 20 - starting our journey home.  Back to Austin we go.

July 21 - Sleepy kids.  

July 22 - Turbo...Movie 3 in 5 weeks. 

July 23 - trying something new.

July 24 - Movie night with Tio Clavo.

I will add July 25th tomorrow.  After the fact.  All it will be is a picture of a bunch of suitcases in my parents front hall.  Suitcases that are full of our things.  Things.  Not our memories.  Those we will carry with us.

Forever.