Minkerson Vacay 2018

Rewind back to February of this year when Michael first told us about some folks he knows of (three couples) who have vacationed together every year for FOURTY YEARS. He was inspired and proposed this idea of us three family besties doing it too! After zero amount of convincing we were IN and the Dickersons, Spinks, and Moles did a thing. The countdown was on and seven months later we were embarking on our first annual Minkerson vacay!

Taken after our epic meal planning session.

We all arrived at different times Friday night. Kids were dropped off at grandparents' houses (except for Jovie girl who, by the way, was an ANGEL baby and trooper the entire weekend). The evening was spent stocking the cabin with groceries and settling in while the glorious thought of HOLY COW WE'RE AT A CABIN IN THE MOUNTAINS steadily sunk in. Pool was played and plans for the weekend ahead were made. We were all just so thankful and pumped to finally. be. there.

I knew I was on vacation when I woke up without an alarm and to a brewed pot of coffee ready for me to pour. I had to do NOTHING. Thanks, Craig! We slowly woke up Saturday morning, made breakfast, and ate it family style at the dining room table together. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit. You know, all of the yummy breakfast things! And a shout out to Meg who concocted a homemade syrup situation on account of us totally forgetting to snag some. I want to remember the way she worked her magic in that kitchen! We spent much of the day hanging out at the cabin in pajamas playing games and pool and doing a whole lot of nothing. And it was wonderful. We hung together for most of the day, but broke apart to do our own things as some point as well. I'm honestly not sure what everyone else ended up doing, but I found myself back in bed taking an afternoon nap. And all the other mommas out there said AMEN. We piled in the Spinks' mini van and drove into Helen for dinner and explored a little there.We ate super good German food at Muller's Famous Fried Cheese Cafe. Iced coffee happened too, but I can't remember if that was before or after dinner? The rest of the evening was spent back at the cabin playing pool (I think the amount of time we spent around that table surprised even us). We ate late-night snacks and drank late-night drinks with a few of the weekend's football games on tv as background noise. 

We had to cross a creek to get to our cabin each day. Read: rushing. river.

Sunday morning also started off slowly and worked its way toward another delicious breakfast enjoyed together around the table. Let's just say there was sausage. And biscuits. Oh and gravyyy. HALLELUJAH. We left for downtown Helen around noon, grabbed an impromptu snack at Wendy's, window shopped all of the tchotchkes, and ate funnel cakes and ice cream for late lunch. 

I have three syllables: vay. cay. shun. 

And that's our idea of one in a nutshell. 

Back at the cabin, we each enjoyed some down time and Kev manned the grill for dinner.

Burgers were eaten, more games were played. We were probably all schooled in pool by Heather. We stayed up way too late for us old folks, but it was worth it!

We left late Monday morning, gave hugs and high fives and loved the fact that it wasn't good-bye, but a see-ya-later...back at home. 

This one of Jo was too cute not to post!

A couple of vacay tidbits:

Kevin is a group selfie-taking pro.

Heather is the winning-est. She went 12-2 or something crazy in pool, y'all!

Michael is the losing-est. But only at pool! He lost. A lot. But brother, your persistence is admirable.

He's a baaaad man. (inside joke)

We played "the game" a lot. And I just lost "the game." And so did you, if you're reading this! (sorry, another inside joke...I think?)

Oh we saw a bear.

A for real, big, black BEAR. 

Late Sunday evening as we were hanging in the living room, we heard a big crash outside. Only to discover a little later, as we were all getting ready to go to bed, that a bear had knocked over the trash can and dragged our garbage into the woods. We all thought Kevin was joking when he SO CASUALLY said that he saw a bear walking on our porch. Like it was no big deal! We watched the bear eat our leftovers through the safety of the windows for a long time. And then...he came onto our porch AGAIN! He was RIGHT THERE. He was big. We were scared. Wide awake and not sleepy anymore. It was amazing.

We just knew that this would be our story:

We realize that most cabins don't keep the trash on the porch for this very reason. But for many inside jokes later and stories like this one, we'll remember our first ever vacation together FOR SURE.

You a baaad man.

Cell phone usage and even football watching (it was opening weekend for college!) was minimal. There was just so much freedom there. Freedom from day-to-day responsibilities and freedom to make the space to just BE (both present and ourselves). To enjoy and soak up the long weekend and the opportunities to think and listen and play.

God met us in Helen, GA through these good gifts and so much more.
I'm so grateful for these people. People we go deep with and grow alongside. People we are known and loved by. People we can be super serious and slap happy with. The real deal.
May we never ever stop pointing each other to Jesus.
But let's have fun and laugh a lot too.

Here's to, Lord willing, many more years of vacationing together, y'all!