Family Vacation 2019 | At the Lake - sarahainesphotography.com

Some of you may follow on instagram and remember me mentioning this in a past blog post…. but I am a total beach girl and could seriously live there. I look forward to our annual week on the coast so when Aaron suggested something different this year I wasn’t really sure how to process anything except the seashore. However, I guess it was time to try something new and we found ourselves packed and headed to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. Total transparency…I sulked for the first day-

… however, this little week away brought SO MUCH JOY! We laughed and talked and tried new experiences. It pushed us to be creative and explore new opportunities around us and the week was so much better then I could have imagined.Having a week away has taught me some very powerful things about my life and my time. I don’t need to work as much as I’ve worked in the past. I’ll be honest, I’ve been shooting back to back weddings for months, spending most evenings at sessions and the majority of my days editing all while preparing for my other full time job of being a sixth grade teacher. It’s a lot. It’s resulted in 80+ hours of work a week….taking a week off has taught me that I DO know how to slow down. I have workaholic tendencies but leaving for a week to a place that I’m not able to think about work because I can’t even get my emails to load was really such a gift! God’s timing is amazing. So I wanted to share a few pictures of our little vacation for a couple of reasons 1. Because I like to give you a peek into my personal life 2. because this is how I document and save memories! I sure hope my blog never crashes!! ah! (I do back it up, don’t worry!) So here are some of my favorite memories…….

– Kellan and Claire tubing in the lake (yes! I did too but let’s just say I couldn’t stay on long enough to get a picture)
– Renting a speed boat and learning how to get around a lake we’ve never visited
– The daily wrapping up of Kellan’s knee due to his emergency room visit the day before we left! Thirteen stitches at 2:30 am was NOT on the list of things to experience, but an intense game of flashlight tag during boys night added a little extra unexpected element to our vacation
– Finding one of the most breathtaking views (after a VERY long hike uphill) in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was truly spectacular, however Claire and Kellan both agreed it was their first (and last) visit to McAfee Knob
– Finding a quaint little ceramic shop to satisfy Claire’s quest for artsy activities
– Playing with Max and Apollo at our lake house dock
– Taking a fishing charter and scouting for Stripers on the lake
– Playing mini golf at Bridgewater Plaza followed by our nightly trip for Chocolate Moose Tracks Ice-cream- SO good! and of course the arcade
– Kayaking, paddle boating and doing our best to stand on the paddle boards were a daily occurrence
– Evening campfires on our lakefront beach! (This was Aaron’s compromise to not going to the ocean….not quite the same, but it was such a cute little area that we loved chilling at)
– Daily face to face conversations with each other that included much laughter and little use of cell phones