The Blog Group and My Dream Vacay

If you a regular reader of my blog (thanks Dad and Mom) then you remember the Blog Challenge that I did with my friend Mary a couple of months back. Well, since then, I've wanted to do another, but just didn't feel like coming up with new topics. Thanks to Becky, one of my teacher buddies, I am now an official member (right, Becky? I'm official, yes?) of a blog group. I guess you could sort of compare it to a book club of sorts, except we're writing to predetermined topics by predetermined due dates. I'm pumped that Becky came up with ideas for the first several weeks...less thinking to do on my part. We'll also be posting our links to FB and tagging the blog group members so all can see that we've finished the assignment and enjoy the reading. Truthfully, there aren't really any rules. It's more of a participate if you want, when you want kind of thing. If you know my slightly compulsive personality, then you know that I will probably participate in each week's assignment as there is a list of them and we all know how I love to cross items off of a list. :)

If you would like to join our blogging group, it is never too late to join in! Here is a list of our topics through mid-September. Ummm, if you're not a teacher, then you can just adapt the topic to your liking! :)
7/24/11--Dream vacation and why?
7/31/11--If you weren't a teacher, what profession(s) would you like to try, and why?
8/7/11--What's something that you wish you had the guts to do, at least once?
8/14/11--What does the first day of school look like/mean to you?
8/21/11--Greatest fear(s) and why?
8/28/11--Favorite childhood memory and why
9/5/11--Bucket list
9/12/11--Great author and interesting writing style

Okay...on to our first topic...my dream vacay. Ahhhh...vacation. It's one of my favorite words. More than that, it's something that I love. Vacation comes in so many forms. There is the kind of vacation that involves travel, there's summer vacation, Thanksgiving vacation, and Christmas vacation. It's one of the perks of being a teacher. There is much vacation. Side note: I'm a true believer that those of us who work really hard at what we do (it's not the cushy, easy, go to work at 8 and leave at 3 job that so many have mistaken it to be...it's lots of hard work which involves lots of preparation and long hours. Even some of our "vacation" is spent working) deserve every single bit of it! Stepping down from my soapbox. Anyhow, I love vacation.

We've been super blessed to travel a lot and have many of my dream vacations...

We went to Hawaii, particularly Oahu and Maui, for our honeymoon. Definitely a dream vacay, but it is mostly a blur. Jet lag and just getting married seemed to be a bit overwhelming. I want to go back ASAP! Plus, look at the crappy quality of the pictures. Digital cameras stunk then.

We've traveled to places in Texas, which I love to do. This was a trip to Plum Lake. Fishing and being in the woods are some of our fave things to do.

Whoooaaaa...check out the extra chunk in this photo...and I'm not talking about the cute baby Gracie Claire chunk. LOL!

We've traveled across the ocean. We spent a week in London, sadly taking a regular camera instead of digital. *sigh* We've also taken a Mediterranean cruise, which was AH-MAY-ZING! Definitely a dream.

We've also taken a Caribbean cruise (again, no digital camera) and been to MO and IL several times to see family. Not to mention all of the great vacations we went on when I was growing up! Disney World, Washington D.C., the Rocky Mountains, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua just to name a few. (The last two were really mission trips, but I count 'em.) We are so blessed by the amount of traveling that we've been able to do. We haven't taken a big vacation in a while and I'm definitely getting the itch. So, if I could pick anywhere and leave right this second, it would have to be to...drum roll please...FIJI! Yes, friends. Fiji. I'm a beach girl. I love, love, love to lay on the beach. I love to snorkel. I love to stare at the ocean. I love to play in the water. I love palm trees. I love it. Period. Plus, you get to absorb a new and different culture every time you travel. That's the best part.

So there you have it friends. My dream vacay. Although there's not some deep reason why I'd love to go there, I think it's fairly obvious by the photos I found. Truly, I wouldn't be that picky and insist on Fiji. I'd really take any vacation at this point. Just give me a beach and the ocean and a beautiful view and I'm in. :)