While I love Omaha, I wish I was still in Nova Scotia

We just had the most incredible trip; it was the vacation of a lifetime. While I have been on many, many great trips in my 27+ years this one was unforgettable and one of the tops. I'm not sure what made it so amazing - perhaps the fact we stayed at the most gorgeous home on acres of oceanfront land and were treated way too well. Perhaps it was the fact we just needed a vacation. Or maybe because my mom, dad, Trevor, Kalin and I have never taken a trip together besides the trip to South Bend, Indiana, for my cousin's wedding. It could also be that while it was busy and nonstop and crammed full of activities it was extremely relaxing.

I have to admit I was a little concerned about how our trip to Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia would go after we landed in Chicago to see this on the monitor:

See the Halifax flight? That was supposed to be ours. We instead hung out at O'Hare for five hours and made it to Toronto around midnight EST. Upon arrival in Toronto we, of course, had no bags. At this point we just laughed. Trevor and I checked into the airport's Renaissance hotel and, after the guy could not look up my Marriott rewards number and I got a little ticked, we brushed our teeth with airline provided toothpaste and called it a night around 2 a.m.

Alarm clock went off at 6:30 and we caught the shuttle to the airport at 6:50. It's amazing how quick you can be out the door when you sleep in your clothes. This is the point at which Trevor said "It feels like we are on the Amazing Race" and his eyeballs were the color of Barney since he had his contacts in too long.

All was well though - we landed in Halifax around 11 a.m. and were greeted by "Carl" in the baggage area - holding a sign that said "Fitch" of course :-). Our bags, at this point, had made it from Chicago to Toronto, but we were told we wouldn't have them that day (Wednesday). After about an hour car ride, we arrived at paradise and immediately hopped in the sailboat. (I owe my mom a big thanks for letting me borrow some clothes so I didn't have to sail in the capris and polo I'd been wearing for 24 hours!) After that it was nonstop. Hot tubbing. Cornhole. Dark and Stormies. Homemade strawberry daquiris. Huge home-cooked steak dinner. Wine. More wine. A third bottle of wine. Great conversations, lots of laughs and a night cap in the guest house/sports bar. Our luggage arrived Thursday -yay!- which was another nonstop day. The boys hopped aboard Mrs. Maverick - the speed boat - and the girls piled in the Explorer and headed to Mahone Bay for a little shopping. We met up with the fellas at the Lunenburg Yacht Club and parted ways again, where we went back to Mahone Bay for more shopping. It's a darling little area. We reconvened at the "compound" and all headed to Lunenburg where we toured the fisheries museum. My mom and I hit up a few shops in the area and met up with everyone to wet our whistles with a dark and stormy. It was then time for dinner and we feasted at a great Italian restaurant. Trevor and I opted for Penne pasta with lobster and vodka sauce and it was incredible. Back to the house, listening to McGinty's sea songs - a CD that Dave bought. (Apparently it is his eighth one because Peggy keeps throwing them away. This copy was gifted to Trevor and is now in our library.) More drinks in the sports bar and another fabulous day comes to an end.

Friday = Happy Fourth of July! We started our day with a relaxing boat ride aboard Mrs. Maverick where we tooled around and visited the Bay of Chester. Back to the house for Deluxe nachos and then steamed mussels. That was also the day we kayaked and played a lot of Bocce and Cornhole. (Trevor and Kalin are horrible at that game, BTW.) We had an Americana dinner of burgers, brats and dogs and capped the night off with fireworks at the firepit. Mom, Trevor and I did take the Bobcat for a late night drive on the trails to try to look for wildlife and it was pretty damn funny - especially mom pretending she was a ghost. WEIRD - we had a few more "for the ditch" at the sports bar and it was nighty night for all.

Saturday - our last full day in Nova Scotia :-(. We woke up and headed to Peggy's Cove, which is home to the most photographed lighthouse in North America. The setting was gorgeous and picturesque. We then had an appetizer and beer lunch at a pub back in Mahone Bay - one of my favorite meals. Here we were introduced to poutine which is a staple of the area. At lunch we had Clancy's Amber Ale but throughout the week we had been drinking Alexander Kieth's which is awesome. The boys went sailing and apparently had a lovely day. Mom, Peggy and I got massages and briefly lounged by the pool at the spa which was awesome. We met back up with the boys at the house and had a very yummy dinner - an outdoor boil consisting of corn on the cob, potatoes, shrimp and sausage. We wrapped the night up by playing a very fun game. We each had a person taped to our foreheads and had to guess who we were by asking questions to the others around the table. It was a hoot.

We flew home Sunday aboard a private jet, which, let me tell you - is THE way to go. If I had the option, I'd never fly commercial again :-).

So here we are, back in Omaha. It's back to work tomorrow, which I am dreading but if I learned one thing this week it's work hard to play hard. Cliche? Yes, but so true.

We are so, so grateful for the vacation we just had and words can not express our thanks to Dave and Peggy for opening their home to us for some of the best days of our lives. Thanks to Dave, Peggy, Peggy's mom or "GG" as we came to know her, mom, dad, Kalin and Trevor for the memories and the laughs while in Nova Scotia. You're the best. And a thanks to the Hites for watering flowers, taking out trash and looking out for the Fitch abode and to Joe, Kathy, Griffin and Cassidy for taking such good care of Macy while we were gone. Somehow she's more wiped out than we are!