don’t stay gone so long next time

 "We're almost to the cabin girls, just a few more minutes" I tell my girls as we turn onto that last county road that will take us to our weekend destination. 

A few more minutes and I start looking for landmarks that will show us where to turn off - sign for the restaurant, there's the church, next driveway is ours. 

Roll the windows down. Unbuckle car seats, open the gate. 

We are here. 

It's been 4 years since my last visit to these magical woodlands. Paisley is the only one of our four children that remember this place. Aubrey was 2 during our last visit. Our other girls, Riley & Bailey were just a twinkle in our eyes, not yet apart of our family. 

(Aubrey & Paisley during our last trip in 2019)

The girls rip out of the car the second it stops - they've been waiting for this. Paisley has been asking for years to go back, and Aubrey, who can't remember it has been anxiously awaiting to see all the things that Paisley has described to her. 

Paisley is asking to go to the Peach Orchard before we can even get Bailey out of the car. The peach orchard is a favorite; It makes a perfect track for racing their hobby horses. 

We unload the car (the cabin is just as I remember it. charming) and I take the girls down to the peach orchard. It's a short walk, and one we are comfortable letting them do alone, but it's been a while since they've been here, so they want someone to go with them this time. 

It's just as magical as we remember. I don't know why, exactly. It's an opening in the woods that has white sand tracks with trees in the middle like an island. From what I've been told, the kids used to ride ATVs around this area when they were growing up. (The kids being my husband's cousins.) 

(Paisley running through the peach orchard in 2018) 

I don't have pictures of the kids in the orchard from this trip - I've been very deliberate about leaving my phone behind. 

I'm not going to detail the weekend minute by minute - but we had a wonderful time. It's SO quiet here. So quiet. At home we live at the intersection of a very busy road. Traffic & horns all day every day. It's dark. So dark. We live in the country but it's not that dark. It's not woods dark. We can see so many more stars here at the cabin in the woods. 

Bailey got absolutely filthy but she loved crawling through the dirt, eating sand & going on hikes with Mom. 

I don't know what it is. What makes this spot in the North Florida woods so magical. The lack of cell service? We have none. My phone said SOS all weekend. The absolute quiet? The togetherness. There's nothing to do but be together. To hike together, to sit around the fire together, to just be together. There's no TV. There's no wifi. There's no cell service. We are completely disconnected. 

The kids don't even mind the lack of TV. I took the TV down off the wall at our house a couple of weeks ago, so it's not something they even thought about or missed.

They spent all their time looking for trees to climb, running around on their hobby horses, hiking the trails and riding the golf cart with Daddy. 

All good things must come to an end, but not before we headed across the road to our fave breakfast spot. We've outgrown our favorite table. It sits on the back wall; the James Corleone table (i don't know why but some tables have name plates). It overlooks the Suwannee River. We've sat at that table every time we've ever gone there. But it only seats 4. I'm still chuckling that the last time we went there we were a family of 4... 

Chris & I get our favorite breakfast bowls; Paisley gets French toast (she says the French toast is okay, but mom makes it better). Aubrey & Riley get pancakes; Bailey gets some pieces of Riley's pancake.

After breakfast we head back to the cabin to pack the car. The kids run wild while Chris & I load up our stuff. 

Get buckled.

Shut the gate.

Make plans for our next visit to this magical spot in the woods.