… “aaaaand w
e’re back!” (insert announcer voice here!)
Mom Goes Green and family has returned from a much needed beach vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina (and when I say much needed, I mean MUCH needed!). It was amazing, wonderful and just so incredibly great to be able to give my family 100% of my undivided attention for a change. (Family: can we go back now???… please!) 
But it should come as no surprise that I was apprehensive about how green I could remain while away, especially after last year’s vacation in Myrtle Beach. This time I came much more prepared. I carted along our eco-friendly dishwashing liquid, dishwasher soap and all of our family’s select products so there was no guilt there. We purchased all of our regular organic foods, and I even brought along our recycled content toilet paper! And in one week’s time, we created less than one bag of trash to boot!
This year, I am happier to report that there was actually a flier in our condo rental encouraging us to recycle. And did we recycle? You bet we did.
Once again, I collected all of the cans, bottles, boxes and jugs and did the “crush’em jig” in our kitchen to pack them all into a garbage bag. The boxes were flattened and made their way into our beach bag next to our towels to make the trek home for recycling. As I write, every recyclable we collected sits in our blue can at curbside waiting for pick-up. Am I pleased that I did it (again!)? You bet I am.
I will say that while there were facilities to drop-off your recycling, I felt compelled to bring them home. Why? I’m not quite sure, but somehow it feels like it’s going to become a rite of passage for me… to bring them home and see that they are unquestionably recycled and never become trash. Maybe it’s the satisfaction of seeing what I salvaged in our own recycling can, but whatever silly reason I may have conjured up in my head, I know that our vacation left a smaller footprint than would have been left behind otherwise.
Over the coming posts I’ll share more about the vacation and our experiences, but I just wanted to say that yes, I am back, and seeing my “little ones” footprints in the sand was the best, most invigorating thing I could have asked for right now.
… Mom Goes Green will be back in full force soon… (and thanks for the “where are you?!?!” messages… it’s great to know I was missed!)