Nothing better than a BFF!

On my birthday this past year, my best friend, Kristin, told me that we had been Best Friends for 20 years. I know it is cliched to say that "Time flies..." but it truly does and I couldn't believe that we had even known each other for that long, but 'tis true -We met and became friends when I moved to NJ and started 8th grade at age 13. So... for the past 20 years, Kristin and I have shared so much and even more unique to our friendship is that for the past 16 years, we have not lived near one another and have been able to maintain our deep friendship through almost daily phone calls and with the power of the Internet, lots of shared pictures. Over those 20 years, we have gone through the intensity of high school, first loves, college, finding "the one", weddings, marriage, homeovership, motherhood and the chaos of daily life. Kristin and her family now live in Georgia and although we still maintain a close friendship, I usually only get to see her about once a year. A few days ago, Kristin and her boys were in New Jersey visiting her parents and the kids and I drove down for a day full of fun. It was such a perfect day!

The day began with an early morning run together. I LOVED that we got to do this because I feel like my own passion for running really began with Kristin who got into running before me and shared with me all her success with the sport and since it has become a hobby that we both enjoy... but never get to do together. We will often text one another and joke around and say something like... "Hey, do you want to meet up for a run together tomorrow..." and we actually got to do that!! Then the we got ALL the kids(7 of them between us) together for a swim in the pool, a lunch date and afternoon walk at Rampo Nature Preserve. It was so awesome in how easy it was to be together. You would think that having that many kids together - especially ones that don't know each other - would be a ton of work, but it was so great. I think that Kristin and I have similar parenting styles, which makes it very easy and simple to be around each other and do things together with our kids. I also think because they hear about each other so much and see each other in pictures that the kids think that they do know each other. I hope that they always have a special relationship with one another. Below are a couple of pics of the kids from their day together.

Sadie (6), Kyle (11 mo.), Natalie (9), Noah (8), Owen (almost 7), Connor (31/2) and Colin (3)

Natalie loving having baby Kyle to play with!

Kristin and Me!

Colin loving being one of the boys!

Connor and Colin

(do you see how much bigger Connor is?? He is only 5 months older than Colin - crazy!)

This perfect day got even better when I surprised Kristin with Taylor Swift tickets for that evening. Kristin and I are both country music fans; and in particular, Taylor Swift fans and it seemed like the perfect way to celebrate her birthday, our friendship and the fun of summer.

So thankful to have Kristin in my life and to be able to squeeze little visits in with her whenever possible... and loving that we can always make the most of the time we have together and keep our friendship so strong!