In our family, the 4th of July is celebrated with an annual family reunion at the beach. It is an event not to be missed with anywhere from 20-40 members of our extended family in attendance that we look forward to it every year. But this year, something was missing — Dad.
We could not have been happier when my husband accepted a new job with NASCAR this spring. Until we noticed that the 4th of July is a work day for the company. It makes sense, of course, one of the biggest races of the year is that week, but still my heart sank. No 4th of July…
After much thought, it was decided that I would spend the entire week of the 4th at the beach with my parents. Since hubs would be working during the day anyway, we might as well spend the week there. It sounded like a good plan in May, but as it got closer K (and Mommy) grew wistful of leaving Daddy for so long.
Luckily, I knew that we could Skype Daddy anytime we missed him. Yeah for video chatting!
Throughout the week, we were able to Skype Daddy to tell him about swimming in the ocean, making shell crafts and K catching her first fish. Not only could he hear the excitement in my daughter’s squeals, but he could see her crazy expressions too.
On the 4th of July, we were especially missing Dad when I had the brilliant idea to Skype him into the party. Pulling up the Skype app on my phone, we were able to pass him around to all of the guests so everyone had a chance to wish him well and let him know how much he was missed. At least for a few minutes, he was part of the celebration.
Skype is a great way to stay connected with family while traveling or even family that lives far away. Especially with small children, there is nothing like a little face to face time – or screen to screen time to stay connected. Because you can use Skype with any smartphone, tablet or computer there’s no reason to lose touch with family when you are on the go this summer.
The info graphic below talks about how moms view technology, and you can count me in all of the percentages below. I whole heartily agree that technology has the ability to bring us closer together and share special moments. What about you?
Disclosure – I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Skype. I received Skype credits to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for participating.
Betsy Barnes says
My hubby and I just started using Skype when he travels. It’s nice to see him when we talk 🙂
Brandy says
That is so awesome! I do love Skype!
JulieK says
I do love technology for being able to connect and communicate… I don’t love it so much as a form of entertainment…but, things like Skype and all are definitely useful and amazing!
Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell says
I love that you passed him around during the party. What a great way to close up a distance gap. 🙂
brett says
i love that you passed him around. awesome.
my friend’s husband has been deployed since 1/1/12. he’ll be home 7/31/12. they have a 3.5 year old and a 9 month old. skype has saved all of their sanity- and thankfully he’s able to skype almost daily. even if i never used it (i do at times) i think its an amazing gift to loved ones who are separated.
jen says
I can’t imagine being separated for that long, but things like Skype must truly make it more bearable. Can you imagine 30 years ago when our parent’s generation went off to service with only the US postal service for communication. For that matter 10 years ago! It is amazing.
Beeb Ashcroft says
Love the photos! Skype is great for keeping people connected, I’ve been using it for years.
Ashley - Embracing Beauty says
I love Skype! We use it to keep connected to out of town grandparents.
Tesa @ 2 Wired 2 Tired says
We love Skype and use it often to connect with my out-of-state parents. We’ll be using it a lot this summer!
Nichol says
Skype is fabulous. We haven’t used it in a long time since moving back up north, but it was our means of face-to-face with my parents for a long time. I’m glad hubby was able to chat with everyone:)
Stefani says
Seeing the picture of your daughter talking to her dad on Skype makes me want to download it.
Shell Fruscione says
Aww how great that he got to be included still. That’s why I love Skype!!
Tricia Nightowlmama says
how cool is that Skype on your phone I love it