We don't take enough vacations. This is our first real vacation since the twins were barely old enough to remember and Anakin barely walking. Jaina and Jacen are eight years old now; Anakin is six and a half.

            "Mom! Look at this!" Jacen cries out, his bare feet slapping on the wet sand as he runs up from the breaking waves to where I sit on a blanket. I push up the front of my wide-brimmed sun hat to get a better look at his newest discovery. I have a bad feeling it is slimy and alive.

            "Isn't it cool, Mom?" he asks, his still slightly chubby cheeks flushing with excitement and his brandy brown eyes sparkling with wonder.

            "What is it?" I question, wrinkling my nose at its briny scent.

            "I dunno," he shrugs, pulling it closer to his face in order to study the slug-like creature.

            "Kinda looks like Jabba," Han says suddenly, making Jacen and I jump at his surprise arrival. Jaina, Anakin, and their father had rented a little water swoop and gone buzzing around the broad bay that stretches out in front of us. They look more than a little windblown now as my oldest son and I survey them. Wisps fly from Jaina's disheveled braid, giving her a halo of light brown hair. Han and Anakin have messy hair that Anakin struggles to smooth down now as he notices I am looking at him. His cheeks and nose are pinked by the sun. His skin is much fairer than his siblings', like mine.

            "What happened to your cap?" I inquire over his missing sun-protection.

            His cheeks flush brighter red and he looks down at his little toes. I know he won't give me a straight answer, as cute as he is, and so I level a gaze at his big sister and dad, the dynamic duo of trouble.

            "Well," Jaina starts, shuffling her feet in the dry, cool sand under our sun umbrella. "You see, there was this big, powerful Sienar WakeMaker 3000 and it made tons of these huge waves. And Dad…"

            "Well, I put us on full throttle through the whole mess of waves," my husband chuckles guiltily with that endearing half-smile I fell in love with so long ago. I struggle to keep my expression stern now as he lays his hands on my shoulders and kneels behind me on the big blanket.

            "And we almost flipped!" Jaina announces excitedly, eliciting a gasp from me. "It was soooooo cool, Mom!"

            "But thanks to my expert piloting, we didn't flip. Anakin's cap, though, was a casualty of our adventure," Han finishes, gently squeezing my shoulders.

            "Sorry, Mom," my youngest son apologizes, his toes scooping up and dropping the tiny grains.

            "That's okay, Anakin," I smile. "It's your father's fault anyway." I nudge Han with my shoulder as he opens his mouth to protest.

            Anakin giggles and climbs into my lap. He's always been a bit of a Mama's boy.

            "Whoa, Jasa! What's it doing?" Jaina exclaims, taking a step back from her brother as the Jabba-like organism begins to quiver and squirm in his hand.

            "I'm not sure. It looks scared. Maybe your face frightened it."

            "Ha. Ha," Jaina sneers in return.

            "Be nice, you two," Han scolds lightly, coming closer to Jacen with an inquisitive hazel stare. "Maybe you should put Jabba back, Jace."

            Anakin's brow furrows over his pretty ice blue eyes, but he does nothing more than lean forward a little, his small hands resting on my knees.

            "Careful, Jasa!" he cries out just as the slug squirts Jay, Jace, and Han.

            I snort a little at their purple-goo-splattered, shocked faces. The quiet boy in my lap chuckles, leaning back again and looking over his shoulder at me.

            "I told 'em, Mom."

            "I know you did, sweetie," I grin, giving him a hug. "Uncle Luke would be proud."

            He smiles like the Solo he is and returns his attention to his dad and siblings.

            "Maybe you should go rinse off in the water," I suggest, "It doesn't hurt, does it?"

            "No," Han grumbles cutely, kicking the dropped slug with his toe. "Just as annoying as Jabba, too, Jace. Maybe we would name it the "Jabba slug". Sound good, Jay?"

            "Yeah," Jaina mumbles, wiping the violet mess from her eyes.

            "Maybe Mom should kill it."

            "No!" Jacen cries, scooping it up again and shoving it in the pocket of his burgundy trunks.

            The group trudges off towards the breakers, pride wounded.

            "Will you go supervise for me, Anakin?"

            "Sure," he nods, lifting himself up.

            "Wait. Here," I call, tossing him the extra cap I brought, knowing my absent-minded genius would lose his. He smiles and pushes the khaki hat over his bowl-cut dark hair, brushing his bangs out of his icy eyes.

            "Thanks, Mom."

            I never expected to be a mother, but watching my three darlings makes me very happy that Han convinced me back on Tatooine.

            "You guys keep me around for a reason, Anakin," I smile back as he turns to run off.

            He winks like his father.

            Down at the water, Han and the twins are splashing around, greeting Anakin with a torrent of water that makes his light hat as dark as his dark khaki swimming trunks. He responds by trying to tackle his dad, throwing his short arms around his waist. Han picks him up with a deep laugh and spins him around. Moments like this, when I love Han more than I ever though possible, are why Han wanted a family; he is a wonderful father.

            He whispers something in our youngest's ear and mischievous Anakin looks like he nods in agreement, glancing up at me as Han sets him down and he whispers in each of his siblings' ears.

            Uh-oh.

            The three of them run up the beach as fast as their little legs will carry them.

            "Time for you to take a swim, Mom," Jaina starts with a devilish grin, her hands on her hips.

            "Oh no, not now," I protest, just in time for Han to scoop me up from behind, Jacen and Anakin trying to "help" and Jaina running to keep up as they rush towards the water.

            Oh no.

            "Han Solo! You scoundrel! Put me down!"

            "You like scoundrels, remember?"

            "It's genetic!" I grumble. "I told you; I like nice men!"

            He drops me in the water, the coolness more welcome than I was expecting. Until the cold wave comes and drenches me, sweeping away my hat.

            "I'm a nice man," he is grinning when I look up at him.

            In the spray of the waves, all four of them are grinning at me with identical smirks.

            "How's the water, Mom?" Jaina asks cheekily, picking up my soaking straw hat and putting it on her head, her hair now totally out of its braid and hanging stringy with water.

            "Anakin and I are pretty strong, huh, Mom?" Jacen pipes up as the brothers and Han 'flex' their bare 'muscles', complete with 'manly' grunts. Anakin further proves his strength by offering to help me up, pushing up the bill of his cap. I grab both of his hands and pull him down on top of me, capturing him.

            "Was this your idea?" I ask faux-menacingly, knowing very well it was my darling husband's.

            "No, ma'am!" he squeals in delight as I tickle him. "This time was Dad's. Get the nerf herder!"

            I laugh and let him up as Han extends his hand and a cocky smirk.

            "I hate you," I assure him as he helps me to my feet and wraps his arms around me, pulling me close and still making my heart beat faster.

            "I know," he continues to smirk, leaning in to capture my lips.

            "Aw, yuck!" our children cry in perfectly practiced unison.

            How do they think they got here?