To see the winning photograph, the finalists and all photographs submitted, click here.

Look for our 2008 Summer Photo Contest next year.

We look forward to our vacation on the Cape every summer because it gives us the opportunity to rest and relax with family.  We moved away from New England 27 years ago and each year we look forward to coming home to the Cape.  For more than 24 years we have rented the same small cottage on the Cape but this year we decided that it was too small for our needs -the visitors and friends that we wanted to visit.  A big house full of family and friends with the water view is our idea of vacation.  This year was the best.

We found www.weneedavacation.com to help us find a house to rent.  The process was so easy and thorough.  The house and its location were absolutely perfect and the rental process went so smoothly.  We have no complaints at all and have been raving to everyone about how perfect our vacation turned out.  We are recommending www.weneedavacation.com to everyone! 
                                                                                                                         Margaret Pat Bessette

I would love to tell you what a vacation means to me.  It is very important to me to take at least one or two full weeks of vacation a year, a nice break from the office insanity, and spend more time with our three-year-old daughter.  I look forward to vacation to explore new destinations and create new memories (taking lots of digital photos), teach my daughter about all the new things in her path, and be a bit spoiled with treats...visiting the best ice cream and candy shops around town.  It is also great to have the time to pick up a book or magazine and relax in a hammock or beach chair in the sun.  By the end of the week, vacation is a sure way to minimize the anxiety and stress levels of every day life. 

The main reason we need a vacation is we are two full-time working parents, and during week nights while one is working another job, one is minding the child.  We deserve a vacation!!
                                 Susan, Lincoln & Taylor White

What vacation means to me........it is the best time of year for our family.  It's about spending time with the people I love, family, friends.  Enjoying the simple things in life.  Everything around moves so fast, its the one time of year we can all just slow down and RELAX.  Life in general is stressful.  I want my children to know that that’s not what life is about.  While we are on vacation they get the chance to see that.  That is something that is very important to the family.  Without family you have nothing, without vacation sometimes its hard to see the best part of family.

It also gives everyone the opportunity to see things out of the ordinary.  See how people in other places live, activities that pertain to the environment, learning about new things.  Relaxing and education go great together.  Helps to instill important things my family can take home with them.  These are things important to the Adams Family about vacation!
                                                     Carrie Adams

Our vacation on the Cape in Wellfleet is a time for our family to reconnect, talk, laugh, share and remember how much we mean to each other; no matter what difficult times we have struggled through, we know we have this time to renew our relationships.  Our son does a 'countdown' until we leave for the Cape and we have established family traditions that he (and we) look forward to each year.  We book our trip in Feb. and this takes us through the long winters we face in the great northeast! 
                                                                                                                         Patricia Skiba

Our 2007 Summer Photo Contest was
all about the importance of vacations. 
We asked some of the entrants to tell us, in their
own words, what vacations mean to them.
We wanted to share their responses with you.
If you would like to tell us what vacation means to you,
 please email us!

Vacation means getting away from work, bills, cleaning, and any other distractions, to enjoy my three children and my husband.  Vacation is turning off the cell phones, enjoying every free second to plan what we WANT to do, not what we need to do.  Making my children realize that they are the absolute most important things in our lives is the greatest benefit of a good, true vacation. 

As a busy Realtor and my husband a firefighter, we pride ourselves in still being able to keep our children with us, never in the care of others.  That usually means the children having to adapt to what we have going on, not our adapting to spending more time with them.  A vacation allows us to focus on a new experience and how to help each of us get the most out of it. 
                                                                                                                                    Wendy Thomas

We look forward to a vacation because today we all have such busy schedules.  It is easy to forget what is really important in life.....your family.  We have a miracle family!  When we first got married I was told I would never have any children due a hemorhaging problem.  I could get pregnant but would probably not be able to carry the baby to term or would bleed to death giving birth.  We were crushed.  We were poor young newly weds and couldn't afford a vacation.  Paul, my husband attended the university and after receiving his degree we again we did not take a vacation because of school, hospital expenses and loans.  We both grew up in Nebraska and decided that if a family was not in our future we would try our luck in NYC  with our careers.  I found a specialist to help me with my hemorhaging problem and a Doctor who told me he could correct my problem.  After 13 years of tears and prayers and many surgeries we were blessed with a beautiful baby girl!!  She was small but perfect and healthy.

I quit my high stress job and devoted my life to my daughter.  Three years later were were blessed again with a second daughter.  Now with only one income we could not afford a vacation.  We purchased an older fixer-upper home in New Jersey to provide for our growing family.  Now, we switched our finances to provide a safe and healthy environment for our children which did not allow us a vacation, only day trips around the area.  We did not ever dream that we would ever have a family, that's why family time is so precious to us.  We have been married for 25 years, this year, and have never had a honeymoon due to financial restrictions!   

Currently, Paul works two jobs, one of them is part time as the musician for a church and I took a part time job in the school system so I could be on the same schedule with our daughters.  We would love to be able to take our family on a vacation to celebrate our years of love and miracles!   Vacation time is a time when we remind ourselves that with all the pressures of life and our busy schedules, there is nothing more important than time with the ones we love.  When it is all said and done ....it is the times you spend with loved ones laughing and enjoying each other that will matter most!   We need a vacation because we want to celebrate our love for each other and thank God that we were blessed with two beautiful daughters!!  Thank you so much for your consideration.
                                                                                                                          Jana & Paul Buresh

Vacation is a time to spend with my husband and 2 kids.  It is a time to take a break from every day life, to slow down and to have fun.  The cape is a great place to do that.  With miles of beaches and a plethora of things to do with the kids.  Vacation allows you to stop and smell the roses.  A time for talks and walks,  a time for things familiar and new.  Vacation is a time to build memories. 
                                                                                                                          Carolynn DiCostanza

Vacation is a time for our family to get together - either just us, or in some cases with friends - to relax, spend some quality time together, and defrost from the long, cold winters here in Illinois.  Spring Break is our main travel time with the annual countdown to beginning right after Christmas break.  I get into what my family likes to call the "crazed mom" mode by going through everyones drawers looking for summer clothes, pulling out suitcases/packing, and I begin working on the list of "road food" for the trip down to Florida (we drive between 18 and 24 hours depending on where we are going).  We are usually 80% packed by Superbowl Weekend!  Then, to top if off, I e-mail each of interstate authorities from Indiana to Florida to find out if there is any road construction we need to worry about.  Yes, I am soooo looking forward to this vacation!!! 

My husband, Todd works construction so the months of April through November are quite busy and we don't see much of him.  I am the athletic secretary at a local high school (and a retired cheerleading coach) between football games, soccer games, basketball games, wrestling, etc. the family doesn't see much of me until the end of February.  Plus, our two children (who are now grown) have always participated in sports of one kind or another - our son is an avid golfer, and our daughter is an avid volleyball player, as well as participated in track and field.  In between our jobs we try really hard to squeeze in time to go watch the kids participate in their games/matches. So, between everyone's crazy schedules, spring break is the one week out of the year that we get to spend together without someone having to be somewhere. 
                                                                                                                          Angie Garrod

Relaxation...Relieves the day to day stress that all family members endure while busy with life.
Restoration...Restores the zest and vigor in our day to day activities.
Recognition...Refocuses our priorities within our family.

Each year we take a 10 day trip to a quiet & quaint destination. We allow for a day on each end to leisurely travel to and from our destination and usually plan for 1 day of activity.  Activities such as: amusement park, disney,  boating,  fishing, bike riding etc. The other days are left to each individual's interests and can be done alone or jointly with 1 or more family members.

Everyone is busy with life and what better way to remove ourselves from the day to day stress and activities.We see it every day(in and outside the home).Families are so busy with life that they can't see what is going on around them. The focus turns to "me and I" instead of "you and them".

In such a setting as I have described, we look forward to doing for each other.
                                                                                                                          Tom Skambola

This is our third year vacationing in Maushop Village, New Seabury, Mashpee MA.  No matter how hectic or difficult our lives are, we look forward to this little piece of heaven: walking the beach with a morning cup of coffee; having a leisurely breakfast on a private patio overlooking the ocean; heading down to the beach with a good book; shopping in quaint one-of-a kind boutiques; choosing a dinner location ranging from the best pizza & beer to renowned lobster rolls with white wine; falling asleep listening to the sound of the surf right outside your door. 

If that's not perfection, I don't know what is.
                                                                        Barbara Velardi

Vacation to me means change of scenery, "re-charging of the batteries", just time to spend with family to relax and to get past the everyday routines.  Check out somewhere that is different or someplace that we have been before that we have to go back!  There is so much to see in this country, that we feel right now there is no need to travel overseas.  Getting to Cape Cod is relaxing and every year we need our weekend or week by the water.  It is soooo calming to the soul...
                                                         Anne Carpenter

My perfect vacation - putting my feet in the sand.  Sitting at Nauset beach listening to the surf and the kids playing.  Walking on the many nature trails.  Sitting on the deck at the Orleans Inn watching the Pirate Adventure boat.  Sunset at Skaket beach.  The great ice cream shops.  Hitting the shops downtown - so much variety all within walking distance. 
 
We have friends and family from all over the world visit us in the summer and they have fallen in love with Orleans because it's the heart of Cape Cod and they can get to so many different places from here - from visiting the Pilgrim Monument and Museum in Provincetown to whale watches and Wellfleet Audubon to the band concerts at Nauset Beach.  Everyone is working longer, more intense hours and the Cape is the best place to relax and unwind.  One thing that is common for all our visitors - they all say they sleep like babies on the Cape.  Whether it's the sea air or all the activities, they wake up refreshed and ready to go back and face their jobs in a better frame of mind. 
                                                                                                                         Bev Fuller  

We look forward to vacation because my husband and I both work a full-time and a part-time job. We have two daughters and a 17 months old son.

Life gets crazy at times and you forget how nice little things in life truly are. Like taking a nap, sleeping in late, not doing laundry, not answering the phone and not rushing to work! So for us, vacation is a much needed time to recharge our batteries, to do the things we 'don't make time to do' at home, to kiss each other a lot, tickle the kids, watch movies and play games without feeling guilty about not doing the dishes of laundry.

Simply....vacation to us means showing our children that by working hard & following the rules all year long you get to play hard, eat what you want, see amazing sights, leave your dirty clothes on the floor & laugh & love for a whole week with no regrets.             
                                                                    Kimberly McRae Friedman

I would have to say that vacation means spending quality time with the people you love the most.  It gives me a chance to unwind and re-energize for work.

I need a vacation for many of the same reasons that I look forward to one. Vacations definitely accomplish alot with family because there are typically no stressful situations to deal with and you can interact with on another on a truly relaxed and enjoyable level.
                                                                                                                          Dave Taylor

We are a group of 14-16 girls who have been going on Girls Weekend for the past 14 years.  The trip can be compared to a child’s anticipation for Christmas, and it’s better than we dreamed of when we are experiencing it, and then it ends too quick!  We look forward to it every year, and share a special bond among us, even if we only see each other once or twice a year.  We prefer to go to the Cape, and love to be at the beach and in the sun, while also shopping for trinkets along the way.  We cook in most of the time, catching up on what everyone’s been doing, and then plan a special dinner out at least one night.  

The weekend is one of relaxation, of jogging down memory lane, or releasing the current days tensions, and just completely full of laughter.  We wouldn’t miss it for the world.

                          Terry Fay

A few years ago, I was relocated for my job to Massachusetts. My girls
were 8 and 5 at the time. We had sold our home in New York and were
now living in Stow Ma. We loved it in Stow. That was when we first took
a trip to the Cape. We stayed at a friend’s house and fell in love with
the Cape. We figured we would stay at a hotel the next year just to have
some privacy and visit our friends during the day.

Then, the company I was with folded and I was out of a job and we
feared we would lose our house.  We did not lose our house but things
were bad. Since family was the most important thing to my wife and I,
we decided we were going to take our kids on a vacation. I believe we
came across WeNeedaVacation.com in the Boston Globe. We thought
name was so appropriate that we booked a vacation at Oceans Edge.
The following year, we decided we wanted a true Cape experience and
decided to rent a Cape house. We had bookmarked your web site and
found our rental home.

Over the past several years, losing my job and almost our
home was nothing compared to some health issues we had to overcome with our immediate family, as well as losing several friends who died on September 11th. Its amazing when I see people whose priorities are whacked. Going on vacation with family and friends means more than anything in the world.
                                                                                                                         Frank Vesce