A very nice article to start off the week as well as a reminder of what’s real & important in our lives, beyond politics. Be sure to launch the accompanying slideshow—it really drives home how much the girls have grown since POTUS embarked on his national political career in 2004.

KAILUA, Hawaii — When they vacationed here just before President Obama’s first inauguration, Malia and Sasha were little girls doting on their dad — holding his hand on the beach, taking in a dolphin show and nuzzling up to him at the shave-ice shop.

Now, five Christmases later, the presidential daughters are both nearly as tall as their very tall mother, each developing her own style and leading an increasingly independent life. Although they have watched a basketball game, gone for a hike and hit the beach with their dad, he has spent most afternoons here on the golf course with his buddies while the girls have gone about their business without him.

The Obamas’ annual holiday vacation, at a lush and secluded surf-side retreat in Kailua, has underscored just how much their family dynamic has evolved in the five years since they moved into the White House.

As his girls grow into young women, the president has been increasingly nostalgic in public, lamenting how quickly time has slipped by.

“Those of us who have kids know how fast it goes, because Malia and Sasha, they’re like weeds,” Obama said at a November fundraiser. A couple of weeks later, he admitted he was getting “teary” about it.

“They’re just growing up so fast, and they’ve got a busy life of their own,” Obama told People magazine. “You can project out over the next several years how, between school, sports, social life, their community service, they’re not around as much. So that gets me teary sometimes.” […]

More: As Sasha and Malia Obama Become Young Women, a Father Laments Time Slipping By