We Went to the Beach

 and let me tell you...I wanna go back!!  Y'all, it was beautiful, and peaceful, and relaxing, and just fun.

Doesn't that photo say enough??  I think so, too.   

Once upon a time, two families became best friends.  This is the story of these families on vacation.  At the BEACH! 

 Three of the five munchkins, AKA The Bigs.

They had so much fun together.  That always amazes me about kids--They haven't been able to play together regularly in three years, but they picked up right where they left off.  It was like no time had passed.  Sweet babies :)

Here is Gannon.  This is his second trip to the beach.  He doesn't remember the first because he was so young, only eighteen months, but this one he will remember forever.  He loved the pool, he loved the waves, he liked the sand.  Has learned to dive for toys in the pool, and he has so much fun.  

Here is Thomas.  He is beyond his years.  He is truly hilarious, and he loves to make people laugh.  T loves the beach.  He swims like a little fish, and he is quite the daredevil.

Here is Austyn.  She is cautious.  This was her first trip to the beach.  She loved the pool, but wasn't a huge fan of the saltwater.  She loved making sandcastles and "holding" Mommy and Daddy in the ocean.

Here is the Mia-Bug.  Her first beach experience, too!  She loved it (in small increments)!  She loved the sand, the water, the waves, everything.  We put her ring float in the ocean with us, and she would just giggle and squeal when the waves would hit her.  If we were playing in the sand, she would just run right into the ocean.



Here is Graham.  He was too young for the ocean, but he loved the pool, and he loved being outside.

This is as close to the water as she would get by herself.  The waves were pretty intimidating to her.

Here is T trying to skim board with a boogie board!  There was a little pool of water in the sand where the waves were washing up.  This was Austyn and Mia's favorite part.  They got to stay wet and cool without waves knocking them down!



The best part of a beach vacation (to me) is that you never have to be in a rush.  You wake up when the kids wake up, not to an alarm.  There are no agendas to see to, no need to "get ready," no rush to get into.  We woke up every morning and cooked breakfast, threw on our suits and sunscreen, and headed down to the beach.  Mia was always ready for a nap between 10-11, which is another reason I was glad to be here.  I just went back to the condo and laid her down while the bigs got to stay out and play!

 Nae Nae and Graham Cracker!

"Sand castles in the sand."

Gannon and Thomas have developed a new little friendship now that T is older.  When we left, he was almost two, now he's almost five.  They have so much in common, and they had a blast together.

Since they were a little too small to boogie board on the waves, we got them a boat to ride them!  They loved it!!!  They sure thought they were big stuff!

Austyn had fun writing in the sand, too!

Check out that toe!  It is posed in nearly every photo.  Watch.  You'll see!  ;)

This little boy here...He makes my heart smile.

Would ya look at these beach bums??

No outing is complete without ballet!

This sweet girl...

And here is Miss Mia trying her best at some ballet, too!

My little dancer!  She loves to dance.  She dances all the time.  With music, without music, making her own music.  It's in her bones.

Love, love, love!

We did spend one day away from the beach and the condo.   We took them to a place called The Track.  They had go carts, mini golf, kiddie rides, and more.  We spent the whole day there!  Mia got tired at her usual time, so the girls and I just walked back to the condo (How great is it that it was just across the street?!) for a nap while the boys stayed and played a round of mini golf.  We didn't take pictures of everything, but we did snap a few.

First, we rode the big go carts Bryan and I took turns holding Mia while the other rode with the bigs.  We went so fast, Austyn lost her bow!!  Gannon even pretended that the steering wheel on his side was a rocket pack that helped Bryan go even faster!!

Then it was off to the kiddie rides.  We all rode the carousel first.  Mia loved the music!  She danced and danced :)

Then we found the rookie carts for the kids to drive.

But first, it is important that you know the ride required its drivers to be 3'6" tall in order to drive.  They had a pole just outside the gate to measure.  Take a look at Austyn:

She appears to be pretty close, so let's take a closer peek...

Yep!!  Her bow boosted her about 1 1/2 inches, and she was able to ride!!  Lesson?  Always wear a bow ;)

Bryan and Gannon were also able to ride the bumper cars while the girls were napping, but since I wasn't there, there are no pictures.  It was a great way to wrap up the vacation!!

In preparing for our vacation, I wanted the kids to have something with our phone number in case something happened where they got separated from us.  Obviously, I hoped that we wouldn't actually need anything, but being that we just moved and had new phone numbers, I didn't trust them to remember in case of emergency.  Of course, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration.  This is what I came up with.  Each kid had one, and they loved them!

I wanted to order Tottoos, but vacation sneaked up on me and I didn't have time.  Thank goodness, we never needed them, but the kids liked them anyway and now we have them for our next vacation!

I hope you enjoyed tagging along on our vacation!