Every year we head to the beach with my husbands family. We rent a home that sleeps 10 adults and 7 kiddos and we hunker down for the week together! It’s super low key consisting of lots of meals together, trips too and from the beach with a million tubes of sunscreen, beach games and boogie boards, lots of pool time and then we wake up and do it all over again. This time around we got a few workouts in and went sailing too!
We eat in for every meal and each family is responsible for making their speciality for a night. Each family is responsible for either breakfast supplies, lunch supplies, snack supplies or appetizer supplies… we eat… A LOT while we together!
This year felt so much easier and relaxed (despite COVID.) None of us were racing against a nap schedule, changing diapers, and honestly since we don’t really leave the house or beach we weren’t dealing with crowds.
Here’s a post with our beach essentials that we use.
These cute shell bags are from Etsy and you can personalize them! A beach must for little kiddos!
Kiddos all ready to go to the beach with their shell bags!
My beach lovin’ boy! He spent every minute in the water and was stung of 3 jelly fish… once of which twisted around his wrist. Pretty scary!
Olive and her little cousin who is only 3 months younger than she is! They get along SO WELL!
And we dig. And we dig. And we dig some more!
We went to Hilton Head, South Carolina (we go every year)…. this year our house was further away from the resorts which made for quieter beaches.
We would head back to the house for lunch and a movie (break from the sun for the kiddos) and then a quick dip in the pool before heading back to the beach for the afternoon.
Olive and her big girl cousins!
Henry and the boy cousins!
Quick dip in the pool before heading down to the beach!
And back down we go!
PURE JOY! I love this picture of Olive!
Low Country Boil and rosé – my favorite summer combo!
Vacation Oli!!! Hahahaha… she normally naps still (holding onto that for as long as we can), but this trip she went without naps, but slept in!
The canopy to and from the beach was one of my favorite parts!
Henry looks so big to me here, but still wearing his 4th of July swim trunks from last year!
Happy 40th birthday to my sister in law, Annie!
On Thursday evening we went on a sailboat cruise for my sister in law’s 40th birthday celebration!
My SIL… how gorgeous is she?!?! Also, can you believe she’s 40!?
Back to the beach we go…
Summertime is my favorite! I’ll never take these vacations for granted… watching my children run on the beach and make their own memories is what it’s all about. I hope they remember everything from this trip because it was truly slow, relaxing, and full of a lot of love, laughs and fun… the highlight of 2020 that is for sure!
I know I’ll never forget Olive running up and down the beach giggling and laughing so hard that she would stop to catch her breath. I love how brave she was running out into the water. I loved watching her back her booty up to the waves – she thought that was hilarious. Her deep, raspy laugh and her little lisp is my favorite and I want to bottle up her little voice…. I want the memory etched into my mind and heart of Oli saying, “mommy watch me jump this wave – you’ll be so proud, mommy!” Over and over she would say, “you so proud of Oli. Oli so brave!”
I loved watching Henry come out of his shell and try new things on his own. He’s a little “dude” now, but still has a tender heart. He was showing off handstands and pushups, while running up to Olive to make sure she was ok. I love how he is ‘sports everything’ and if he wasn’t riding waves or doing front flips in the water (yup, lol) then he was digging holes in the sand for ball games. He has a smile the entire time and despite a really bad jelly fish sting (x3), he still had the courage to get back in and ride waves.
These really are the days! Cheesy, but so true. We will miss these days.
The drive home was a peaceful one…