Annual Friends Beach Trip

The Thursday before last was the start of our annual friends beach trip. Kenny took a half day, I checked Riley out of school early, and we arrived at the same condo as last year around dinnertime. (MUCH preferable than getting there at 10pm; I hope we can have that timing every year.)

Our first morning was unfortunately rainy with lots of thunder and lightning. It slowed to a drizzle just before lunch, so we did go out for a bit, but the kids were back inside eating before they even knew it.

Luckily, the rain cleared out by mid-afternoon and we had a great few hours on the beach before dinner. There was a very wide shoreline area, which was awesome for the littler kids. Riley had a great time filling up buckets and his dump truck with water and hauling them back to the sand.

 

 

 

We didn’t make Riley nap at all on the trip, but Rory needed his rest, so Kenny brought him out later in the afternoon to join in the fun. Only Rory didn’t think it was so much fun. Every time his feet would touch the sand, he would absolutely lose it and launch himself back into Kenny’s or my arms. Funny since he didn’t seem to mind the wet sand on Friday morning. Crazy, frustrating kid.

Rory did accept being held in the water, although he was still a little whiny out there at times. Possible he was just remembering the sand between his toes. Who only knows.

Riley got along with everyone really well, but he attached himself to Jackson for most of the trip. He wanted to be where Jackson was and do what Jackson was doing. I know he can get a little annoying, but Jackson handled the attention just fine. They were even calling themselves best friends by Sunday.

We enjoyed a bit of pool time before dinner, and then everyone made their way inside to shower off the sun and the sand. Becky and Jeff made jambalaya for dinner, the kids had some screen time before bed, and the adults even managed to stay awake long enough to play Chronology.

The next day was a beautiful one, and we took full advantage. We got out there early and had three solid hours of beach time before finally taking a break for lunch.

After eating lunch and watching part of a movie, Riley and I got back into our suits and headed back out into the sun. Our wide shoreline was there again, along with lots of bright green seaweed that had washed in during our lunch break. Riley had a blast gathering a bucket full of it.

Once again, Kenny brought Rory out after he woke up from his nap, and once again, he freaked out when his toes hit the sand. I was sitting in the shallow shoreline water chatting with Karen and Bridget, so I had Kenny bring the whiny boy to me. I plopped him onto my lap (where he firmly curled his feet up so as to not touch anything but my leg) and showed him the bucket full of seaweed.

He loved flinging the seaweed out of the bucket, after which I would quickly grab it and throw it back in. This went on for quite some time, during which he slowly slipped off my leg until he was completely sitting in the water. Then he suddenly decided to get up and run toward the beach. I fully expected him to freak out like he had been doing, but nope. He was perfectly content.

He spent the next ten minutes running into and out of the water, splashing and smiling and loving it. Then he ran a ways down the beach, with Kenny following him. Stubborn, stubborn child. Where was that sense of joie de vivre the previous day, huh?

A bit more time in the pool (with margaritas!) before dinner and all too suddenly our trip was almost over. The kids disappeared after they ate, until I realized they were gathered under the stairs in one big group looking at an iPad. So cute. I just love that they all get along so well.

I am so thankful that we decided to institute these annual trips. They are just so much fun, and each additional kid makes it all the more enjoyable. We started out with just one kid, 3-month-old Molly, in May of 2007.

Now, seven years later, there were ten kids on this little trip of ours. And there will actually be one more next year: we recently found out that Miche is pregnant with her third!

She got her way after all.