Beach Trip Part 1

Well, this is a start...

We left the Sat before Memorial Day at what seemed like the crack of dawn! I wasn't feeling really great, but insisted on hitting the road anyway. I'm not sure if that was the wisest decision since I threw up in the car twice during the trip and was nauseous for good portions of the rest of it. However, by the time we actually reached Ft. Morgan, AL (our beach destination) late that afternoon, I was feeling better and never threw up again or felt bad the rest of the trip! Yea!

The rest of my family was already there. After dinner we took the kids to see the beach for the first time! They were thrilled! I wish so bad that we had brought the camera with us to capture those first beach moments! But alas, we didn't! They weren't afraid of the ocean at all really, at least not until they got knocked down by a wave!

I guess, technically, they weren't really knocked down so much as they just had their feet pulled out from under them. One fall was all it took for Zachary. He wanted no part of the ocean for the rest of the trip and was content to play in the sand far away from the water. If the waves got within 10 feet of him, he would run off, yelling that the water was going to get him!

The other three kids weren't as deterred by their falls and happily ran around the edges of the shore, delighted by the waves that rushed up to their feet.

The looks on their faces were those of such complete joy! Nothing had ever been so fun as far as they were concerned! If the rest of the trip had been completely awful, it still would have been worth it, just for the beautiful happy faces on my children that first night at the beach!

But thank goodness the rest of the trip was great too! Well, most of it!

Hey, Mom! We're on vacation! How many donuts can I have?

Our house is the one in the middle. My family had the bottom floor with two bedrooms and a common room. There were two twin beds in one room, so we put two kids in there, and two on the sleeper sofa in the common room. It was the first time they've ever slept separately! I was surprised by how well they did being apart! Of course, the fact that they were exhausted most of the time probably worked in our favor!

Here is our little set up on the beach. As you can see, the beach was not crowded at all. That was so nice! We never had to try to keep up with our kids in a sea of people! There were other people on the beach to either side of us, but no one else! It was great!

Well, that's it for this first installment. More to come very soon!