The Holden Family: Family Beach Time

We love going to the beach every year! We look forward to going from the moment we leave the year before. It is the one trip we take that is just our family and it is always at the end of the summer when Ben is done with his crazy busy summer and it is right before the craziness of fall starts up. We usually go for 3 nights and 2 full days and are blessed to be able to stay at a great beach condo owned by our friend's parents. They let us stay there at the family rate which is an unbelievable rate for such a beautiful place. Without their extreme generosity year after year there is no way we would be able to have such a wonderful family vacation.

We got there on Wednesday and settled in and hit the beach. The first day and half was cloudy but we headed out to the beach anyways and even though it rained a little bit we stayed out there since there was no thunder or lightning and it was great. All the kids were back in school so the beach was not crowded and the girls did great. Last year Ellie really took to the beach and this year was no different. She loves the water. We would get out there at low tide and Ben and I would switch off who sat down at the water and played with her while the other one sat with Quinn who enjoyed some good beach naps. Quinn also liked the water and did great at the beach with no complaints. The first day we went out in the morning, went back for naps and then came back out in the afternoon and the second day we stayed in all morning and then did a long 6 hour stint in the afternoon, which worked out great. We did not even go to the pool this year since we had been going all summer and we wanted to enjoy the beach as much as we could. We played a lot, made sandcastles, collected shells, went on family walks on the beach, ate great food and had a family movie night watching "The Lorax", which was really cute, but nothing like the original, which I loved as a kid. We are already looking forward to next year, Ellie actually asked today if we could go to the beach next week. I told her Daddy had to work and we would have to wait until next year and she said Quinny and her and I could go and Daddy could stay home to work. (She obviously LOVED the beach as she never wants to leave Daddy behind when we go places.)