I was looking back through some of our vacation posts from previous years and noticed a few things. The posts I loved most were those filled with random snapshots of camp life and beach days, but also those where I let the photos do most of the talking. I’m still figuring out my new camera, so these aren’t the best vacation photos I’ve ever captured, but I got a little emotional looking back through them this morning. We had the most wonderful two weeks together and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.
I had somebody ask if our extended family really liked each other that much and the truth is — YES, we really do. I can’t imagine spending fourteen days together on vacation if we weren’t having the time of our lives and I can genuinely say that we really enjoy one another’s company. We don’t spend every day of our trip together — can you imagine dining for 25+ fourteen nights in a row?! — but we do try to coordinate beach + pool days, trips to our favorite restaurants, bike + boat rides, and so much more.
Sitting on the beach this year, was hard. I rotated between several different chairs, standing, laying on a blanket, and walking around. Circulation is weird when you’re pregnant, but I did the best I could to stay comfortable. This was my typical setup — a much-too-big bag (full of all the things), good books, the best sunblock, and adult lunchables. Can I go back?
I didn’t take a ton of photos during our first week. Josh was working in the camper every day and it was hard enough trying to get me and the girls out on the beach. I just wanted to sit down and relax as much as possible and, all too often, my camera was really far away when I first thought about it. I just couldn’t care enough to walk that far, especially knowing we had another week to go.
Also, during our first week, Ella got really sick and had to visit a walk-in clinic. She had a nasty throat infection, but not strep (thank goodness!), so we got some antibiotics and tried our best to keep her feeling well enough to enjoy the trip. One night we headed to one of our favorite burger joints on the beach and Josh ended up running her back to camp before we were even seated. Fortunately, these two goobers kept each other entertained and we were able to go back the next week so that Ella could enjoy it, too.
Ella and Molly are only a little over three years apart in age and they spent most of our trip together. They perfected Instagram Stories and recorded several vlogs that I still need to copy from Ella’s phone and my camera. We shot a ton of video on this trip, so hopefully I’ll have more footage to share with you soon. As for this photo of Sophie? This is pretty par for the course — pink cheeks, fun buns, and never looking at the camera!
Vera was such a trooper — being six months old on vacation is kind of hard. She wasn’t sitting up without major assistance, so we worked to keep her contained almost everywhere we went. She was fussy at the laundromat, early in our trip, so I corralled her in my basket and she grinned the entire time. It was just small enough that she couldn’t really fall over and she had a perfect view from the top of the folding counter.
I don’t have any photos to prove what a disaster this entire laundry adventure really was, so I’ll share a quick story for preservation’s sake. I think Josh was working this day, so it must have been Thursday or Friday of our first week. We usually plan laundry for Father’s Day morning while he plays golf, but we couldn’t do much of anything else because of the weather, so the girls and I packed up and took what dirty clothes we had to the camp pavilion for a few hours. Right as we arrived, the bottom fell out and the girls made a run for it. I attempted to carry two baskets of dirty laundry, my computer bag, and a massive umbrella, but ended up dropping our laundry into a huge puddle of water and struggling to pick it all up. The kids were inside, so no one knew I needed help — no one except the family laughing at me from the comfort of their mini-van. I was so embarrassed and my belly made things difficult and I was super worried about standing in a ditch of water while lightning struck all around me. I finally made it inside, but we now had no dry towels to dry off with after running through the rain to get inside. There also wasn’t any WiFi because of the storm, so I couldn’t get some much needed sponsored work done and the girls were stuck without much to do (they brought their iPads, anticipating Netflix!). I was so thrilled to finally finish up and take a nap!
We have a cloth checker / tic-tac-toe board from Cracker Barrel in our closet and it became one of Sophie’s favorite things to do while we were gone. She and Josh played numerous games — here on our bed or in the main living area floor — and I loved capturing these photos of them together.
Gosh, how pretty are these girls?!
Some of our favorite friends arrived in time for the weekend, so we spent Saturday together on the beach. The girls were thrilled to see Braylen + Jud and the daddies built fantastic structures with them while Jennifer and I read books and rested. We are well aware this is our last easy summer, so we tried to take full advantage.
It feels incredibly indulgent to say this, but one of my favorite parts of this trip was the rest my family gave me. Josh headed out to play golf with some friends on Father’s Day morning and with the girls lingering in bed, I got to enjoy my breakfast with a side of fantastic literature. We hit the ground running once the girls were upd, but it was a really nice slow start to our second week.
After Josh got back that morning, we met my parents for lunch at our favorite shrimp spot and celebrated Father’s Day with this guy. He was headed home to work for a few days, but we got lots Poppy time on our vacation and I’m glad we grabbed this picture of him and his girls.
We only got to visit Scoops (as a family) once during two weeks. My dad had taken the girls early in our trip and I snuck out after bedtime for ice cream cones in our pajamas with my mom and sister. This particular night, we were too lazy to cook dinner and nobody felt like waiting at a restaurant, so Josh took us to get ice cream for dinner instead. Vacation food is the best food, am I right?
Sophie did a ton of reading this year — Ella did, too, but that’s pretty normal for her. Sophie finished two books during our trip and has been working on a few more since we got home. I’m excited that she’s getting old enough to enjoy books that we can also read, so we encouraged her to dive into Island of the Blue Dolphins after Ella and I finished it.
I’ll be back tomorrow with the other half of our photos and I promise I’m working on a Gulf Shores Travel Guide for early next week. Stay tuned for plenty more beach photos and join me on Friday for the Little Letter Link Up!
