I can count on one hand the number of summers I haven’t camped at Gulf State Park — I took classes one summer during college, I only got to visit the girls for a weekend when I had a huge project to finish at work, and that time we had a global pandemic. We went back and forth about whether to travel last summer and even though much of our family went ahead, Josh and I just didn’t feel good about it. We went to Disney in the spring (gosh, I need to share that trip with you here!) and as wonderful as it was, it was not the beach. The girls have been beside themselves about going and Polly’s face below just about sums it up. We had the best two weeks together in our favorite place and I hope we never have to miss a summer again.
Most of the pictures in this post are my sister’s. I carried my camera, but hers are infinitely better than mine and I mostly snapped photos with my phone. We did the exact same thing almost every day, so there isn’t much need to share a daily recap. Most of the days that Josh worked (Monday and Tuesday both weeks), I took the girls to the pool or stayed close to camp. We carted ourselves to the beach on one of those days, but it’s considerably easier when he’s there to pull our cooler! Almost every other day, he made PB&Js and applied sunscreen and sat in the sand with our girls. Have I mentioned he’s pretty much the best beach dad ever?
Despite Polly’s abhorrence for the bath/shower, she took no time at all to warm up to the ocean. She and Vera laid right here and let the waves crash over them for hours.
I’m working on being at a place in my life where I’m thankful to be forty-one and have a body at all and be able to enjoy the beach with my family. I have days where I lament my physique, pre-Polly, but I also haven’t gotten to a place where I care enough to avoid sweet tea and french fries. I gave myself a pep talk at the beginning of the summer about how I wasn’t going to think about what I looked like when I put on a swimsuit. I was going to buy suits that I love and I was going to wear them and enjoy life with my girls and I’m happy to report that it’s working. This picture with Ella was one of my favorites from the trip.
Polly’s face in this photo makes me laugh so hard. Josh refused to hold her close because she was covered in sand and cold sea water, but her funny face looks a little devious here. Obviously our husbands were proud of how they looked in swimsuits, because the posed every time we pointed the camera in their direction.
I think the highlight of every day was when Vera and Polly got an ice cream treat. Yes, they ate one every single day for two weeks. There is a snack shop at the State Park swimming pool and for $2 you can have the frozen treat of your dreams. We tried to convince them to wait until after nap, but I’m pretty sure they ate ice cream for lunch on multiple occasions.
Polly did much better sleeping at the beach than I expected. After a rough time getting her to bed while we were in Disney, I was convinced I would battle her the entire time. Much to my surprise, she stayed in her bunkbed and even napped mid-day, when we were at camp. A few times at the beach, she feel asleep in my arms, and on our last day I managed to transfer her to a pallet on the sand. She slept here for hours, as we moved the umbrella around to keep her shaded.
This was the first trip in a long time where almost all of our family was at the beach at the same time. We have a few that didn’t make it, but even our Hawaii girl was in town and it was the most cousins in one place for as long as I can remember. Every single umbrella you see in this picture belongs to us!
The girls love to play mini golf, so we took them and my dad out for Burgers one night and played a round of putt putt while we were at it. Polly was surprisingly good at it for her age and we had the best time watching her chase the balls all over the course.
Another thing we try to squeeze in is the local water park. It can get pretty expensive for a family of five, so we go after three when it’s half price. Three hours is just long enough to ride everything several times and take a spin around the lazy river. Polly and I spent most of that three hours right here — she rode that purple slide at least fifty times and I never had to rescue her once.
This definitely wasn’t a read all the books sort of vacation, but it was so sweet to spend uninterrupted time together after so long. I miss being at home with them during the day and even though two weeks is a long time to take off from work, it isn’t nearly long enough to spend together.
