Our Beach Vacation

Last weekend the three of us took a trip to North Myrtle Beach for our family vacation. My parents also came, which was unbelievably helpful, as Quinn is at that in-to-everything stage. We definitely couldn't have done this trip without some help.

This was a long-awaited trip, as I have mentioned before. I haven't been to the beach in 12 years. Also, Buddy and I have not been on a vacation since our honeymoon. So trust me, we needed this trip in a bad way!

Here we are, finally standing in the ocean. This was taken literally 20 minutes after we got checked into our room! Seriously....we checked in, unloaded the car, got into swimsuits. Quinn may look like he is smiling, but closer inspection of this picture will show that Quinn is actually crying. He wasn't as impressed with the ocean as I thought he would be. (He perked up the next day though!)



We were in such a hurry to get to the beach that we forgot to grab Quinn's sand toys. While Buddy and I were in the ocean, my mom and Quinn were walking on the shore. Quinn found a group of older boys who were trying to dig a hole or make a sand castle or something, and he stopped to watch them. The boys saw Quinn and let him borrow a shovel. He knew just what to do.



The first night we went for a walk on the beach.



Friday morning Buddy got up early to surf-fish. After Quinn woke up, the three of us went back out for an early-morning walk on the beach.


Quinn enjoyed running through the sand and since there was hardly anyone on the beach at this hour, we let him have fun.


I love this picture. Buddy took it after Quinn and I walked away from him.


Another of my favorite pictures. This looks like a classic picture of the beach. This was right outside our room! We had a great view.


Once Quinn got used to the water, he seemed to enjoy himself. We decided that he doesn't like the feeling of the sand going out from under your feet when the waves go back out into the ocean. We let him wear his Crocs and he was ready to play in the water. (We made him wear a t-shirt, on top of wearing 50+ sunscreen. I just didn't want him to get sunburned. And he just won't have a tan this year. If he's like me, he won't tan very well anyway.)


One great thing about having my parents with us was that Buddy and I got to have "date night". We went to a seafood buffet restaurant. It was a little pricey but there was such a great selection of food. On Saturday, because no beach trip is complete without it, we played a round of putt-putt. Buddy won, but it's ok, because I got Starbucks afterward!

We had a great time on our trip but I'm thinking next year will go better. Quinn is so into everything and climbs and is just so on-the-go. I'm hoping that by next year he will enjoy the water and playing in the ocean. I want this to be the first of many trips to the beach. I have so many wonderful memories of going to the beach as a child. I want Quinn to have those memories too.