Seaside 2018

Heading to the beach for the first time after we landed in Florida

Beautiful ocean

And lovely white sandy beaches

The boys were so excited!

Everyone spent some time buried in the sand.  Finn was high maintenance with this because he screamed for help each time a finger or other body part wasn't covered completely with sand.

Sandy Liam

Aiden

After waking up at 4:30 AM to leave the house for Florida, Finn was exhausted.  This was taken after we arrived at the beach house around 4:00 pm.

Sunset on the beach

We rode bikes everywhere we went

Trying to re create porch swing pictures taken a few years ago.  (see blogs from Sept. 2016 and July 2015)

Aiden had no problem relaxing at the beach

Paddle ball

Kayaking with John and Luke

Family picture courtesy of some kind women from Texas

"Our Sweet Spot"  This is the house where we stayed

Finn met a buddy named Dalton and we played with him throughout the week.  This is a trench that Finn and Dalton worked on for hours.

Amphitheater music 

Another porch swing picture before we left

Ice cream!

Digging a giant pool on the beach

And more digging

Who doesn't love ice cream?

yummy....

Finn had the Blue Monster ice cream

Dinner at Fish Out of Water on the last Night

Beautiful views from restaurant

Luke and Liam loved their sleeping arrangements

We enjoyed a final week of summer last week at the beach.  We stayed in WaterColor, the same area where we have visited several other times.  This was our 7th trip to the area.  I grew up going to Seaside in the summer and we took Luke, Liam, and Aiden there for the first time when they were 2 years and Aiden was 4-5 months of age.

To say we have done a lot of growing since our first trip to Seaside is an understatement.  For the first time, John and I felt a bit of relief and found the trip to be much easier than it has been in previous years.  Luke and Liam are old enough to take care of themselves and help with their brothers so John and I were able to do a few runs together nearby the beach house.  The boys even managed to make their own breakfast every morning so we had a bit of a break.  This trip was also different because Aiden can ride a bike on his own now!  Finn is the only one left to pull in the Burley so our riding to and from the beach and other activities was so much easier.

We even ventured out to spend an entire day at the beach on two of the days we were there.  In the past, we have taken breaks and gone back tot the house for food and to rest, but this year we were able to spend several hours at the beach without wearing out as quickly (even if we were all in bed by 9:00 pm!).  We seem to have entered a new phase of vacations where perhaps it will be a bit more of an actual vacation!  Nonetheless, we were all talking about going back before we even left.  The area holds many special memories for each of us and the week did not disappoint.