I’ll tell you, there’s nothing like a beach vacation when you have little ones.  It’s the easiest thing in the world to just let them run around messy, and there’s nothing my kids love more than sand and salt water.

Each day (with the exception of the one gloomy day) found our family down at Rebecca’s quiet cove, enjoying the soft sand and the perfectly kid-sized waves.  Rebecca said that the water was actually a bit rough compared to the usual, but we thought that it was great.  (When measured against the waves in the Outer Banks, Rebecca’s cove was very peaceful indeed.)

Most days, Rebecca joined us as well.  It was a treat for the whole family – friend time for me (and Steve – he’s known Rebecca for fifteen years, almost as long as I have, and they’re good friends as well) and auntie playtime for Peanut.  Peanut is recently obsessed with mermaids, so Aunt Rebecca gave her a tail of her very own.

Is that a lucky little mermaid, or what?  Rebecca’s dog, Brandy, had to be involved too – of course!

Oh, no!  This mermaid has LEGS!  NOBODY TELL KING TRITON!

Eventually our little mermaid found her way into the water, and so did her baby brother.  I joked all week that Nugget is a born fish – after all, he’s a Pisces!

Okay, I don’t really believe in that Zodiac stuff (much).  But there’s no denying that this baby LOVES the water.

(Hi, Brandy Dog!)

Seriously, I could not keep the boy on the sand.  Here he is on another of our beach mornings, sea turtling his way down to the surf.

I tried to set him up on the towel for some sand play with Peanut’s new sand toys (a perfect birthday gift from Aunt Rebecca, and sure to be enjoyed in our local sandboxes now that we’re home from the beach).  Side note: how grown up does he look in this picture?  I can’t get over it – he looks like he’s fifteen years old!  Well, maybe not quite that old.

Okay, definitely not fifteen years old.

As expected, the sand toys were only fun for about thirty seconds, before someone needed to be in the water again!

As exhausting as it was, it was also really fun for Mom and Aunt Rebecca.  The kids kept us on our toes all week, but they also made the whole experience feel fresh and new and so much fun.

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Next week: one last evening, and a spectacular sunset.