The Beach!

All our vacations this year, have involved B or I but not both. I decided to change that Labor Day weekend, when we took an impromptu trip to the beach. We made full use of the SUV - packed to the brim with kids, kid's stuff, grandparents (including Masshi S whose new name is...Smaashi) and us and off we went on a 5 hour drive. Everyone was in high spirits, we had Beatles soundtrack to span the generations and plenty of snacks, but somewhere after the Florida state line, accordion music took to the airwaves, high-pitched singing followed, B kept turning down the radio, the grand-parents couldn’t hear the radio, then Nani started singing to make up for the radio, Nana wanted to get out of the car, Tingu wanted to stop at every McDonald’s and B, at this point, was on a full-on no-stops beeline to the beach. After much laughing and arguing over the radio we made it to the beach and it was awesome!

The days started early with Hunie, Smaashi & I out on the beach:

Hunie pretty much looked like this the whole time:

We spent the afternoons fulfilling Tingu's dream of being buried in warm sand ('only up to my chest')

Hunie, too impatient, to be buried!

Tingu's shark obsession kept him well away from the water for the first few days!

We spent the hot afternoons wandering around the town or lazing around the house:

We flew kites on the beach, collected seashells and jumped off sand cliffs:

Attempted one of those photoshoots were everyone looks crisp and perfect on the beach - the reality is below (complete with Hunie pulling his pants off).

Were proud of Dad as he managed to stay out of the weddings going on at the beach. This didn't mean there weren't antics. He had six kids entertained at the pool (much to the delight of all the parents there!)

Played as the sun set

I think this is one of those pictures where you can make up a million captions as to what was going on.

B & I got to steal away for a lovely dinner while the grandparents loved on the little guys. I love family vacations - a perfect mix of everything. I think this is going to become an annual tradition. It was hard to leave but feels good to know we'll be back in a couple of weeks with B's parents!