Our family of four met nineteen other members of my mom's family in St. Augustine, Florida for my kids' first trip to the Atlantic coast and Maya's first trip to the beach. I wasn't sure how Maya would react considering at the fake beach we visited near our home, she didn't want to walk in the sand but requested to only be carried. But thankfully everyone had a wonderful time!
On her first plane ride, my wild woman was pretty subdued, nervous in the airplane and wanted me to hold her head in my hand the whole ride. She calmed down once we gave her some games on the phone!
Within a few minutes of arriving at our condo, my brother and sister-in-law drove up. We threw on bathing suits and hit the beautiful beach.
Our diva's first time to the beach
She'd squeal with each wave but wanted to be held -
Happy to be building sand castles -
Cas with his beach bum kids -
Look at Maya's "cheese" face -
She warmed up to the ankle-deep water but wouldn't go much further.
Her boogie board ride lasted about 45 seconds.
My brave, fierce Collin, on the other hand, spent hours in the water, battling the waves and riding the boogie board in huge waves that were sometimes over his head. He'd get knocked off and pop back up for another ride. This is the boy who swore in the weeks preceding our trip that he wasn't going in the water for fear of sharks!
I like my dad's "what are you doing" arms - photo opp of course after riding the wave all the way to shore!!
Building sandcastles and holes with Grammy -
Buried in the sand (warming up after boogie boarding) -
Wet sand fight with Uncle Alex - which is the exact fight Uncle Alex had with our Uncle Bobby when we were kids!
Impressed my i-phone caught the sand flinging in the air considering I couldn't see off the screen due to the bright sun when I was clicking away -
We expected big waves and the Atlantic Coast did not disappoint. Huge waves right offshore led to big lines of family body surfing and boogie boarding.
Aunt Coady catching a big wave -
My handsome surfer. At one point when he was helping Collin with boogie boarding, his sunglasses were swept off. Collin's description of his vacation was: we went to the Atlantic Coast of Florida and my daddy lost his glasses. We're working on providing context to his stories!
The kite surfer setting up - so cool to watch!
The family matriarch, my 89-year-old grandma on the beach with the hat entourage -
Family pictures with the beautiful Atlantic backdrop. Some of the cousins -
Jumping -
The picture behind the picture -
My one cheerleading jump I can still do without pulling a muscle -
Some of the guys -
After a full day at the beach, it was our family's turn for dinner. My dad cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and I helped with s'mores. Sweet to watch the cousins play as dinner was on the grill. Collin, Edie and William are all about a year apart in age and played well together on the beach and on shore. Maya considered herself part of the gang too, and they were all so kind to include her in their games.
Maya's first s'more!
We're all happy as can be for s'mores!
Messy, sticky, happy girl!
One of the nights there, Collin and I went in search of "ghost crabs." We never found the crabs (they might just be on the Gulf Coast) but it was exciting enough to experience the absolute pitch black dark at the beach. It was strange to walk towards the ocean and not know when we'd hit water (we had flash lights but they weren't that powerful). It was sea turtle season, and I was pretty sure these were their tracks. Some of our cousins had seen a huge, 2-3 foot turtle in the ocean earlier that day and apparently had described it to Collin. So while I thought these tracks were cool and wanted to follow them, he was terrified we'd end at some humongous (aggressive?) turtle and did NOT want to disturb it at night.
My sweet cuddly Maya on the beach with me. After she puked later that night, we understood why she was being so affectionate.
On our last night, I finally rounded up my family, Alex and Coady for dusk pictures on the beach. My kids beforehand -
Group shots -
We stayed in the condo with Alex and Coady, and it was a joy to eat breakfast with them every morning and hang out throughout the day. I'm thankful we can FaceTime, as my kids are comfortable with them right away, even though we only see them 2-4 times each year.
Don't let her natural smile fool you, she was not cooperative in front of the camera when it came to posing!
Attempting a family picture -
Deep in thought -
This family - just what I always wanted!
My handsome boys (Maya ran out of her bath tonight and said "hey guys" to them.)
Jumping . . . I didn't quite have the timing down -
I love this picture. We were trying to get a shot of the kids together and despite their natural pose before we hit the beach, once down there they would not cooperate. But I jumped in and got a sweet shot with them.
My mom, our photographer, was coaxed into a frame -
This girl, those curls, that personality - we are crazy about her!
My cousins had been waking up for the sunrise, and on the last morning, I was determined to join them. They told me 6:20 and I was running out the door at 6:18. And then I waited by myself for a good 5-10 minutes thinking I had been punked. Slowly they tricked out, including my mom, and we got a silhouette shot -
Beautiful sunrise on my last morning of an amazing beach vacation -
After a plane ride back where Maya slept the entire flight, we considered the trip a tremendous success!
