Beach Vacation: Part One

We discovered last year, that the beach is always better with friends.  So we did our best to emulate it this year.

For our annual vacation to Rosemary Beach, Jack brought his dear friend B {whom I adore}, we stayed a few houses down from some family friend besties, and we were one beach over from another family favorite.  Everyday was a bit of party.

For the simple fact of not drowning you in photos, I split our family vaca into two posts.  There's really no other way to share a week at the beach without a bazillion pictures.  It was a lot of sand,  sunshine, and swimming.  Please excuse the redundancy, but I just can't help snatching up hundreds of photos of my kiddos...they are just so darn cute at the beach!

We arrived Saturday afternoon and used that day to get settled.  We moved into my favorite Rosemary Beach Cottage {partly for the fact that they allow dogs & surely you know how much I adore my Cosby}.  The kids got fitted for bikes and I made the dreaded grocery store trip.  

By Sunday morning we were fully stocked, unpacked and ready to hit the sugar white sands.

I happened to throw these cute donut rings in my cart at the Dollar Store the day before we departed.  They were a huge hit and well worth the whole $4 I spent.

Of course my thriftiness was completely thrown out the window when I got talked into these monster floats.  Both were from a boutique in Rosemary so as you can imagine, they weren't quite the steal the others were.

None the less, they served as great entertainment and a perfect way to ride the waves.  That first day the Gulf was mighty choppy and I like to think it was a necessity.

Day two was rainy, drizzly and full of clouds.  Luckily it was the only day like this.  Not the best way to start off the week.  But, we made the best of it.  The boys headed off to some Rocket Arcade & Bowling joint while us girls hopped from beach to beach hitting all the cutesie shops.

After lunch and popsicles we headed back to our beach houses with a whole bunch of loot we really didn't need {but so fun to have}. By this point the clouds were parting and we were able to spend the late afternoon/evening at the pool.

This would be the first purchase that we "really didn't need, but was oh so fun".  As soon as the sun peeked out, this little gal was slipping into her new mermaid "boo-kini" and at the pool.

And just when you thought you had seen it all...there's a third piece.  I know, I can hardly deal myself...so adorably hilarious.

Since we had missed an entire beach day, we were raring to go by the third morning.  The 7 and under crowd spent the entire first half of the day in the sand and waves.

We even bumped into Lucy's "bestest friend" from pre-school last year.  These girls were inseparable until K's vacation was up.  I mean talk about a vacation full of FRIENDS!

As I mentioned, the 7 and under crowd hung at the beach.   Meanwhile the big boys attended Paddle Boarding Camp.  I dropped them off at inlet to meet their instructors and get their gear.  From there they spent the next 4 hours paddle boarding up the inlet and onto the Gulf.

The late afternoon was sweltering hot {as it should be at the beach}.  We roamed around Rosemary while we waited for the Art In The Park to begin.  We stopped and made a wish on the "Wishing Ribbon".  I thought this was the sweetest little idea, as did all my kiddos.

Maggie even made one to hang in her room when we returned home. She has all of her guests make wishes when they come to visit.  I adore the soft side of her.

After wishes, it was time to walk to the park.  It was still a scorcher, but little Lu made it all worth it {stay tuned}.

The kids got their hair airbrushed {who even knew this was a thing?}, did a little spin art, and made sand art bottles.

But nothing compared to Lucy singing karaoke.  It was worth every one of those 100 degrees of heat.

If only my pictures could sing, you could see what I am talking about.

This little one chose Taylor Swift's White Horse and completely rocked it in front of a crowd.  I get so giddy over happenings like this, remember, she is my first performer and I absolutely eat it up!

Not a bad way to end the first half of our beach vacation.  Part two soon...