Ahhh the beach

Our four day beach extravaganza was our first family vacation and the first time in three years that I have been to the beach. I love the beach. I love everything about it. I love the smell of sunscreen and the feel of the ocean spray. I love people watching and swimming/jumping over waves. I feel at peace at the beach. I want my girls to love the beach so we can always make a beach trip. I knew that this trip was going to be different then I am used to and, if I'm being honest, that it would probably suck. We were renting a one bedroom so the girls would share a room for the first time and Gary and I would sleep on the sleep sofa. We had to take a car full of stuff for four days to accommodate the girls. It would also be the first longish car ride that Melanie has ever been on--the beach is 3.5 hours away.
The girls were amazing on the car ride down. Melanie eventually fell asleep and Maddy only really got going when we were 20 or so minutes from the beach place. It took Gary and me forever to pack the car to leave so we left late. We stopped at a KFC for lunch about half way through and let Maddy run around. Silly thing thought us stopping meant we were there. Eventually we made it. Neither girl napped. Gary napped. We all went down to the water. Maddy was so excited to see the sand. We didn't put our feet in that first day because the water was very rough. We did pack up all our stuff and head down to the beach the next day. Both girls were happy to have their feet in the water. Then a bigger wave came, strong current pulled Maddy's feet toward the ocean and she never put her feet in again. Melanie didn't like it either but the next day I put her feet in and she started clapping. So this year I had one beach baby. I took Maddy for walks down to the ocean every night and we had fun. The girls did amazing sleeping together. We never could quite get them to nap together but they slept until 7am every morning. One night after we put them to bed, I could hear Maddy very quietly over the monitor saying "Melmel, Melmel" but Melanie was already asleep. It was so cute.
We had a torturous ride home...6 hours. I was shocked that my little troopers held it together. At one point, Maddy was reaching across the seat to hand puffs to Melanie who was reaching to take them. It was adorable. We also had to pull over and have a random picnic so the girls could get some food in their bellies.
Overall, it was good. The night before we left, Maddy kept saying "home" so I think we went for the perfect amount of time for the girls' first trip. I did get about an hour of alone time on the beach...just me. The weather was gorgeous and perfect.
I will mourn my beach trips before kids but I know that in 15 or so years I will again be able to head down to the beach with my chair and a good book and relax. Until then, I will treasure the extra time with my girls and hubby.