Beach Babies

We are back from our first family beach vacations!   Two whole weeks at the beach.  We had so much fun!  And despite Daddy being the pack mule and Mommy and Daddy only getting to spend a total of 20 mins a day on the beach between meals and naps, we think they had fun too :). 

The first week we spent with Nonni and Grandaddy, Aunt Melanie and our cousins Olivia and David, and Aunt April and Uncle Dan and our cousins Audrey, Emily and Ben at Isle of Palms in South Carolina.  It was a full house with LOTS of kids.  This was the first time we'd been around so many kids and the first time we'd met our cousins!  We loved watching them run around and play.  They liked to tickle our toes and play with us and our toys.  

Me and Cousin David

 

Olivia holding Riley

Olivia kept a look out for big waves when we played in the ocean

David liked to tickle our toes and make funny voices. 

We LOVED the beach!  We loved to dig (and eat) the sand.  We liked it when the water rushed over our feet. 

Me and Daddy digging in the sand

Nonni and Riley splashing in a bucket. 

I loved to dig in the sand and dump it all over my legs. 

Riley always had to have a bucket in front of her, otherwise she'd pick up a giant handful of sand and eat it. 

After a day (or 10  minutes) of playing in the water, we'd chill under our tent. 

Sometimes we'd even take a nap in our stroller, but this didn't last long, too many fun things to see and do!

 

We celebrated Nonni's birthday with a big family dinner at home.  We also turned 11 months old and our cousin Ben turned 23 months while we were there!  He was born almost exactly a year before us!

Olivia, David, Audrey and Emily eyeing Nonni's birthday cake

We went out to our first restaurants.  Daddy's family tradition is to stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast on the trip to the beach, this was our first time! 

Riley at Cracker Barrel.  She didn't stop moving which is why she's blurry.

Me and Daddy at dinner

When we left Isle of Palm, we went about an hour and a half north to Myrtle Beach to see Grandma, Grandpops, Aunt Melissa, Aunt Jessie and Great Aunt Margaret! 

Grandma and Riley

Me and Mommy digging in the sand

Aunt Margaret drying Riley off and getting her ready for lunch

Daddy rinsing me off in the ocean.  We got covered in LOTS of sand!

Riley playing with her bucket and shovel

Me with a sandy face

We got to go swimming in the pool too!  The pool water was a lot colder than the ocean!

Jessie and me swimming in the pool

We had breakfast with Grandpops and got to try our first bagels!

Riley chomping on her first bagel

Me enjoying my bagel

We also went on our first ride, the Sky Wheel!  It was a giant ferris wheel on the Myrtle Beach boardwalk.  We could see the whole beach and Grandpops and Great Aunt Margaret looked tiny from up high!  We went to the arcade too and watched a family skee ball tournament. 

Grandma and me at the top of the wheel

Mommy and Riley on the Sky Wheel

Playing with Great Aunt Margaret

Chilling with Aunt Melissa and Grandma

Reading a book with Grandpops (somehow only his hands ended up in a picture)