Day 1 on the beach was everything I imagined. Well, waking up at 5:30 a.m. wasn’t in my plans, but it did give me a little quiet time before the littles began to wake up about 7 a.m. I grabbed this screenshot of the low temp for the week! YIKES!

That was a bit cold, but we never saw temps below 70 again for the week and those were at night. Perfect! The temperature was a bit chilly, but as the day progressed the weather app read 73° by 2 p.m. and we were well on our way to warmer weather! I am often asked how I’m so organized and how in the world do I manage with 6 kids.

First off, The Prez and I work well together as a team when on vacation, but during the day-to-day I’m winging it solo as he works a lot of hours and isn’t here when we’re headed out the door most mornings. I very much appreciated him taking the role more often than not of sandwich maker each morning. It is a given law of family dynamics that 5 minutes (or less) after arriving at the beach no matter how much breakfast was consumed that people will be hungry.

Here are the bags of food, non-food items ilke sunscreen, glasses, books, and the drinks on the counter waiting to be put in the cooler. we took two smallish size ones each day, one with food and one with drinks.

We decided a long time ago to let them eat when they wanted. We take a certain amount of food for each and when it is gone it is gone. It worked well all week, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of our morning routine.

We always take a lot of junk, and it has become a family joke. However, we have a standing rule. If you don’t use it, we don’t take it the next day. By the end of the week, of course we take less stuff out to the beach. Here we are on Day 1 with our haul! Oh and one other rule: if you carry it out there (or wear it), you bring it back at the end of the day. 😀

We got the Little Tikes wagon Christmas 2000 when our oldest was 2 years old, and it has made too many beach trips to count. We had lots of compliments on our ingenuity from observant onlookers, and we might have been a bit prideful of our ability to pack up quicker than most people on the beach. We do take great pride in Team {insert family surname}’s ability to be efficient! The kids weren’t into my “let’s take a photo as we head out to the beach for the first time in 2 years” moment, alas some weren’t cooperative LOL!

I love this shot and it needs to go in a frame on a wall somewhere. Here it is, that first moment back with our toes in the sand and our minds just letting go of all the stress. Priceless moment and one I’ll cherish forever!

On the way down, Curly and I were elated to see a couple of young men, LOVE that work ethic, selling boiled peanuts by the roadside. It is another family tradition, so we bought $10 worth and hit the road again. It didn’t take long for all of us to consume the peanuts on that first day!

I decided to do a collage for most of the photos I snapped while admiring the beauty that is the Gulf of Mexico and just soaking in the sun and glimpses of happy times together as a blessed family! I will let the collage and photos speak mostly for themselves. A couple of notes: Li’l Bit loved the “snow” at the beach and the kids all loved just being together and doing their thing sometimes together and sometimes contemplating who knows what as they swam, dug in the sand, or took a seat to watch the gentles waves that day.

I hope to post about Days 3 through 6 tomorrow! I will link them up with each other! I don’t want to forget all of the wonderful families memories made on this beautiful week.