Lost my Beach Virginity

Yep, you read that right. I have LOST my Beach Virginity.

I bet you didn't know that this was a real thing, right? But it totally is. See, I am in a land-locked state. The closest beach is easily a 4-5 hour drive. Growing up, I went on ONE trip where the bus I was on drove by the ocean. I was about 12 years old and I swear that the beach and waves laughed at me as I passed it with puppy dog eyes.

Also, my family never went on vacations when I was a child. Like, no beach, no camping, no trips to the mountains, no amusement parks, etc. I went on a few school trips (like the one where the beach mocked me as I passed) and weekends with friends, but not an actual family vacation.

I am pleased to say that we have been blessed and my girls have been on several trips. Baltimore. New York City. Cedar Point. Put-in-Bay. Lake Norman. Various zoos. While I was not able to do these things when I was a child, Hubby's family was constantly on the move when he was growing up. Thankfully, I married in to this awesome family, so I feel *so* blessed that family trips are held in such high esteem.

But, most of Hubby's immediate family are NOT beach people. Hubby hates the beach. MIL is not a fan. And BIL would rather be shopping and sight-seeing than playing in the sand. So, we'd never really considered a beach trip before. But, I made the decision that it was high time that Hubby & I take our little nuclear family on our very first family vacation and it MUST be a beach trip.

Hubby balked at the idea. Think of a young child that clenches their fists, sets their jaw, and decides that they are not going to let this happen. He looked rather like this:

But I didn't care. Because we were GOING to the beach. So I went to work on planning the vacay. I decided I wanted a more low-key, family friendly destination. I wanted someplace that wasn't going to be overrun by tons of tourists and drunken college students. I mean, don't get me wrong, I want them to have a GREAT time and I would be having a great time if I was in their flipflops. But I wanted someplace where I could relax and not worry about explaining the complexities of a young adult good time.

Thankfully, one of my "fake" internet friends was originally from Hilton Head Island and gave me lots of info. It helped that she was going back home for the summer to work there, so we decided on Hilton Head Island.

Next issue: Where to stay? I mean, I wanted to find a place that had it's own kitchen, laundry, etc. So that meant finding a condo/villa to rent for the week. After a lot of soul-searching, I decided on staying at Fiddler's Cove. We rented Unit 7C for the week. I was super excited because the villa included a king-size bed in the main bedroom with its own bathroom, then a second bedroom with twin bunk beds and an extra twin bed. Add in the kitchen, living room with queen sleeper sofa, main bathroom, and washer/dryer...I WAS SOLD! And a balcony overlooking the pool. And just a few minutes to walk to the beach. It was WONDERFUL and I highly recommend it. The lady that we rented the villa from was great. If you want more info, here is her link.

As the date neared for our vacation, we ran into a small snafu: we were too busy at our work for me and Hubby to both be gone that week. Given that he is not a fan of the beach, this probably would mean that we would have more fun without him and his negativity cloud hovering over us. "I have sand all over me, it's too crowded, there's nothing to do, blah blah blah." Ok, he wouldn't have been THAT bad and we did miss him on the trip, but we still had a great time without him.

But then it dawned on me: How am I going to take myself to the beach for the first time, by myself, with all 3 of my kids?! I was seriously panicked at the thought of trying to keep the 8 yr old, 6 yr old, and 18 month old all safe and not getting kidnapped or swept away in the waves. I know, I was panicking. But, thankfully I was saved and my bestie Tiffany stepped in and we did vacay together. She drove down to my house, then we drove about 3 hours and stayed the night, then drove the rest of the way the next day. And then we were there.

The girls went out to wade in the waves, which turned into swimming because they "tripped." I was not fooled!

Monkey was scared of the sand at first, but then loved running towards the waves.

Happy sisters after a long day of playing in the sand.

Monkey and I playing in the sand. We HAD to pick a spot that the waves were still reaching because he was obsessed with the waves creating little pools when he dug out the sand.

And here is my happy little family on the last day at the beach. The girls had been boogie boarding with Aunt Tiff and Monkey was sleepy, so I put him in the Boba 3G and walked about 2 miles to put him to sleep. So when we left the beach, poor Monkey was sleeping in the carrier while Sassy hugged him and Diva kissed him.

So there you go. I have lost my beach virginity. We had a great time and did WAY more than just go to the beach. We went crabbing, shopping, on a pirate expedition, and lots more. We had a great time, even though Hubby didn't get to go. Aunt Tiff was AWESOME. My fake friend was AWESOME. And hopefully I'll be able to give you more posts about the rest of our trip.

Poor Diva was so sad to leave...

But I assured her that we would get to go back next year.