Birthday Beach Trip 🌴🎉

Happy Wednesday, my friends!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! We spent it in Louisville with family, and even though it rained a little, we still soaked up a lot of sunshine and play and fun. We are getting settled back into Nashville, and I have sure missed this little space this month! This May has been a busy one, but one that has included a lot of family time, and for that, I am so grateful for! Today I thought I would share a few pictures of our little birthday beach trip from two weeks ago. 

When we started looking at the calendar and realizing that our birthdays fell over a weekend with Mother's Day too, we started brainstorming a few things we could do to make it a fun weekend. And as much as we love adventures and seeing new places, we took inventory of our family and kids and budget, and decided to try our favorite beach out with just the four of us. I have been going to the beach since before I could remember, and I love it every. single. time. There is just something about that white sand, the ocean breeze, the sunset, the freedom and PLAY that just comes with open sandy beaches. Add in the sunshine and the family time, and we just love it all. 

We are headed back in September with my parents, but this week, we adventured for the first time with just us and the kids, and it was sure a special week! 

We woke up early on Friday morning, packed up, loaded the bikes and headed out!! 

The kids have always done pretty good in the car, but this trip down we hit some pretty bad traffic that delayed our arrival time a bit, but we stopped for lunch and a little Target run to pick out a new toy/book for the rest of the drive. 

We made it, unpacked, grabbed some "snacks" for dinner 😂 then got some sleep because the next morning was... Pierce's BIRTHDAY!! Do you spy Andy's beach ball banner?! Hahaha

I thought it was the perfect chance to reuse the sweet little beach balls for a birthday at the beach!! 

It was rainy that morning, so the kids helped me make a little birthday cake (Kitchen by the Sea has my very favorite vanilla cake recipe!!)

We soaked up a sweet, chill morning... 

Then HAD to make it to the sand before the next storm rolled in...literally!! Hahah

It was cray seeing the clouds come in...

The kids loved a little play time though! 

And we'll take any time on the beach!!

We came in for naps and rest time, then celebrated Daddy with some birthday cake!! 

This guy is EASY and fun to celebrate!!! 

It was a little chilly, but we put on sweatshirts and headed down to the beach! 

Always have to get a little throwing in the air pic! 

They will forever remind me of the two faves we have from when they were little... 

That little girl!! ❤️

And that baby boy!! Sheesh...time flies!! 

I loved soaking it all up with this guy though! We shut the beach down that night and loved getting to sit on the shoreline reflecting on a birthday!! 

The next morning was Mother's Day and these three were up early crafting away...they sure know the way to their Mommy's heart 😉 hahha

We were up and at'em after that and ready to get to the beach!! 

These two were so excited for their sand shovels they found in the closet and "matching" swimsuits hahaha 

I loved watching them play!!

The sunny days on the beach all run together, but we played hard, swam in the ocean, made about a million sand castles, and just had FUN. 

I loved time with both of these littles!! 

And of course this guy too - this beach trip looked a little different than it did back in the day, but we loved it all the same! 

These two littles loved some walks on the beach together!

And I did too!! Loved walking with my girl... 

And boogie boarding with my boy hahaha 

I sure do love these two!!! 

I've never seen Andy happier than he was in this life jacket hahaha I think he would have slept in it if we had let him hahaha 

Loved this fun beach day with these three!

Pierce snapped this walking in from the beach, and it made me smile. There is no where else I would have wanted to be on Mother's Day than playing with these two in the sand ❤️

That night we had just about the prettiest sunset we'd ever seen there and loved sitting and enjoying it with this guy... 

Just truly so beautiful.... 

These littles were running around and playing and loved getting to snap this little one... 

But goodness, I'm not sure I could love a better one for this creative and free-spirited little girl...she reminds us a whole lot of her Nana and we knew that this would be a little snapshot we loved. 

What a night!!!

The 12th was Mommy's birthday, and it was another rainy day! 

So we rode bikes for a minute in-between the rain... 

Then made our way in "town" for a little while... 

Daddy bought some of the prettiest birthday flowers from the local florist!! 

And Andy opted out of a picture 😉, but I loved spending the day with all of my favorites! 

Daddy got a coffee, Mommy got a new hat, Andy got a little ball and Jane picked out some play "shoes with heels" that she was SO excited about hahaha 

After naps, we did the second half of the cake for Mommy's birthday! 

And some more homemade cards! 

Then we HAD to get to the beach as soon as it stopped raining! LOVE these three SO much! 

We were the only four on the beach for most of that evening, and it was my favorite thing just soaking in and watching these two play... 

Snapped this in the wind while they were playing in the sand - a birthday for the books!! 

And loved soaking it all in with this guy!!! 

The next morning was supposed to be the morning we were headed home, but with two (birthday) days of rain, we decided to add an extra day, and boy, are we SO glad we did!! That last day was one of the sweetest and a favorite for sure. We had a slow morning, and I snapped this at one point. These two truly became the best of little friends over the week, and I loved seeing this little scene!! 

After a slow morning, we were back out to our favorite place...and it was such a fun beach day! 

We played...

We read.... 

We built sand castles... 

And we saw some DOLPHINS put on a show!!! 🐬 It was truly amazing!!! 

Daddy took the kids boogie boarding...

Jane learned our love for "sand chairs" 😉 

And I'm pretty sure this kid solidified his love for the beach while we were there!! 

We took a last little walk on the beach before dinner...

And we just loved being on the sand, in the sun, and by the water all day!! 

I snapped this as we were walking in for the night, and I just loved this little snapshot. Goodness, thankful for these two!! 

Daddy fired up the grill the night!!! 

And then we watched our last sunset... 

The time with these two was just the best. 

Thankful for this fam!

Love this little girlie!! 

And loved watching these two play!! 

I blogged a little about this sunset here... 

But I love these pictures and love how they finished out our trip...

It sure was a special week! 

One that we will forever be thankful for!!

A little birthday beach trip for the books!! Thanks for following along and thanks for all of your sweet birthday messages too!! We are so grateful!! We are looking forward to all that this summer holds and love that we got to kick it off with this fun little trip!!

As always, here's to celebrating the big things, enjoying the little things, and soaking in all the moments in-between!!

Sending lots of love!
XO
Tab