Happy Wednesday! I am sharing the last part of our beach vacation today. Be sure to head back to see Part 1 and our Rainy Day Fun if you missed them.

After we had so much fun at The Great STEMporium, the boys made their annual trek to Hatland.com. The crazy thing about Hatland is that moms aren’t allowed in. I’m not sure how that rule came to be, but the 5 moms on our trip don’t question it at all. Hatland is a 2 story hat store. Each summer, the dads take the boys and they get to pick out one hat. My guys have picked out Orioles hats, Steelers hats, and Golden State Warriors hats. This year they were excited to get bucket hats. Lucky for us, Hatland had a happy hour sale – all bucket hats and visors were buy one, get one half off. This year my guys ended up with 5 hats. I am not sure how that happened and I don’t really worry about it because moms aren’t allowed in!

On Wednesday, we woke up to a sunny beautiful day. Jeff and I took the kids for a run with us and rewarded everyone with donuts from the Fractured Prune. They make hot donuts while you wait and have been a beach tradition for us since I was really little!

When we headed down to the beach, it was Birthday Party Day! Kourtni made her famous sand cake and a yummy strawberry birthday drink for the grown ups. Look at these cuties in their bucket hats!

Jeff talked to the dads about trying to charter a fishing boat with the boys during our trip and Wednesday was the day. Joe found a 15 person charter and headed out on the bay. The moms held down the fort on the beach because there wasn’t room for us on the boat. We read, talked, and napped. Mom time on the beach was pretty great, but the boys definitely had the most fun! The dads and boys caught a bunch of flounder and flying robins, but didn’t keep anything. They had a great time and my kids couldn’t stop talking about how cool it was.

We met the dads and boys at dinner at Tailchasers. They have yummy food – Jeff’s favorite salad in OC, a playground for the kids, and very generous portions.

Thursday was Red, White, and Blue day! It was my theme. I made Patriotic Punch, complete with the blue ice cubes. We only had one ice cube tray so I was making blue ice cubes in groups of 12 all week. For food we had Bugles – my favorite beach USA snack, twizzlers, a festive cheese tray of pepperoni and white cheeses, and pigs in a blanket. We hung on the beach until about 5 when we left for a quick trip to Grotto Pizza for some dinner and air conditioning.

After dinner, it was back to the beach for a bonfire. Our friend Laura was at the beach too and asked if we wanted to get together for a bonfire on the beach. She secured a permit with the city and we were set to go. The s’mores were delicious and we had a great time hanging out around the fire.

Jeff and I decided to try something new with Jack and Luke on Friday morning. Stand Up Paddle boarding!! We’ve been thinking about it for a year or so and I am so glad we did it! I tried SUP one time with my college roommates in the Gulf of Mexico, but Jeff and the boys had never done it. Everyone got the hang of it pretty quickly. The rental place had a 100 yard cove that you could practice in before heading out into the bay. We paddled around a bit and decided that the boys were strong enough to tackle the bay. The hour passed pretty quickly and we are definitely going to make this a permanent addition to our beach vacations!

After paddle boarding, we went to the beach for Forget the Theme Friday! A couple of us were driving home that night and the week was winding down so Erin made veggie pizzas. They are one of my favorites and hit the spot on the beach! Luke made friends with our lifeguard on Sunday and hung with her a lot during the week. He was always ready to help her when the tide washed away her mound. He was on the look out for riptides. He was ready to back her up when she went in for a save. Luke had a very good friend in Ms. Amy! She’s a great lifeguard and we were thrilled to have her watching over us all week!

After a full day on the beach, we sadly packed it up and headed home.

Have a great day full of sunshine and books!

Linking up with Lindsay and the Welcome Wednesday girls.