Happy Monday! I’m here with Holly sharing some fun from our summer. I hope you’ll link up with us for Hello Monday!

I am officially home for the rest of the summer. The boys have one more trip with my parents for Camp Gigi the week I go back to work. I am going to share our last two trips this week, if everything goes according to plan and Summer Sarah doesn’t take over. 😎

We were planning on heading out the beach on Friday August 5th in the morning, but Jeff was still in Q so we ended up leaving on Saturday 8/6 in the evening when he was testing negative and feeling better. We still wore our masks in the car together. It was supposed to be a six hour drive but we hit a big backup and it was a seven hour ride. The kids dozed a bit and we were all ready for bed when we got the the beach at 1 am.

We were going to Nags Head, NC with Jeff’s family. His parents and his sister, her husband, and two daughters were already at the beach. His brother, his wife, and two kids came down on Tuesday. Luckily the way the house is laid out, we have the whole first floor with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It gave Jeff room to have some space and the kids and I bunked in together for the week.

Even though it was a late arrival, it felt so good to wake up at the beach. I missed sunrise, but I needed to sleep a little. The week prior we had a 3 am wake up on Monday for a flight, changed time zones, and didn’t get home until 1 am Wednesday night/Thursday morning. We all needed some sleep.

The weather couldn’t have been better all week! It was hot, but the ocean was cool. There was a lovely breeze all week, too. We had two days with tons of jellyfish in the water but the kids played on the sand and went in the pool.

We did all the requisite beach things – ice cream, visiting a “beach crap” store, saw some fireworks, played games, caught sand crabs and fish, played paddle board, surfed, and boogie boarded.

The cousins have a ton of fun together playing at the house, on the beach, and in the pool! We have a 13 year old, 2 11 year olds, 2 7 year olds, and a 5 year old.

The grown ups have a great time too!

Jack played golf twice. He played once with Chief, his grandfather, and once with Jeff, Chief, and Jeff’s brother. He was in heaven playing all that golf with them!

Luke was so excited to get out on the SUP board. Jeff’s brother and his wife have an inflatable one and Luke loves it! I wish there was a place near us to use an inflatable board because he’d do it all the time. The water near us requires a hard board and doesn’t allow an inflatable one.

This was the first year that we’ve sent the boys off to run in the mornings on their own. They’re old enough and familiar enough with the area. It was great! They had to run 10 or 15 minutes out and then run back.

We stay on a private beach, but we still need to get down there early to set up the tents. Every morning, I got up around 6 am and head to the beach with two tents. It is one of my favorite times on the beach. I love to watch the sun rise as I go for a 2 mile walk. There is always someone who asks to go with me, and I always say NO! Everyone is welcome to go to the beach at sunrise, but I am going on my walk solo.

Jeff always indulges me and takes my annual reading on the beach picture. This year I read Gilt by Jamie Brenner. It’s great!

On Saturday morning, I took Luke with me and I was reminded why I go by myself. He had fun and I was happy that he loved the sunrise, but it was definitely not an exercise walk.

We had to checkout of the house on Saturday. The house stay in has a beach club so we packed up the house and headed to the beach. We parked at the beach club for the day and swam/showered when we were finished on the beach.

I was hoping to go to the Wright Brothers memorial, but no one else wanted to go. I think everyone was ready to be home.

It was a wonderful trip and we can’t wait to go back to the beach!

The beach is definitely our happiest place. I have a giant smile on my face thinking about the our trip. Be sure to come back tomorrow because I’ll be sharing the first day of our Historic Triangle trip. If you blogged, link up below. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!