Family Beach Trip

The Shepherd family took a beach trip to Destin a few weeks ago, and it was such a wonderful vacation away. Hunter's parents graciously organized this trip for the entire family, and it was so nice.

Before we left, we attended sweet Caroline's first dance recital, and she was precious. She did great on stage!

After the big performance, we headed southbound and couldn't wait to get our toes in the sand.

The first couple of days were by far the best weather, and then it got progressively cooler, windier, and rainier- which is not always a bad thing at the beach, in my opinion. Yes, we would have liked to have maximized our time on the beach in the sun, but it was kind of nice to be held indoors with the entire family at times.

So there was a good bit of this: the babies staring out of the windows, longing to just go outside and play.

When we were able to enjoy some outdoor time, the majority of Will's time was spent riding in the wagon. Who would've thought? Thank you, genius beach home owner, for having a wagon kept at your home. It was SO nice to have, and we put lots and lots of miles on those tires.

 

We also put lots of miles on these tires, our preferred method of transportation for when there were no babies in tow.

And one more set of tires that got some miles put on them belonged to the jogging stroller. I, however, was not the one jogging them. That would be awesome Uncle Chris, that took the babies (all 3 of them!) for runs nearly every morning.

And just as a fun comparison, check out these twin cousins in the same stroller about 8 months ago:

Lawd have mercy, would you look at those chubby babies??

Even though the ocean was not warm, we were fortunate enough to have a heated pool in the backyard, which was also very much enjoyed by all ages.

We also enjoyed a few nights going out to dinner, with the entire family, and then a night without children, which was fabulous.

 

One night that we stayed in, we enjoyed a long-time Shepherd family tradition, a friendly game of spoons. I have played hours upon hours of card games with my own family, but this game of Spoons (or "Spoons of Death" as my husband lovingly called it) was a first for me. 

We also enjoyed other important vacation treats, like ice cream.

The last day we were there, we had intermittent sunny breaks between showers, and filled that afternoon with multigenerational art lessons. Is that a word? I don't think it is. But regardless, we had artists of all levels and ages creating masterpieces, from Hunter's grandmother (who is an incredible painter) to Hunter (who has a hidden talent of drawing as well) to Caroline and Will.

We had a wonderful trip, spending an entire week with the family, which is so hard to do these days for more than a couple of hours at a time. It was so nice to just hang out, relax, and soak up our time together! Even though the weather wasn't "perfect," it was completely perfect for us. Like I always say, it's hard to complain when you're at the beach. I'd rather have a rainy day at the beach than no day at the beach!

Thank you so much to Nonnie and Pop Pop for planning such a wonderful vacation for us all!