Monday, July 11, 2016

Garden City Beach 2016

Family
Our family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins....
Tradition
My great-grandmother began this beach vacation tradition many years ago and I have gone to either Surfside Beach or Garden City Beach each summer with my family since the day I was born.
It's all about the food....we begin talking about the meal preparation 11 months prior to the actual trip!
Pop is the main chef while all of us peasants throw in a few dishes or two!
Ocean
Friendly Team Battles
Sand and Play
Little Miss wouldn't even put her feet down in the sand two years ago during her first beach adventure!  Now, she is all about some sand between her toes!
Boogie Boarding
Gran's Treasures
Each morning Gran surprises the children with little "surcies" and all of the children look forward to this time with her.  This year the ongoing theme was Pirate week complete with hooks, eye patches, and the like!
Play, play, play....the beach is always the place that my children are the happiest!  Maybe it is the salt water and the sticky air and just the time together without interruptions of daily life.....
Beach Games
Kenny had a new game this year that involved a frisbee and two pvc pipe poles....lots of fun and the boys enjoyed the challenge!
Reading
Water Park
Water park day goes way back to when we were very little and there was only one water park at the beach....and the one water park consisted of three slides - two with mats and one with a tube....
they have come a long way since then!
These four raced over and over yet the outcome was always the same!  The one of the far left was the one to beat!
The people watching is incredible in these parts and the memories made together are priceless!
This beach beauty.....every morning she would wake, pick out her bathing suit, declare that her hair was getting longer and then beg me to put her ponytails in!
These two lovebirds.....dating since they were 14 years old.....
I am thankful to call them my own!
This bright-eyed beauty!  
She celebrated two years of forever with us while we were at the beach!  
Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for the gifts he has given to our family through adoption!
Gran, Pop, and the Grands
Me and Sista
Her laughter is contagious and her support of my madness is immeasurable! 
I remember as a young girl that everyone would have their blankets at the beach because the beach house was always sooooo cold.  Some things never change!
Looking for sharks at the pier....
Arghh!
I love this nephew of mine.....he cracks me up!
Pop learned lots of games from this little one during our week together....
I can hear her singing, "Tic, tac, toe, give me and x, give me an o.....I WIN!"
Skim Board
(thankful we did not have any breaks to take home with us this year!)
Kenny
Drew and Kenny married a year ago and my children were so thankful he was able to spend the week with us at the beach!  
My sweet family
I always wanted a large family.....and next year we will have SIX children!  Amazing!
Thank you, Garden City, for yet another amazing year of memories!  
Until next time....