TGIF

Last Friday was girls' day.  

We have a family tradition of spending Memorial Day at the beach with my side of the family.  My parents, my sister, my niece, my grandparents, my hubby, my baby...oh, and me; we all cram in and enjoy a weekend together of beach, boardwalk, dinners and game nights.  And s'mores.  Because no visit to my parents' at the beach is complete without my mom whipping out the s'more maker.

My mom and I went up a few days early with the girls, and then my sister joined us early on Friday.  Everyone else wasn't due in until late Friday, so my mom and I took the girls to the beach for the first real day in the sun while we waited for my sister.  The weather was incredible.  We splashed in the bay and while Sweet Pea was wigging out at first about the sand on her feet ("Icky!  Icky!  IIIIICKY!") she got over it quickly.  She even took a nap in my arms, which always makes my day.

After my sister got there, the five of us went out to my mom's and my favorite restaurant in town, Fager's Island.  We love it there because of the beautiful bay views and the really fun ambiance.  They always have great music and the best peelers (Maryland-style peel-and-eat shrimp) in the whole world.  Hands down.

If you get there early enough, you might be lucky enough to snag one of their fire pits.  My mom considers herself to be the queen of fire pit catching; if it were a sport, she's be the best of the best.  Sure enough, we snagged the last one just in time.

The girls played in the sand while we chatted and ate more shrimp than the seagulls.  The temperature was perfect, the ambiance was lovely and the company was stellar.

One of these expressions in not like the other...

Smoothies from home were a hit.

Smoothie lips.  Even sweeter than usual!

My sister making a "don't take my picture" face.  Whatever, sis, I took it anyway because
her hair was pretty and her glasses were rockin'.

Kids playing in sand.

Looking at goslings.

In case you were wondering, this is what "Aunt Taylor, please, please, PLEEEEASE get me a baby goose!" looks like:

And this is what "Make a sweet face that a mama goose would make to a baby goose" looks like:

Dancing, the only one on the floor.  Sweet Pea refused to participate.

Toasty toes.

When we finally made it home that night, Sweet Pea asked all by herself if she could sleep in the big bed.  I'm not sure how she even got the idea; I guess she's just seen Bean sleeping in that bed and wanted to try it herself.  She looked at me and asked, "Bed? Bed?" and so I obliged.  I didn't think it would work, but after she got up a couple of times I told her she had to stay in bed and she did.  And fell asleep on her own.  And I cried a little because she is just growing up way too fast.

Can I just say that it feels really spoiled to write a post about our free vacation in the midst of writing about how we save money?  But then again, I always feel spoiled after a beach trip with my family.  That place is precious, and my parents have appropriately nicknamed it "Beach Haven."  We sure are making a lot of special memories there, and I'm really thankful for that.  

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