Thanksgiving by the shore...

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday and going to the beach has always been my favorite choice for vacation.... so imagine my giddiness when we decided to combine the two!!!

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

The only thing that would have made it better was having the "California Crew" with us. We left on Wednesday morning to arrive to great weather, an awesome condo and the perfect view:

A very gigantic thanks to Dinah Jane Hutson for opening her condo to our family!! We threw all the bags in the room and quickly headed down to the beach. GiGi was pumped until we came upon this sign:

But she got over it and forged on to the water.

I can't even begin to tell you what a great idea this turned out to be. We were instantly relaxed and had not a care in the world which is completely atypical when you usually host a big meal the next day. This was a great break from our normal frenzied holiday; one that I can see becoming a tradition!

Here is a little highlight recap in a few pictures (and by a few, I mean tons...)

Day one at the beach... nothing like some fun in the sun! I LOVE Texas even more (if possible) for giving us the kind of "fall/extended summer" weather that allowed us to do this! The ocean breeze made the day perfect and the humidity even gave us a glimpse of some curls on Emmy!

Thursday morning instead of hustling around to get the turkey in, start reheating the sides prepared the night before, setting the table, etc... we ate a yummy breakfast, made some coffee and headed down to the shore.

Look at the joy on this kid's face...

We could not keep him out of the water, but it was a little cooler on Thursday, so we cut him off once his lips started to change color.

I love that you can see Emmy's left arm in his picture, like she wanted to grab big brother, too.

Once we got back from the beach we started to cook lunch while this little turkey sat and played...

Again, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The family, fellowship and food without the build up of presents is my idea of a holiday. But since we went non-traditional on location, we also went non-traditional on the food. And, man, am I glad we did!

The line up:

Bonnie's Coconut Shrimp

Two-tone Twice Baked Potatoes

Grilled Sirloin, Chicken, and Pork Chops

Squash Casserole & GiGi's Stuffing (sans turkey)

Bonnie also made pecan, pumpkin and chocolate pies. To. Die. For.

One of my favorite things about beach condos is the eclectic collection of serving dishes. Please note the glass that Radley chose. I promise, that is milk and not a white Russian (but doesn't that sound delish?)

After lunch and naps it was back to the beach one more time for sand and surf. And by sand, I mean Radley would dig up sand and put it in buckets to give to us. And by surf, I mean Ryan spent about an hour trying to boogie board. Operative word = trying. ;)

And then the cold front hit.

But that did not deter us from heading back out there! Instead of Black Friday, we celebrated beach Friday, which takes a lot out of you...

After naps, we headed out one more time all bundled up on the beach.

And I am so glad that it was cold just for this picture:

And this one, too:

We had an absolute blast and those four days made me even more thankful for all the gifts I've been given.

Namely two happy, healthy, beautiful kids.

And a sweet husband that left early Saturday with my Dad to take home the latest 3 victims of the stomach bug (glad you are better Jeremy, Bonnie and MaMaw!)

It was the perfect way to spend this holiday. None of us wanted to leave. Instead, we would have rather thrown a big fit right in the sand than walk to the car and go.

Oh yes, I see a new biannual tradition forming. Anyone wanna come along?