coastal getaway.

For the 3rd year in a row we headed off to Seabrook this past week for some quality family time. We discovered this charming little town right before Simon was born and instantly fell in love. It's only about a 3 hour drive away, has the cutest little homes, shopping and dining, community pool, plenty of walking trails and the best beach! It's a perfect mix of relaxation and activities and everyone enjoys themselves. 

 The kids have been SO excited and eagerly anticipating this trip for many months. They kept saying this would easily be the highlight of their summer and I don't think they were disappointed. We kept our tradition going by meeting up with Matt's parent's at the nearby Walmart for a quick bathroom break and to pick out a new toy before making the final trek to the coast. The kids jumped out of the car and wasted no time playing in their room. After quickly getting settled we took off for a walk around town and our first (of many!) visit to the sweet shop.

 A quick snack to fill our bellies was perfect before jumping in the pool! They could have swam for many more hours each day, such little fish!

 That night we had promised s'mores but were just too tired to go through all the effort of building a campfire, so...dry s'mores were an even bigger hit (whew.). After a long day the kids crashed in their beds and Matt and I got to go out for a date night to celebrate my birthday.

We stayed in this cute house the first year we visited and loved it so much we chose to stay here again! It is huge and has plenty of room for all 7 of us to relax, plus the sunroom is the perfect spot to lay out and read...a family favorite any time of day! 

 The next morning Simon and I woke up early and headed out for our usual mama/Simon workout session. He sits in the stroller while I run and then when I'm done he gets out to run himself! We've gotten into a pretty good routine and I like having a buddy with me sometimes.

 We may have visited the sweet shop every.single.day. because vacation mom and real life mom are 2 entirely different people. ha!

 Then it was more time spent going on family walks, playing at the park, playing football, swimming and exploring.

 We even had enough energy to build a fire for s'mores on night 2!

 It was fun for the kids to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma Vance too. Our crew can be a circus sometimes but one-on-one time together is so nice.

 Day 3 we had planned for beach day, which was perfect because it was the nicest, warmest day of week.

 Seriously, this beach is just perfect. Clean, huge, no cars, no trash, perfect amount of wind for kite flying and plenty of space to play without getting too close to the water. A simple hike down the steps and we were there!

 We ended the afternoon with a walk over to Stumptown (another part of town with these super old, huge tree stumps the kids can climb and explore).

 Carter built a gnome home to go along with the hundreds of other little homes scattered throughout the forest, love it!

 Our final morning we had a simple breakfast, headed back to the pool for one last swim and stopped by downtown for 1 final trip to the sweet shop before packing up the car and heading home. It was the best year yet! We love this tradition we've made and can't wait to go back again next year.