Last day at the beach

I started our last-day-at-the-beach tradition the first year we took Sawyer to the beach house. He was only about 9 months old, and it just sort of happened because he woke up really early the last day. I dressed him in a beachy outfit, and we went to the beach just as the sun was coming up.

Of course, he looked adorable, and our tradition was born.

I've dragged him every year we've been back.


Year 1 (9 months old)


Year 2 (20 months old)


Year 3 (32 months)

This year, I set my alarm for sunrise, but I knew it would be hard to get up and rouse him that early. I debated the better light versus the better attitude that would come with sleeping later. I woke up about 5 a.m. and Sawyer was sound asleep. I turned off my alarm and decided we'd sleep until we woke up on our own.

Sawyer woke up happy at 8:30ish and we made our way to the beach. It was more crowded and the sun was brighter than if we'd gotten up early, but we made the best of it. Getting Sawyer to work the camera is getting harder and harder. I have to trick him so he'll look at the camera and not down at his feet.

Here are a few of our best (and funniest) shots ...































After our challenging portrait session, we walked back to the house and packed up the rest of our stuff. I cleaned the main areas of the house while Sawyer watched Nick Jr. and then we were ready about lunchtime.

We made a quick spin around the pond behind our house to feed the birds and turtles and then stopped by Boulineau's grocery store. We wandered around the store and looked at all the souvenirs. We even discovered that there's a staircase to the top of the lighthouse! We walked up to see the ocean. I had planned to just grab snacks for the ride home, but Sawyer chose to eat from the hot food bar. We sat in the cafeteria and watched all the annoying teenagers in their bikinis and flip-flops come in to eat. (Is it so hard to throw a T-shirt on?)

We were bummed to leave the beach after such a nice time, but we had lots of good memories to bring home with us.