Garland Squared: First beach trip

Anna Kate & Drew made their first trip to the beach last week. We went to the Isle of Palms in South Carolina. The trip was somewhat impromptu but I am so glad we decided to go. A few weeks ago we were at our Sunday lunch at DotDot's house and she casually mentioned going to the beach. It snowballed from there and before I knew what happened, we were booked to leave in three weeks! I have to be honest and say I was quite nervous about how the trip would go. Drew and Anna Kate aren't great travelers and are usually ready to get out of the car after about an hour and a half so I couldn't imagine was 6 hours was going to be like. I very strategically thought out our travel schedule and now that we have made it through, I am happy to say they did wonderfully! And they LOVED the beach! We had been talking up the beach trip for weeks and they were really excited about it even though they had no idea where they were going! :)
Our trip started very early Tuesday morning when we left at 4:00am. Aunt Ashley rode (actually, drove!) with us so she spent the night at our house Monday night. Drew and Anna Kate were so excited she was there. They both woke up when we got them out of bed to put them in the car and were awake for a while but were excited that we were finally going to the beach and in good spirits. Drew did ask less than 1/2 mile from our house if we were there yet! I got a little nervous then. They both went back to sleep about an hour down the road and slept for about 2.5-3 hours. They woke up in time to stop for breakfast and when we got back on the road, we only had about 2 hours left in the trip. It worked out perfectly! When we arrived our condo wasn't ready but they allowed us to use the beach access and pool until it was ready. It was very windy and even chilly that day. We went to the beach first and Drew and Anna Kate were really excited about the "sand box". They ran straight to the ocean and got straight in. They had absolutely no fear. After spending some time on the beach, we went to the pool area to eat lunch. We tried to get in the pool but the water was just too cold! It wasn't long before they called to say our room was ready and around that same time, DotDot and Grandaddy arrived! We took our stuff to the room and got settled in before heading back down to the beach so Drew and Anna Kate could show DotDot and Grandaddy their new found love for the ocean. Our first beach day was a success and I couldn't have scripted it any better. You hear stories of kids hating the sand, the ocean, etc... Anna Kate and Drew traveled so well and loved everything about the beach!

Traveling. While we were going through the mountains, Anna Kate started getting angry that her head was flopping back and forth so I had to sit and hold her head in place for about 2 hours. But... it kept her sleeping, and happy, so it was worth it!