Our Last Summer Hurrah-SSI

 We just returned from our annual St. Simons Island vacation right before the start of school on Monday. Since Gram and Grumps recently took a European riverboat cruise, and we have our mother/daughter Paris trip in September, Gram offered to let Jay take her place at the beach this year.

There were some mixed up wires about the actual date of the SSI trip, and I accidentally double-booked the beach trip on the same week as Maggie's gymnastics camp, Tuttle's beach week with Cade, and Jay's marathon week preparing for Amazon Prime Day. Gram worked her magic and was able to reschedule at the same condo for two weeks later. We were so relieved because the kids look forward to this getaway every year!

It was a shortened version of the trip, but we actually preferred the schedule and plan to consolidate our future SSI vacations to four full days. We covered all our favorite activities and most of our must-do restaurants. Everyone was tanned, full, and exhausted by the end!

Some of the highlights of the trip included staying at a new condo that was right on the beach. It allowed us to decide on a whim to go swimming instead of having to pack up and drive to a public parking area. 

The water park never disappoints. I set up in a shaded area with pool chairs and read almost an entire book while the kids (and Jay!) tackled the lazy river, water slides, buying all the snacks, and wave pool. Any time the kids needed a break, they met up with me to relax before sprinting off again.

Our mini golf competition is always fierce. We only took one family photo the entire trip. It may appear that we are one happy family, but the rivalry is real. Tuttle pulled forward with an unexpected performance early on, but Jay ended up winning the round by only three strokes.

Jacob impressed everyone with the only hole-in-one of the day!

Food is clearly a big focus on vacation, and St. Simons Island offers it all. Jay requested dinner at The Crab Trap, and we loaded the table with oysters, crab legs, shrimp, fish, and all the sides. We had to rolled out of the restaurant!

It would not be a beach trip without a visit to Moo Cow with our own Moo.

My favorite meal was a date with Tuttle for breakfast one morning. I love that he still requests this special outing every year, and I hope it never ends!

We loved creating all these memories with our last few days of summer.

A HUGE thank you to Gram for planning (and replanning!) the perfect beach vacation for our family. You were missed this year, but we appreciated that you offered Jay this annual trip!

Goodbye, St. Simons! We will see you again next year!