The Baden Family: Pawley's Island

After almost four months of quarantining at home, we took our first trip away to Pawley's Island to spend the week with Daddy's family. When the pandemic began in the spring, we thought things would surely be better and safer by summer, but that hasn't been the case. In fact, things are much worse. We really debated whether or not it was a wise decision to go. In the end we decided that since we were staying in our own condo, only gathering with the family outside on the beach, and not going to restaurants or other attractions we felt we were taking all the possible safety precautions. And while I definitely maintained a level of stress and anxiety the entire trip, as evidenced by my higher than normal blood pressure readings, things worked out pretty well and everyone had a safe, fun time together!

We decided to drive at night to avoid food stops and crowded rest areas. Practically no traffic was another added bonus! The kids did well with the drive and we arrived close to midnight. After Lysol wiping and spraying down our condo, we unloaded the van and crashed for the night!

Even though we had a very, very late bedtime, the kids were up and ready to hit the beach early the next morning. They were so excited to see the ocean and wasted no time jumping waves and digging in the sand! They were also so excited to see and play with Mae.

Even though our kids don't nap anymore, they were so exhausted from spending the day on the beach that they took long afternoon naps almost everyday!

We were able to take some lovely family pictures on the beach! Our condo was about a mile away from the rest of the family, so we had to load up each time we headed to the beach. The kids thought it was really fun to ride in the back of the van. They didn't have to get in their car seats since we just had to drive through the gated community.

We spent pretty much 9am - 3pm on the beach each day and then everyone took a nap before dinner and then heading back to the beach in the evening. Jacob loved paddle boarding with Daddy and Lydia and Mae had so much fun making cakes, castles, and pools in the sand.

I hit 30 weeks at the beginning of our trip and Lori is about 4 weeks behind me! It wasn't lost on us that this would be our last "relaxing" beach trip for the next four or so years! Next year we'll be carting our baby girls along with us!

We celebrated Mae's 3rd birthday on the beach one evening and everyone was a huge fan of the cupcakes! There was a huge tidal pool and the kids had so much fun running and splashing through it! We ended the evening with sparklers and even saw a few fireworks down the beach!