Folkerts Family Fun: Baby on Beach

Ok, so he's not really a baby anymore. He's toddler through and through. But this was an exciting trip - his first ever beach trip!

My family hasn't been on a family beach trip in decades. So we were super excited to find out my parents had rented a house in Holden Beach, NC. We used to go to North Myrtle or Topsail back years ago. No one had ever been to Holden. But it was off season (September 15-22 - my parents retired from teaching this year so they could actually go in September), we could bring the dogs, and we had heard great things about Holden. So off we went with me and Jackson, my dogs (Marty & Virginia), my parents, my brother Aaron and wife Kendra, my grandmother that we call Nanu and her dog Mork. David had been in Alaska the prior week and we managed to find him a cheap flight from MD to Myrtle and picked him up the night we arrived.

(By the way, quick side note - one of the great benefits of being a stay-at-home mom is being able to up and go on trips like this anytime you want!)

We arrived at our beach home. Holden really doesn't have hotels, it's all these cute little houses, all named differently. Our's was named Xanadu (assuming an obsession with Olivia Newton John). It was a great house. Everything was set up so perfect for a family with kids and dogs! There were even toys as we walked in for Jackson to play with and a fenced rear yard so the dogs could be let out. We all decided this was probably the perfect beach house with one exception - there were 4 bedrooms and no separate room for Jackson. This meant we had to sleep in the same room which always means he doesn't sleep as well. But for some reason it's ok to get up earlier when your at the beach. It's somehow not near as depressing!

I was a little anxious/excited to see how Jackson would react to the beach. I know a lot of kids cry and get scared by the waves. He was a little timid for maybe 2 minutes and then it was over. He LOVED IT (And so did the dogs, well Marty mostly)! Here's the trip in pics...

Jackson getting splashed by some of his first waves with momma.

Eventually he got a little too bold and wanted to do it himself and
got rolled by a wave. He wasn't too happy.

Jackson looking at shells on the beach...there are tons of shells at Holden!

Shells are cool!

He LOVED digging holes with Nana!

And finding planes in the sky, "Plane! Plane!"

Splashing in the waves was the most fun ever!

I just like this one, he's so cute! It's also a reminder that even though you have a
waterproof camera, you may want to wipe the lens to prevent smudges! Somehow it doesn't
matter that much in this pic.