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Thoughts, Ramblings & Musings by Aimee

June 16, 2014

Written while on vacation in Pensacola Beach, Florida

Aimee Wells ShupeJune 16 at 4:24pm · Pensacola Beach, FL · Time goes by so quickly. Life changes fast. As I sit here on the sand watching the girls in the Gulf my mind wanders back to our first "girls beach trip" in June 2012. This was the first time I had taken the girls on a road trip by myself for a week. Only Alexandra was a swimmer. Victoria feared the water. Francesca had no fear, but no water skills. The girls still napped so our day was split into two parts. During each of these parts I stood. I stood for seven days. I stood with one foot in the water and the other on the sand with Blondie wrapped around my ankle. I had to keep an eye on my fearless boogie boarder in the ocean, keep the baby from bobbing head down in the salty water while keeping my balance (sudden rescue movements) with the middle child attached to my leg. The girls were ages 5, 4, 2.5. Victoria turned 4 that week. The words "pack mule" accurately described what I looked like from the condo to beach and back again. No one was big enough to help carry anything. I cringe looking back...thinking I must not have had all my facilities that summer. Who in their right mind would take a trip like that??? I remember pulling up to the condo and at that moment (never once before) it dawned on me that this wasn't a hotel and there wasn't a bellman. I was going to have to haul the contents of the minivan up to the 16th floor by myself...with three kids in tow. But in the moment in the moments of that week...we had the best time. Everything about that trip was magical for me and the girls. Every experience was new and exciting. Almost everything was a "first". The memories are incredibly special to me. I treasure the squeals and smiles. I treasure the way their eyes sparkled with awe and amazement that week. We didn't dine at a single dine-out restaurant that week. Not because I was trying to be frugal, but because after doing two standing shifts at the beach each day I just didn't have it in me to do a solo restaurant gig with three littles. Lucky for us there was a Chick Fil A across from our condo and we went through the drive-thru often! We did go on a sunset dolphin cruise to celebrate Victoria's birthday and we still talk about that cruise often.Fast forward three summers and many beach trips later...I am actually sitting in a beach chair watching the girls in the ocean while I write this. They are diving for shells and bringing me their treasures by the handfuls. We look at each one and deposit them in our shell bucket. I see three wet heads with goggles and then like synchronized swimmers they look at each other and dive. Then I see three bottoms followed by tan legs and finally white bottoms of their feet as they kick back and forth in the air pressing downward to the sand and the shells. And the cycle repeats over and over.I am blessed. The girls are 7, 6 and 4.5 this summer. Victoria turned six last week. There are still awesome squeals and smile. The "firsts" still happen, but they are "big girl" experiences. Their eyes still sparkle with awe and amazement. As much a we embrace each new experience, we also have developed beach traditions and a list of "must do again" items that repeat each trip. We also have a "bucket list" for this 2014 trip that we are making a good dent in! I wonder what my thoughts will be two or three summers from now...Summer 2016 & 2017 seems so far away, but I know time goes by so quickly. Life changes fast.