I first went to the beach when I was four weeks old. I couldn’t walk, couldn’t crawl, couldn’t even sit on my own, yet I spent a week on the sandy beaches of the Outer Banks. I had my own personal tent that I napped in when I wasn’t being held by one of my million family members with us.

Every summer my family goes to the beach. In the beginning we would vacation with my mother’s side of the family. We would get the biggest beach house we could find and invite as many as we could fit into it. (Trust me when I say it was a little hectic) The grandchildren would sleep in bunkbed and on the floors of the rooms wherever we could find a spot. It was as if every night was one big sleepover.

I was pretty young when we went on these vacations, but I have bits and pieces of memories from them. One year there was a giant water balloon battle, including uncles throwing them off balconies. Every morning when us kids would wake up we would run up the stairs to the kitchen that was always brightly lit with the warm July sun and eat as much Trix cereal as we could before our busy day of sunbathing and making sandcastles.

As soon as we walked down to the beach shimmering in the bright light as we had more than enough sunscreen on, we would run to the water. I am and always have been the one kid who never leaves the water. I would swim and ride the waves all day and come out of the ocean with the worlds prune-iest hands. We would all see who was the best boogie boarder of our family. (I blame my inability in the past on being one of the youngest)

In the evenings we would look for crabs in the sand, play monkey ball on the gamecube my cousins would bring, or explore a lighthouse as a family. I vaguely remember playing these simple joystick games that you would plug into the tv. Our personal favorite was a racing game where if you weren’t careful the car would spin off the track. My cousin Jade and I would always play the Spongebob movie game on the computer if our house had one.

We have since abandoned large family vacations as we are all in different places with kids in college, kids still in high school. it has gotten harder to plan family gatherings the older we have all gotten. However, each time we get altogether it is like nothing has changed. Everyone came to my graduation party, which was such a surprise, but it felt like old times, sitting in the beach house laughing and eating sand covered crackers.