Vacation Recap

This time a month ago, I'm pretty sure we were lounging on the beach in Oceanside, CA... And now, a month later I'm finally getting around to posting about it! {Disclaimer: This post is LONG! It's mostly pictures, but consider yourself warned...}

To celebrate my mom's birthday, we decided to gather as a family in Oceanside for a week. We took advantage of the Labor Day weekend to get the most out of our vacation days and ended up having over a week of relaxation and fun, which included...

...catching up with cousins...

...celebrating Mom's birthday (a couple weeks early)...

...morning tennis matches (check out our professional form! Jessie played too but wasn't around for the photographed match) and playground playing...

...a trip to Sea World...




...playing (and lounging) at the pool...




...a deep-sea fishing trip for the boys...



...the Oceanside Sunset Market (yummy food, good music, and a tiny guitar for V)...



...lots of playing and relaxing on the beach...

V loved the sand...

...even all over her face...



...and I think baby R has a future of sand loving too!

...a family sand castle competition. People voted as they passed, I'm pretty sure it ended in a tie...




...and no trip to the beach is complete without burying someone in the sand (you can thank Shane for my awesome apparel)...

...Jared learned the ropes of kite flying from Uncle Bryan...

...plenty of playing in the ocean...

...lots of playing with the kids...



...and TONS of family picture attempts (look closely, one may appear in your mailbox as this year's Richards Family Christmas card)...

Overall, it was a wonderful time to relax and catch up with family...and I'm pretty sure we're already working on a plan for another trip in 2 years!

Sorry for the long post, there was just SO much to document. If you made it this far, congrats!