Carlsbad.

My parents had been looking online for beach house rentals for weeks at the beginning of summer. To get close to the beach, we were going to be spending a pretty penny and it looked like we'd only be able to afford about one or two nights away from home.

That's when one of our sweet family-friends happened to mention his parent's beach house in Carlsbad to us.
And then offer it to us for a week. For free.

I can't tell you what a blessing this situation was. There was room for everybody to have their own bed, we enjoyed all of our meals on our rooftop which overlooked the ocean, we were able to bring Toby along for his first vacation, and we were only a few steps away from the sand on a semi-private beach! We felt (and continue to feel) incredibly lucky to have such generous friends in our lives.

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather while at the beach house, too. Up until our last day it was nothing but sunshine, blue skies, and gorgeous sunsets. We all took part in some sunset swims, getting in to watch the sun disappear behind the ocean. I also almost drowned during one such swim because the waves were really rough and the tide was super strong… A little excitement for our otherwise relaxing trip haha, but that's a different story.

And after our long days of swimming and enjoying the sunshine, we'd all walk back to the house, get comfy and watch movies or play games together. It was so nice having us all there to enjoy each others company - with schedules these days it's not super often that we are all relaxed and in the same place. I think it was probably my favorite family trip we've ever been on. :)