Pensacola Beach is my home away from home. My parents and I have been going to the same beach and staying in the same house for 25 years. For this trip, my husband and I headed down to the beach with his family in tow. I’ve never felt such a powerful appreciate for my Pensacola history and my memories until this trip. There was something magical about sharing “our” house with Andrew’s family. We explored new things, visited our usual favorites (McGuire’s Pub, the Boardwalk and Joe Patti’s Seafood to name a few) and created some really fun memories playing on the beach and exploring in the water. We didn’t do anything radical or out of the ordinary, but our time together was more special than ever for me and I can’t remember the last vacation where I’ve had so much fun and felt so refreshed afterwards.

Sometimes a little sun, surf, sand and loved ones are all you need.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our time on the beach:

Here’s my amazing family. I love these people so much! My life would not be complete or nearly as much fun without them.

My sweet niece Samantha was a trooper and happy to pose for me in the sand….

Two beautiful cousins.

Emma-Kate was not so happy about all of the photos (which by the way took less than 15 minutes!) She’s just about over the whole picture-taking thing in the photo with Samantha above and totally unhappy in this next shot. Oh well, right? I had to at least try for a family photo on the beach!

You can see more photos of the beach from our last Pensacola vacation here.