Our first real family vacation with a baby is in the books! It was fun, exhausting, and VERY COLD. We stayed on Chincoteague Island and visited a beach on Assateague as well. It was beautiful but of course quite windy and frigid – and I have now seen snow on a beach! We actually had to postpone our trip a day because of the incoming snowstorm. Enjoy these pretty seashore pictures and a little travel journal recap of our trip at the end.

This poor seagull probably didn’t sign up for snow. Although it’s not like this is a southern beach so maybe they’re actually used to it, hm.

The abundance of seagulls made for some interesting shots.

Can’t resist some nice tall beach grass.

The part of the beach landscape that most stood out to me this time was the way the wet sand reflected the sky. Silky smooth and shiny.

So many shells! I have realized I don’t have much to do with shells at home, so I only collected a few this time. But looking through all the shells on the beach is one of my favorite things to do.

Since it was so cold, Sully took Sophia to the nearby visitor’s center after a few minutes. But she did technically visit the beach! Cute little beach bear. 🙂

Ripples + shells = extra beauty.

Heh I like this one. Instead of dramatic footprints leading off into the distance, it’s seagull tracks. 😛

Shells in the snow! It had mostly melted by the time we got there, but was still cool to see.

I love the “ribbons” in this picture – first, dry sand, then a line of shells, then wet sand, then the ocean.

Birds in the air make boring landscapes interesting.

A favorite! I really like the composition of this one.

I found a picturesque driftwood stump that looked beautiful against the late afternoon sky.

Snow boots at the beach. XD

Look how many shells! *heart eyes*

I thought about opening this in Photoshop and changing “parking” to “clouds.” 😛

I also took a bunch of phone photos, most of which I already posted on my Instagram @thecolorboxstudio, but I wanted to share the slides here too to complete the post. 1) We stopped to eat at Cookout on the way home, and Sophia sat on the console between us for a carseat break. 😀 2) Our hotel had a cool elevator with a huge window so you could see the view as you ascended and descended.

1) The view from our hotel room was incredible! 2) You can’t really tell from the picture, but there’s a heron near the bottom and some of the famous Chincoteague ponies in the distance. 3) The marshes had such blue water! 4) Another beautiful sunset view from The Ropewalk restaurant. 5&6) More views from our hotel.

1) I packed some food so we wouldn’t have to eat out for all our meals (and we had breakfast at the hotel). Smoothies and tuna sandwiches served on a hotel tray and napkin, heh. 2) Our hotel room! The Waterside Inn had a superb off-season deal. 3) I brought different fun projects to occupy me, including embroidery. 4) Snow on the balcony. 5) Sully and Sophia having a serious daddy-to-daughter talk or something. XD So cute. 6) The Island Creamery building was cool!

We love going out to eat at new places on vacation! 1) HUGE and delicious banana splits at The Island Creamery. Definitely a highlight. 2&3) Very overpriced food at Ropewalk restaurant. My fish was yummy; Sully’s pasta was meh. 4) We found “No. 1 China Buffet” about half an hour from our hotel and oh my, it really was #1! We LOVE a good Asian buffet. 5) I also brought chickpea truffles which sound gross but which Sully and I both adore. 6) My packed smoothies and sandwiches again.

1) Sully took Sophia down to get breakfast in his coat one morning. So cute. 2) She is getting SO big, and sat perfectly upright in this little booster seat the whole time at a restaurant! 3) Bear cub beach baby. ❤ 4) I turned one of her too-small dresses into a skirt and it’s adorable. 5) She has become adept at squirming out of things with backbends, oh dear. 6) She randomly decided to stay awake for HOURS a couple nights which was exhausting. But also meant our never-snuggly baby was in a cuddly mood.

And that wraps up a very long travel post! I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures and small adventures. It’s always fun to collect memories and new experiences, but especially now that we have a baby, it is good to be home, hehe.

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. I visited Assateague with my family years ago. To see old, summery beach pictures + some of the ponies up close, click here for my 2017 post.