In our family May means Beach Time! (Yes, I know, it’s June. I’m a bit late posting about the most recent trip.) My husband and sister-in-law rent a large house on the beach on Edisto Island and we are generally joined by our two daughters and some of their families. My older daughter’s two children are grown. Her son has moved to Boston, and her daughter is the mother of a small child, so neither of them joined us this year.

But my younger daughter has four boys, ranging in age from 6 to 11 and they make a family trek down from Indiana for fun at Edisto and time with relatives.

We’ve been doing this for about ten years now and, of course, some traditions have developed. Our trip usually encompasses two birthdays – my husband’s, and the second of the four boys.

Grandson C’s birthday is actually a few days before the trip, but he enjoys the special cachet of having his celebration at the beach and is more than willing to wait a few extra days for it.

Mid-May generally means nice weather on the South Carolina coast. Temperatures are usually warm enough for swimming, but not blazingly hot. We had one gray, cloudy, windy day that ended in a humdinger of a storm, but pretty much the rest of the time was good for plenty of beach fun. Plus the beach is far less crowded than it will be later in the summer.

As recently as three years ago, only the oldest of the boys was even willing to go in the water. After a couple of summers of swimming lessons, the older three are all comfortable with the surf now. The youngest likes to play in the shallows and will venture in up to his knees as long as an adult will hold his hand.

A bonus feature of Edisto Beach is that while the house we rent faces the ocean, a quick drive of a mile or so takes one to publicly accessible beaches that are on the inlet rather than open sea. The result is much calmer water with practically no waves, which lets everyone get in some real swimming and a different sort of water play. The family made that trip a couple of times and all four of the boys were into it.

Between our times on the beach, we play games, read, talk, and try not to eat or drink too much.

I can’t say it’s totally restful, but it’s invigorating in its own way. It’s wonderful to have at least some of the family together for a while, to have time and opportunity for face-to-face conversations that are rare and treasured. The celebrations help remind us of how fortunate we all are.

Plus, my older daughter Liz has awesome cake decorating skills. More on that coming.