Beach Week – Guest Blogger

Today I am excited to introduce my first Homebased Mom Guest Blogger.  Alisa blogs over at That’s Life Enjoy It.

Earlier this year when I posted about our annual  Week at the Beach Alisa emailed me to tell me about her families annual Beach Week. 

Alisa doesn’t live by the beach and she doesn’t spend her week at the beach at the beach.  To find out where she spends her week at the beach keep reading!!

 I loved her idea and asked her to share it with all of you.  For those of you who have a few weeks of summer left you may want to take Alisa’s advice and enjoy a Beach Week at your house!

But first let me introduce Alisa to you using her own words:

I love summer but my favorite season is fall. I love the change of seasons but I don’t like change.  I love giving presents but can’t stand the anticipation of opening one. I love being home with my kids and I try not to live by the saying “a mother is only as happy as her saddest child” because I would spend the majority of my days unhappy! I also love my time alone, and time alone with my best friend Jay.

Beach Week

by Alisa Spear

There is an annual tradition in our family- at the end of summer we take a beach vacation. It is something that our family looks forward to and plans on. We sleep in, enjoy time together, watch movies, swim, sip cool refreshing drinks, play games, explore. And the getting to the beach is the best part. We have come up with the best travel arrangement.  (shh come in a little closer and I will tell you our secret … we never leave home.)

Without fail every August turned into a rush of activity, and before we knew it summer was over. I tried to plan a week of back to school activities, things to get us excited for the start of a new school year. But that wasn’t what our family needed.
What started out as a week of getting ready for back to school changed to a shift of our thoughts. During beach week we make a conscious effort to slow down and enjoy one another. To do less. We live in the middle of a state, in the middle of the United States. No beach here. And even when we have had time over the summer for a real vacation of going to the beach, we find that we still need a moment to slow down together before school starts once again. It takes a little work ahead of time but not much.

You could do it yourself, whether you have a week, a few days, an afternoon or maybe only a lunch hour. You can slow down and focus. Maybe your idea of a  relaxing beach week means eating out for every meal, no house work, a good book and a dip in the pool. Maybe its sleeping in. Or maybe its working in the kitchen together and enjoying the comforts of your own kitchen sharing a meal then watching a movie.

Think about what works for you.

In preparation for your Beach Week, use all of your senses. Ask everyone else that will be joining in on your Beach Week, what they think.

*What do you see when you are at the beach?
*What do you hear at the beach?
*What do you eat at the beach?
*What relaxing scents remind you of the beach?

As our family prepares for beach week we notice that most of the things that remind us of the beach relaxes us. We pull out all of our beach decor. We watch movies together, and this year I plan on pulling out a few more games. Maybe for you it might be music, TV, or movies. Or maybe it is the absence of all the normal every day sounds that feels like a break. A mixture of both?

 
We have festive drinks- which most of the time is just plain soda in a different glass with a fun garnish. I try and find some kind of relaxing scent to have around- something that reminds of being outside relaxing.

Whatever you do, relax. Maybe you just take a day. Pick one element of Beach Week that you want to share with your family. Don’t shoot for perfection. Don’t worry if you don’t get to every last detail. This is supposed to be relaxing. Enjoy the last bit of summer. Enjoy your time together. It only lasts for so long.

For more details on this years and last years Beach Week click on over to Alisa’s blog!

Thanks Alisa for sharing this great family tradition with all of us!

If you have a fun or helpful way that you transition from the end of the summer to school please leave a comment.  Also, if you have a family tradition you’d like to share here on Your Homebased Mom leave a comment or send me an email – I’d love to hear about it and maybe you could be the next guest blogger here on at YHBM!!