Family Vacation Part 1 - The Beach

On Wednesday, July 4, we got a later start than we were planning, but we still left at a reasonable time. The minivan was packed, and here's our family on my back window (thanks for the clings, Mom, and for putting them on, Shawn!). When Joshua saw the soccer ball on the minivan, he was SO excited! Daddy, is that for me because I like playing soccer and I'm going to play this fall?!?! He was THRILLED to have it on there. So cute!

Our first stop was the beach. We ended up trying to go somewhere that was semi-on-the-way to Baltimore (not really on the way, but not hours and hours away either). We stopped in a place near North East, MD. It was a national park where you had to pay $10 a car load to enter, BUT they had bath houses with restrooms and showers, along with a nice playground and the beach was nice. We didn't use the picnic areas, but they also looked nice.

This was Ryan's first trip to the beach. I wasn't sure how he'd do, but he seemed to enjoy it.

He loved to play with the toys that we brought for the kiddos.

Next time, though, I think I'll bring the baby pool and blow it up there like we did the last time we were at the beach. When he got hot, I took him into the water, but at this particular beach the stones and shells were toward the shallow front part making it not a great spot for him to splash and play.

Shawn took the two other boys out swimming. I stayed back with Ryan, a little concerned that Daddy had two boys to one parent, but he did just fine. :) :) :)

Then he gave them each some individual time out swimming with him.Caleb played in the sand trying at first to make a castle. But, as much as I LOVE Caleb, he is a mess! Sand was everywhere - on the beach blanket, on our towels, etc. I explained that we need to be a little more gentle with how we play and scoop the sand.

He still had fun, and Ryan was having a great time watching him. When Ryan discovered that he could crawl off the blanket toward the sand, he decided that it looked good enough to eat. YUCK! I spent the rest of my time trying to convince him to come back to the blanket area and not eat the nasty sand.

Soon enough, it was Caleb's turn to go to the water.

And Joshua came back to play with Ryan and me.

We enjoyed seeing the boats and all the people that were there. It wasn't terribly crowded, surprisingly.

Eventually, we decided that it was time to start packing up. Ryan & I were getting hot even after going into the water to swim with the boys. The older kids were a little sad to leave, but we convinced them it was time to eat our lupper (or lunch/supper).

This was one time I was glad I had boys! I went and grabbed a quick shower by myself in the ladies room while Shawn changed Ryan. Then I came back to the car and took the baby and put things away while Shawn went into the showers with the two older boys. Shawn said Caleb sang out "I'm NUDITY!" loud enough for everyone to hear. I giggled at the thought. The three of them got dressed and came back to the car. We agreed to let the kiddos have some fun on the playground since Ryan was now napping in the car A/C.

It was a HOT day! The rubber on the ground of the playground probably seemed like a good idea, but it was on fire to touch it.

The boys crossed the balance beam, Joshua taking all kinds of precaution and Caleb running across it with ease even though they are wearing the same shoe size.

Then they climbed up a couple play houses and went down the slides.







Joshua desperately wanted to go across a swing zip line that I wasn't sure Caleb was old enough for quite yet. The bigger kids at the area also didn't seem to be sharing. I took both boys back and asked if Shawn would want to show Joshua how to use it. He agreed it was a good idea, and I took Caleb back to the car with me.

 Shawn made sure the older kiddos at that area let the Bean have a turn, along with the other younger kids who were there, and he showed Joshua how to do it. Joshua BEAMED! He was so happy to have done this activity, and I'm glad we took the time to let him go.

We left there and drove to a Red Robin since we had a gift card from my birthday to use. The restaurant took a little bit to get to, so the boys all slept on the way. It wasn't that much further to our hotel, though, so it worked out great. I was impressed with Shawn mapping out our vacation so well. We were STARVING by the time we got there, and our service was terrible even though it was early for a dinner crowd. But, we ate and were satisfied. Then we went and checked into our hotel. More on our vacation to come!