Credits:
templates: Simply Yin
background paper, note paper, and alphabet: ksharonk
accent papers, word circles: Dani Mogstad
barcode: Trish Heffner
sun and word patches: Sweet Shoppe Designs
Journaling will be added to most of the pages by hand after I print them.
We've been vacation at the same place for the past three years, so I'm beginning to see some parallels. I pulled some photos to do some comparisons. Most of them are of Owen, who shows the most change, but Emma looks a lot different too. Jake looks mostly the same--even has the same suits--but there's still a little change there.
Monday
I did most of the packing on the weekend, and we had the car almost totally loaded Sunday night. Miraculously, we left at 9:10 that morning . . . a full 50 minutes earlier than our goal. It only got better from there.
In an attempt to keep Owen's screaming at bay, we borrowed a DVD player from a friend. I had that, movies, a bag with breakfast and snacks for each child, and three separate sets of activities and toys to keep everyone busy.
At 9:12, Emma made her first request for a movie. I wanted to wait until we hit the highway, but Doug told me that if it kept the kids quiet and happy, to go ahead and start it. I put in The Lion King, and the kids were happy and content for the next hour and a half. They ate breakfast while watching the movie, and even Owen watched, growling at the lions and eating his snacks.
I must interject here and take back every judgmental thought I ever had about parents letting their children watch movies in the car. We are total converts. There was no fighting, whining, arguing, or crying, and they usually do that for the whole trip (even with things to do). In fact, we are buying one for Christmas.
Jake was very helpful with Owen, helping him eat and holding his juice box for him. Around 10:30, he started fussing a bit and then just fell asleep. We then began to worry that something bad would happen because the trip was going so well.
He woke up a little over an hour later happy and laughing. We pressed on since no one had to go to the bathroom and everyone was in a good mood. We all laughed along with Madagascar, and we arrived in North Wildwood at 12:54, opening all the windows as we drove over the causeway and clapping and cheering as we spotted the ocean.
We made it down with no stops in a little over three and a half hours. No crying (Owen did fuss for about five minutes before falling asleep, but it wasn't his usual shrieking), no screaming, no fighting . . . a totally enjoying ride down.
Our room wasn't ready, so we hit McDonald's for lunch, which totally thrilled the kids. Then we stopped for some supplies at WaWa and headed back to the hotel. We unpacked in record time, slathered the kids in sunscreen, and hit the beach.
Emma and Jake ran for the water as soon as we arrived, Emma running right out up to her waist and even Jake going a little deeper than his ankles. Owen took much longer to warm up. Jake spent a lot of time watching piles of sand erode, and Emma rode the boogie board, chased seagulls, and built and decorated a sandcastle.
Owen cried every time we put him down . . . until he spotted the seagulls. He called them ducks and chased after them, running in his little suit and crocs until he fell down in a tidal pool. He stood up, a little fussy, and ran toward the ocean only to be knocked down by a wave (for Owen, the "wave" was a little lip of water that hit his shoes but startled him because it was cold and moving). After that, he was a lot more hesitant, but finally started splashing in one of the tidal pools . . . but he had to have his crocs on. Like snowshoes, I think they kept him from sinking into the sand too much.
We came back from the beach and hit the pool. Owen actually liked the gated off little area, and was happy to prowl around in there with his pool toys and an inner tube. Jake and Emma did lots of jumping and swimming--Emma can now touch in the shallow end.
For dinner, we got some take-out at Russo's Market. Emma ate about seven inches of a foot long Italian sub, and Jake ate almost all of his buffalo chicken wrap (the hotter the better). We took a two mile walk on the sea wall after dinner, and Owen actually fell asleep in his stroller. We were all in bed by 10:00.
Tuesday
Tuesday in a nutshell--beach, nap, pool, beach, dinner, golf, bed.
We started Tuesday at the beach. More playing in the sand and in the water, which was a balmy 62 degrees, probably due to all the storms out at sea. Jake, Emma, and Doug didn't seem to mind, but I just didn't get into it like I normally do. Owen was more comfortable at the beach and spent almost a half hour running after the "duck ducks" (seagulls). He also enjoyed picking up the tiny clams and putting them back into the tidal pools. Gram, Mag, and Lars arrived and joined us at the beach, so the kids were actually outnumbered by adults (this was really nice). Owen had a small nap on the beach, and Jake dunked his head under the waves. He was very brave about going out into the ocean . . . almost a little too brave, as we had to call him back in from time to time and get him back where we were--there was a very strong current.
After lunch, a nap for Owen, some quiet time for the older two, and a quick dip in the pool, we headed down to the beach again for low tide. We realized by the end of the trip that Owen much prefers low tide--less noise, fewer waves . . . not as overwhelming overall. Sadly, our sandbars of the past two years have eroded, but at low tide, the beach was super long with tidal pools dotting the area before the waterline. The waves were still low and it was shallow really far out. We weren't able to find creatures like last year, but it was still nice for the kids to play in the tidal pools and smaller waves.
We went out to eat at the Star Diner. Owen actually sat for almost the whole time, and the kids ate huge amounts of food. We went golfing after that, but Doug and I took Owen home after six holes to put him to bed.
Wednesday
We slept in a bit, and Jake and I went to the market in the morning for fruit, pastries, and Jake's cool ranch Doritos (that we all managed to eat later that afternoon).
We didn't hit the beach until about 11:00 . . . but we stayed until 2:30! The kids got Italian ice from the roaming ice cream man (3.00 for each . . . totally overpriced, but it was vacation), and Emma lost half of hers when it fell in the sand. We made more sand castles, and Owen took another nap on the beach. Lars dug a hole for the kids, and Emma told me that "Lars is digging a hole to China! It will probably take him 100 nights!" Jake and Emma actually left the beach before we did, going back to Gram's motel for lunch and a swim in the two pools.
After lunch, we went back to the beach again for a while followed by a dip in the pool. We ordered our favorite Rick's Seafood that night, and we were shocked that it was an hour and a half wait. We didn't eat until after 8:00! To kill time, Gram and I took the kids for a walk on the sea wall while Doug went to get the food.
Jake's favorite . . . everything! Emma loved the shrimp, and we all stuffed ourselves--and then put the kids to bed. Doug and I actually got some semi kid-free time, sitting outside our room until almost midnight with some Corona and Mike's Hard Lime and talking. I think it's the first time we've had more than a half an hour together to talk in months.
Thursday
We had another relaxing morning and decided to hit the boardwalk for lunch. It was really hot and sunny and the kids were a little on the whiny side, but we had a good time. Emma and I bought some sunglasses, and the kids went on some rides. We bought a package of 70 tickets for $50.00 and reminded the kids that it wasn't like Hershey . . . each time they rode, they needed tickets. We'd eventually run out. Jake's favorite rides were the Pirate's of Wildwood (Emma was very scared on this ride) and Moby Dick. Emma's favorite was the Superman flying ride, and Owen loved riding the boats . . . he rode two times after begging (which consisted of pulling us toward the boats while pointing and whining) to go on again. We had a corn dog snack (we'd never had corn dogs before) and then had ice cream.
Doug and I had been looking forward to ice cream all morning. We went to Kohr Brothers again, and it was fantastic. We all loved our treats:
After that, we were done. Mag and Lars stayed at the boardwalk and Gram rode home with us in the trunk. Doug took the kids to the pool while Owen and I napped. After a Skittles snack by the pool, we went to the beach.
We had a long afternoon at the beach. Playing in a deeper tidal pool Emma and I found, splashing in the waves, finding shells, finding a horseshoe crab, and building a huge sandcastle. As we were packing up to go, a group of four young boys told us our sandcastle was very cool and started making some additions to it. We came back to the room, swam in the pool again. We took some photos on the lifeguard chair, checked out a huge hole with water in it, and took some more photos in a four foot deep hole Jake and Doug had found. We said goodbye to the Atlantic and headed back to the motel for the last time.
We went for yet another swim in the pool and ordered Italian takeout. I played Jake and gammoned him in backgammon. After dinner, we went for another walk and listened to a band that was playing at the pavilion. Doug and I pushed Owen in the stroller while Jake asked Lars a million questions about invertebrates. Then we put Owen to bed while Jake and Emma went over to Gram's so Jake could play backgammon with Mag. Jake lost that game, but only by two men.
Friday
We packed up and checked out right at 10:00. On the way to the Cape May Zoo, I stopped at CVS for batteries and on a whim, picked up a box of chocolate chip cookies (these would later prove to be a good idea).
We spent about two hours at the zoo. Jake liked the toucan (like Toucan Sam from Fruit Loops), Emma loved the cats--tiger and lion, and Owen was ecstatic to see the turtles. He also liked all the birds he saw, calling each and every one duck of course. We were going to have lunch there, but it was really crowded and all the kids were starting to get tired and cranky.
The ride home, was, in a word, hell. It was really bad. Owen screamed and shrieked--louder and longer than he ever did before--for about 60% of the trip. Nothing we did helped, so we eventually just let him scream. Some traffic issues, the sound of the movie playing, and Owen's shrieking non-stop really did a number on our nerves. We stopped four times (Wawa for Jake's habenero doritos, McDonald's for lunch, water, and gas) and had to take three detours. By the end of the ride, Emma was started to freak out, Owen was on the edge, and even Jake was starting to get cranky. Doug and I were totally spent. As good as the ride down was, the ride home was the opposite, to the extreme. But we kind of figured it would be . . . at the end of vacation, everyone was hot and tired and Owen (who was on a total dad kick the whole trip unless he wanted to nurse or sleep) couldn't be with Doug in the car or nurse when he wanted to.
Other than the horrific ride home, we had an awesome trip. We could not have ordered better weather (the only rain we had was overnight while we were sleeping), and everyone had a really good time. Owen slept fairly well (he woke more at night than I thought he would), and Jake and Emma had a total blast . . . there was even a little less fighting than usual. Jake was even braver this year, Emma just loved being on the beach and often talked to herslef making up stories as she played and found things to do, and Owen ran and chased gulls, splashed in the little pools, and loved having his feet buried in wet sand holes (all at low tide of course). It was such a change . . . last year, he nursed most of the time and occasionally played in the sand. This year, he only nursed twice on the beach when nothing else would soothe him and spent more playing and exploring.
We're already looking forward to next year.
[I'd like to thank Jake for reading this over my shoulder as I typed, laughing hysterically at my typos and pointing out mistakes I missed.]
