A little after 10am on Wednesday we started driving to New Jersey. We arrived at the motel at 1:45, checked in and changed into our swimming suits, and walked to the boardwalk. The beach was across the street from the motel, but the boardwalk was about 1/2 mile from the motel. We had some ice cream and then spent two hours on the beach. The kids had never seen a boardwalk before. It was so much fun listening to all their comments and questions about the sand, sea gulls, etc. We had pizza on the boardwalk for dinner and after we walked up and down the entire boardwalk and ate some salt water taffy (another first for the kids), we walked back to the motel. Ian's only experience with staying in a hotel has been at a resort. He kept asking me where the living room was. The kids are used to staying in a 2-3 bedroom unit with a kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms, etc. Since we were just spending one night, it didn't make sense to go the time share route so we spent the night in a room that had two double beds. The website said they had cribs available, but that was not true.
Although I've owned a pack 'n play for 6 years, we've never taken it to any hotels because they've always had one available. In hind sight, I should have brought ours "just in case" because it would have been very easy to transport it in our van. I took off the bedspreads from both beds and used those to make Oliver's "bed" on the floor in between the two double beds. It took the kids awhile to fall asleep, but Oliver did fine on his "bed." The only had trouble falling asleep because they're not used to sharing a bed or a room. Oliver was out by 8:30, and all three were asleep by 9:00. Paul and I went to bed early since we were all sharing the same room.
As usual, Oliver was the first one up. At home if he wakes up at 5:45, I don't go get him, but I was trying to let Nadia and Ian sleep a little longer so I tried to keep him quiet in bed with Paul and I. It worked for a little while. Paul got us breakfast from Dunkin Donuts, and then we checked out of the motel and walked back to the beach. We spent over 3 hours on the beach. All three kids loved playing in the sand and playing in the ocean. We collected some nice large shells and also a large upper jaw of a fish with all the fish intact. Now we are trying to figure out how to get rid of the fish smell on it. We've soaked it in bleach, but it still smells VERY fishy. Any suggestions? As usual, Nadia was the social butterfly talking to the adults and children near us on the beach, showing them our shells, etc. The weather was perfect both days - clear blue skies and temps in the high 80's. After a late lunch on the boardwalk, we walked back to the motel and swam in the pool for about 30 minutes before we drove back home. Originally we planned to get back in time for their soccer practices, but Paul suggested we just skip them. We stopped by the field on the way home to pick up a bag of balls, as Paul will be coaching tomorrow. Paul and I had been to three beaches in New Jersey (Wildwood, Atlantic City, and Ocean City) prior to this trip, but it had been more than 10 years since we had been to a beach in the US that wasn't in Florida. The boardwalk isn't as long as some beaches we've been to, but it did
have an aquarium, amusement park, batting cages, two miniature golf courses, restaurants, shops, and many games. It was very hard for us to explain to the kids that spending money on a game wouldn't result in them winning the prizes that looked so appealing to them. Normally you have to pay to be on a beach in NJ (this beach costs $8.50 per adult for one day), but they stop charging after Labor Day. I'm very glad we squeezed in this little getaway. All five of us had a great time, and the kids are already looking forward to our next trip to a beach. I am so thankful for these three miracles God has given to us and for the special memories we can create together! Now that we're done swimming for the year, I'm hoping the temperatures will start dropping a bit. Highs in the 70's would sound heavenly to me! The weather was perfect though for our beach excursion! We need to buy better sand toys before our next trip, but we were finally able to use our beach umbrella that we've owned for many years and never used! I took LOTS of pictures. More to follow in future posts!
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