Ocean City, MD

I have a new appreciation for the rocky beaches in WA!

True: the sand of the East coast is softer to lie in, the water is warmer (only slightly), the sun shines more often...BUT...THE SAND GETS EVERYWHERE!!! As a newly married couple without kids, I loved the sandy beaches of Pensacola and the pristine coasts of Hawaii. But now that I have 2 boys, I much prefer watching them throw rocks in the water and just brushing them off before going home for a quick rinse in the sink verses taking an entire beach back to the hotel room in every crevis of their body. Besides feeling gritting and gross the entire time at the beach, we did have a wonderful weekend.

The boys and I left Friday at 10:00 and drove to Aunt June & Uncle Wardie's house near Annapolis, MD. It was so nice to break up the trip halfway through and let the boys stretch their legs, have lunch, and a nice visit. Michael met us there at 2:00 and we "loaded up and headed out". It was a very quiet 2 1/2 hour drive while both boys slept (and I think I even napped a bit). As soon as we checked into the Carousel hotel, Mikie started asking to go to the beach. Of course, it didn't help that we got the oceanfront view room :) After much persuading, we convinced him that we'd go to dinner and then we had a fun surprise.

Dinner, although it tasted good, was a nightmare! We should have turned around and walked out at the first sign of "upscale" knowing that we had an irritable 3 1/2 year old and a 1 year old who has recently taken up the fine art of shrieking which would make any dog within ear shot turn tail and run! Needless to say, the waiter was very quick to bring us our food and even quicker with the bill! And the people sitting next to us were very understanding, even after their child was hit by a flying object flung from my oldest son in a fit of rage.

Alas, once their bellies were full their moods greatly improved and we set off for that "surprise" which turns out to be Mikie's new found favorite past time: MINI-GOLF! Now, I'm sure that bowling is still his favorite, but mini-golf is so much more fun...especially when he gets to use a pink ball (of course what other color would he choose?) and make up his own score (since pushing the ball around with the end of the club doesn't really count as a 'stroke'). We played 3 different courses over the weekend: Dinosaurs, Jungle, and Sea Life. Both boys were so cute and got so excited at each new hole. Zachary loved walking around with his golf ball and plopping it into the hole for a perfect hole in one every time! Great score, Zachary!

The next day was by far the best day we've had as a family in a really long time! Everyone's overall mood was upbeat (with a few low points, but no major meltdowns) and the weather was perfect. We started out with a breakfast buffet and then headed to the beach. Zachary loved scooping the sand into a pail and crawling on his knees while pushing the sand around with his hands. Mikie had a great time letting the waves get up to his knees and building sandcastles and digging holes with Daddy. There was one really scary moment when a wave knocked Mikie down and he went tumbling back out being rolled under the wave until Michael grabbed him amidst my yelling "GET HIM, HE'S IN THE WAVE!" After that, Mikie stayed a little closer to shore. Zachary even fell asleep and took a little catnap on the beach. After 3 hours of being slathered in sand, we were all ready to go swim in the pool. Then, it was so wonderful to just sit in our bathing suits at the beach bar/grill and have lunch with 2 exhausted (and amazingly quiet instead of fussy) little boys. It felt like we were at a resort...which I vow someday we will do with our children (much older children!) After lunch, back to the hotel for showers and naps.....well....the first was accomplished with no problems, but the later just wasn't happening in a one room hotel...so we strapped them into their car seats and drove along the coast while they dozed in the back. We stopped for supper at the Dough Roller pizza place where Mikie got to sit in a pink booster seat and the boys both got the coolest bendable straws I've ever seen; hence, saving us from a repeat of the previous evening. And since the pizza place was right next to the Jolly Rogers Amusement park and Mini-golf we just HAD to play another round...this time jungle golf....and ride a few rides. One ride we all got to ride on was the double carousel. At the end of the night, the boys split an ice cream bar and we went back to the hotel a happy and tired family.

We should have just called it good and went home the next morning, but of course we had to walk along the famous "boardwalk"...but not before stopping off at the Dough Roller again for breakfast and 2 more really cool straws! By the time we got to the boardwalk, it was HOT and Mikie was tired, fussy, cranky, crabby, grumpy, (insert every negative adjective here) and we weren't hungry because we just ate so there wasn't anything to do except start walking the 27 blocks to the end and keep pushing them in the stroller with Mikie screaming most of the way. We did stop off for a lollipop which then started Zachary screaming because he wanted the one Mikie had even though we had bought him his own. I can't tell whether Mikie shared with his brother to be nice, or just to get him to stop screeching in his ear......either way......it was cute watching them share a pink whale lollipop. At the end of the 27 blocks we hopped on the train/tram and rode back to the beginning where we quickly grabbed something to eat and let the kids ride a few rides and play a couple of games to win a souvenir of our trip...which was about to end perfectly in direct correlation with nap time...which meant 2 hours back to Aunt June's in complete peace (after 2 extra pit stops for Mikie since he drank an entire bottle of fruit punch, some of my iced tea, and 1/2 a bottle of water). The boys woke up when we stopped to get Michael's truck at Aunt June's but they were out of town so we couldn't go in...instead we went to Olive Garden and wasted an hour and a half there before driving the rest (2 hours) of the way home. We arrived home at 10:00 and thus ended our "summer family vacation".

There was no way for me to choose just a few pictures so here's the link to our beach trip photo show. Enjoy!