Us at the beach.

Robyn's Math: 

Packing an insane amount of stuff including but not limited to: sheets for 6 people, bath towels, beach towels, kitchen stuff, beach chairs, beach cart, umbrellas, boogie boards, scooters, clothes, food.
+   Dealing with an additional 1.5 hours of traffic driving to Ocean City 
+   The cost of renting the house
+   Packing everything back up and getting it all to fit in the car
+   Sitting in another additional 1.5 hours of traffic leaving Ocean City 

=  ONE FANTASTIC WEEK AT THE BEACH !

I found something out about my two kids during our week at Ocean City, NJ.  Ian has a little bit of Jeff in him.  After 3 or so hours, he has had enough of the sand, water, sun and is ready to call it a day.  While my Samantha becomes a total beach bunny and can spend endless hours soaking it all in.  She will never be the first one to put up her hand and say she's had enough.  I won't either.  Together, we make a great pair. 

It took too much effort (and money!) on my part to make our week in Ocean City a reality.  I wasn't going to lose one minute of each gorgeous day and pack up our chairs, umbrellas, cooler, towels, sand toys, sunscreen any sooner than I needed.  And believe me, it was an absolutely gorgeous week to be near the ocean.  You couldn't ask for better weather.  We had only one day (Tuesday) where it was overcast to the point it looked like it could rain at any moment.  The real storm came late in the day and really hit hard.  This was the day we didn't go to the beach and used the time to play miniature golf, arcade games and get some great tasting pizza for lunch.  I made dinner for our whole group and afterwards we played charades.  The kids and adults loved this impromptu game.  What a nice way to spend the evening.

Playing charades.  The kids didn't want the game to end.

My cousin Leslie and her family joined us this past week.  I rented one house (it had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms) and right next door, Leslie rented an identical unit.  It was perfect. Her two kids match up wonderfully with Ian and Sam.  Ian and Max (only 6 weeks apart in age) are like two peas in a pod.  And Ellie and Sam (only 7 months apart in age) are like 2 peas in a pod.  For not planning our pregnancies (or doing the near impossible and trying to match up the genders!), it is amazing how it turned out.  Additionally, we had the added treat of having my mom and Jim with us for the whole week.  And Leslie's parents and in-laws came and went throughout the week as well.  It was a win-win-win spending time with the family.  As we all know, being with family is one of the things I love most.

We had the place on the left, Leslie had the place on the right.

 It's funny, our week started out with us getting to the beach super-duper early. I think that first day we were set-up and ready to rock as early as 9:30am.  As the week wore on, we set-up camp later and later each day.  By our last full day, we didn't even get to the beach until 12:30pm.   Sam and I didn't leave until well past the time the lifeguard called it a day at 5:00pm.  The best time of the day is when it approaches 4:30pm and the sun has started setting even a tiny bit.  What a beautiful sky and such a peaceful time to be out.

We had everything on the beach but the kitchen sink!

Our Summer days seemed to go on forever.  It was wonderful feeling like we had so many hours to play.  The kids didn't go to sleep until 9:30pm/10:00pm (or even 11:00pm) most of the nights.  It was not uncommon to be getting ice cream at 9:00pm when the kids traditionally are going to bed.

Burning the midnight oil...way past the kids' bedtimes.

Some of my favorite memories from this past week are ones that weren't even planned...they just happened.  Here is a Top 10 list of the best of the best spending the week at Ocean City, NJ.

10.  Having a house that was an easy walk to the beach.

9.    Taking 4 mile walks each morning, just me by myself as the sun was rising.  I either walked on the boardwalk or walked down to Dunkin Donuts and surprised the family with donuts for breakfast when I returned.

8.    Enjoying gluten free pizza from 3 different pizza places (!), ridiculously delicious gluten free pancakes and even finding a gluten free ice cream cone at a local ice cream shop.  How yummy!

Believe it or not there are gluten free pancakes under all this apple-cinnamon deliciousness

7.   Seeing the kids have so much fun playing with their cousins.  Up until this year, we've only gotten together at the most for a weekend visit (once a year) at my aunt and uncle's house in Cherry Hill.

Riding scooters on the boardwalk

Playing miniature golf

6.  The weather...OMG, the weather.  Perfect!

5.  Seeing how much fun the kids had flying a kite my mom bought Sam. We flew that kite on 4 different occasions.  Each and every time we easily got it up to the whole 100 feet of string.  It was such an awesome experience!!

4.  Meeting up with Heather and her group for the rides and dinner on the boardwalk.  Heather stays at Sea Isle City, NJ each year and it just so happened we were there for the same week.  How could we not meet up?  I love Heather!  I love Heather!  Did I tell you I love Heather?  I do!

 3. Discovering Johnson's Popcorn.  No more info needed than that.

2. Ian and Max boogie boarding to their heart's content for 6 days!  Sam and Ellie playing in the sand to their heart's content for 6 days!

And the #1 best thing about spending the week at the beach:
1. Renting a Surrey to ride on the boardwalk on Wednesday morning with my kids and Leslie & her family.  We all loved it!

So. Much. Fun.

A bonus #1:  Experiencing Sam becoming a very tranquil and peaceful girl when on the beach.  It's like she transformed into a different person. It was wonderful being around her and sharing with her one of my most favorite places to be.  Nothing bothered her out there.

** You are not seeing things.  Sam got her haircut mid-week in Ocean City.  So some of the pictures her hair is much longer than others. 

Stay tuned:  One last blog about the beach.  Both Ian and Sam would like to tell you what they thought...in their own words.