Bingo and the Beach (not necessarily together)

| August 11, 2013

Our third day was pretty sedate, just more of the same, hanging at the beach. Sam collected lots and lots and lots of seashells.  Did I mention it was lots? Yeah, bucketfuls. This was, I believe, a clam or a clam shell that she insisted Mark take a photo of.

She had all of us at her beck and call, digging, making things with her sand molds, building sand castles, and Mom Mom was no exception. Grab that shovel, Mom Mom, we have holes to dig!

Later that night everyone was coming over for dinner and afterward we played bingo. Krista and Adam found it in a closet in their house and it was so much fun. Although, Krista as bingo caller took her job a wee bit to seriously…just kidding. But Sam got bored trying to fill her card so she helped call the numbers.  We all put in a dollar per game and Sam wound up winning, twice!

Ocean City, NJ

| August 11, 2013

We always make sure to visit the Ocean City boardwalk since it has so much to do. Good stores, good food, fun rides and games for the kids. This year was no exception.

First order of business was the Ferris Wheel. This has been, by far, Mark and my favorite ride for years and years. We have been looking forward to taking Sam on it forever. This year we finally got to do it where she would enjoy it. She loved the view from up high, and I loved the view of my little girl enjoying herself immensely.

I love the look on wonder on her face at how high up she is and all she can see.

I had such a good time I never wanted the ride to end.

Sam’s favorite ride is the carousel. Everywhere we find one, she has to go on, more than once. This time all the girls rode!

Sam always falls in love with whichever animal she rides and she takes care of them nicely. She petted the horse while she was riding. She always wants to know their names.

After the rides we strolled the boards for a while (on our way to the Christmas shop, which we all like, but, as you can imagine, Sam could shriek in delight over). We always pose by the beach. It is usually a great place to get pictures with our favorite girl.

Playtime at the beach

| August 11, 2013

One of the first things we did at the beach was fly kites. Maddox brought his kite and so did Sam. Mark loves flying kites, he always did, way before Sam was in the picture, so it is nice to see him be able to share that with the kiddos.

After the kite is in the air, we always let Sam and Maddox take a turn flying the kite on their own. There have been a few runaway kites, but no worries, they don’t go far!

My mom and I had taken Sam to a little store, Sands, that morning to pick up a few quick things. She saw this huge rubber ducky and begged me for it. I gave in (it is vacation after all!) and Sam couldn’t wait to take him to the beach.

Can you tell the kids were having a good time? Those smiles are so precious.

Sam and Maddox worked very intently, and very successfully, at getting themselves covered in sand from head to toe.

But it is all worth it to see that face. 🙂

Hugs! The cousins were so happy to hang out together on the beach where they could run around like lunatics, make a huge mess, and not one adult told them not to.

Mom Mom and Pop Pop enjoying the view, of both the ocean and their amazing grandkids.

There didn’t seem to be many tidal pools this year but Mark took Sam down to the jetty to look for hermit crabs and the like. She was feeling lazy and needed a piggy back ride.

I don’t know how much they found down there at the jetty, but I found some happy family members!

Sam couldn’t have been happier to dig and play all day long. It was hard to drag her off the beach most days. This is so early in the week, and she was just getting started!

Sea Isle City, NJ 2013

| August 11, 2013

Another vacation in Sea Isle City, NJ has come and gone, so quickly. But once again, we had a wonderful time. Actually, this was probably my favorite vacation in a while. Sam had a blast and is just simply at an age when she is so fun to be with. It was the kind of vacation I have been wanting to have for a long time. Sam didn’t sleep in at all, of course, so it was sort of exhausting, but she stayed up late a few nights so we could go out and have ice cream, visit the boardwalk, and otherwise do vacation things. And she was great on the beach. She amused herself digging in the sand for hours at a time and thought everything was wonderful. She was so much more independent this year. It really drives home how big she is getting. But on to the photos!

This was our house this year, the one on the right. We were two houses back from the beach, but had a view of the ocean anyway, which was really nice.

One of the first places we went to eat was a small restaurant called Valerie’s Place. It was super kid friendly with a wall painted like a chalkboard and loads of toys. It was casual and right up Sam’s alley. We found this sign and I just had to take a picture. Every day when Sam leaves my mom’s house they say, “See ya later, Alligator, After a while, Crocodile.” Sam thinks it is hysterical. I took it as a sign of good things to come.

The first real day at the beach was Sunday (even though Mark took Sam down looking for seashells on Saturday while my mom and I unpacked). It felt so good to finally be on the beach! The weather seemed iffy since it wasn’t much above 80 degrees the whole week but surprisingly it was perfect. It seemed warm, there was a bit of cloud cover off and on to keep us from getting too hot, and it rained, but only sporadically and generally early in the morning. There have been years when it was so hot it was almost too hot for the beach, but not this year. Sam was so excited to finally hit the sand. I couldn’t believe how anxious she was to be there, and how much she remembered from last year.

After the beach, we all strolled the Promenade so we could get ice cream and the kids could  play some games. Krista and Adam always bring Maddox’s wagon so the kiddos can get pulled along. They were so thrilled to get to hang out for a whole week!

At Yum Yums with Grandmom.  Sam’s a bit excited, don’tcha think?

After ice cream, we stopped at a few of our favorite places like the turtle.

We always seem to take pictures here and it amazes me how big Sam gets from year to year. I hope we can keep taking a pic like this every year to commemorate her growth.

Another favorite photo spot is the boat. After the pictures Sam was pretending to be the captain and she kept asking Mark where he wanted to go.

Game time! Skee ball is my favorite so we always have to do that first. Sam hasn’t quite gotten the hang of rolling the ball yet. She sometimes does, but it never makes it all the way. She much prefers hurling the ball down the lane.

As you can see here.  Poor skee ball machines!

One of Sam’s favorite games was this one, where the object was to stomp on the spiders as they lit up. Mark and I were trying to help her so that she would get more tickets but she got so mad and kept yelling at us that she could do it. She is so fierce in her independence sometimes. I am proud of her because of it (most of the time)…

It was almost time to head back to the house but not before Sam rode some rides. She liked this little dragon.

But the ice cream truck was her favorite, as you can see!

She did manage to win (with a little help from us) lots of tickets so she came home with all her trinkets. It was a successful evening, as far as Sam was concerned (and us too).