Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | September 2, 2016

We always make lots of good memories down the shore, and not just at the beach. We eat tons of ice cream, visit the boardwalk, shop, eat more ice cream…

On Sunday, we made sure we went to the boardwalk in Ocean City so that we could do all the things we normally do. We didn’t want to try to jam everything in, so we didn’t let Sam do any rides this time other than our family favorite – the Ferris Wheel!

I love this face – she was being tickled uncontrollably!

Family selfie! Sam looks so little in this picture. Her smile reminds me of the one she used to have when she was a tiny little girl, only a few years old.

Our girl, always ready to strike a pose.

Sammy selfie time!

Although we didn’t do rides, Mark did take Sam on one sort of ride – Go Karts! It’s something he has been wanting to do for a while because he used to ride them as a kid. Sam loved it! Zooming around the track with her Daddy at the wheel. She came off all smiles.

Sam also wanting to go skeleton golfing again, but honestly, it was a pretty lame golf course, so we told her we’d go to the pirate golf in Sea Isle. Sam didn’t do so well, but Mark got two holes in one, and I got one. Sam thought it was hysterical that one of Mark’s balls went into the water and she got to fish it out. Hmmm…maybe it got there on purpose….

Sam is doing the limbo. I didn’t realize it was a necessary skill for mini golfing…

When we were on the last hole, we stopped to be pirates and take some pictures. I asked Sam why she kept covering her eye. She told me, “It’s my eye patch, Silly!” Of course.

On our last real night, we went to the Promenade in Sea Isle so Sam could play arcade games. She loves this big wheel where you just spin and hopefully win a bunch of tickets. This spin was a particularly big one, based on how she’s hanging off the handle!

Her Daddy, Champion of Claw Games, won her a doggie!

After the games, we went to visit turtle…

…and to sail away in the boat. Ah, traditions, traditions.

On a final note, one morning, Sam was just drawing and she did this great picture of her giraffe. I just had to share. I think it’s pretty good! When she takes her time, she draws very well.

Well, vacation is over and we are back in school mode. I finally found out who Sam’s first grade teacher will be and now it’s back to Springfield to meet her teacher!

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pamelamyers | September 2, 2016

Oh, but alas, it is. We finished our last beach vacation for the year. We went down the shore again while Krista and Adam had their house, on Saturday, so that we had as much time as possible since we needed to leave by mid-week so that we could be home for Sam’s meet the teacher day. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful, and the water was as warm as could be – about 76-78 degrees! Gorgeous and no rain at all.

Sam spent time doing what she normally does. Like this. Getting as sandy as humanly possible.

Strangely, the first day, there were a ton of washed up jellyfish on the beach. Only that one day though. They are kind of gross, but Sam liked exploring them. I’m just glad they were gone by the next day!

Ryder loves the beach and he and Sam played the whole time. Right now though, he was more interested in his cookie. 🙂

And his Grandmom, Loretta!

Mark spent most of his time doing exactly this. Hmmm….what is wrong with this picture?

Although, while Ryder and Sam played, Krista and I weren’t exactly working hard.

We did get Sam into the water a lot to do her “wave jumping”, but boy was it rough! Hurricane Hermine was coming and the waves were crazy. Higher than normal and they could knock you down so easily.

We only had one day where we really saw the jetty so Sam and Mark went exploring. There wasn’t a heck of a lot to see, honestly, not like some years. And the beach has been sadly lacking in sea shells. I guess it’s good that the beach is getting cleaned up, but it is sad for the kiddos who like to collect shells.

Time for a family portrait!

Maddox had seen a lot of kids using body boards since there were actually some waves. Adam bought him one and he did pretty well for his first time out. I think he caught a few waves!

On our next to last day, it was very odd. I was sleeping (shockingly, Sam actually let us sleep a lot on this trip) and Mark came in and told me there was almost no beach. The incoming storm was making the sea crazy. High tide came up really high and a lot of the water hadn’t washed out. We usually wind up with a shallow pool of water somewhere on the beach every trip, but this was insane. There literally was almost no beach. You can see how big this pool of water was that Mark and Sam are standing in. Then there is some beach, then the ocean.

It was crazy deep too! Usually, it pools around your ankles or low calves at most.

Pretty early in the day, they came and dug a trench to let the water run back to the ocean. It worked pretty well. The lake stayed, but by the time we were done our beach day, it was much narrower and not nearly as deep.

Something we hadn’t done in a while! Sam’s shadow is catching up to us…She’s growing so fast.

While the lake was there, Rich took Sam and Ryder to play. They liked sailing Sam’s boat.

Two best buddies. 🙂 Sam had so much fun playing with Ryder. She will be a good babysitter one day. In the afternoon while Ryder was napping, Sam was so lost.

Maddox took some time out from the water to hang out with his Grandmom.

Since Maddox wasn’t using his body board for the moment, Adam took Ryder and then Sam on a ride. Sam liked it, Ryder not so much.

Sam did keep busy, but Mark and I both noticed that she doesn’t play like she used to. I brought many less toys down to the beach then normal, and even less of them actually made it to the sand. Most days, she wanted her Barbies, a bucket, a shovel and not much else. It is yet one more sign she is growing up. We don’t even make many sand castles. I think next year, we probably won’t be bringing much. Mark and I are going to try to bring more “family” activities. She likes playing with this water bouncing ball Mark bought on our last trip down, we sometimes play paddle ball, and we saw some people playing bocce. I would rather do those types of things on the beach anyway. Heck, some day not too far off, Sam will be more interested in sitting by herself reading a book or a magazine than doing anything with us!

One toy we did bring a few days was her sand buggy. Since cars need somewhere to go, I made a system of roads. Sam liked it and so did her car.

I can’t believe our beach time is over! Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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