OCNJ 2018

Our beach vacation was a little different this year- we were without Jason and Jaylee. They cane just for the day on a Sunday. The rest of us stayed Sat to Weds. we rented a new house this year, 20 blocks down from our old place. It was much roomier, though the kids prefer “THE” beach house.

Saturday we arrived around 1. We were in no rush because it was supposed to rain all day. But it never rained after we got off of the AC Expressway!! So, we headed to the new inflatable park in OCNJ. Jimmy was not old enough and he was bummed! Jack was hesitant but after 10 seconds, he knew that he made the right decision...

Afterwards we hit the beach for 99 mins before dinner. My kids LOVE my chili cheese fries, Mandy’s family... not so much.

My Dad and I took the boys back down to play ball on the beach.  I had Jimmy hitting left handed, whoops.

Sunday morning I headed down to the Civic Center to rent a FREE wheelchair for Jaylee. They arrived around noon. After lunch, we packed her up.  It was a fun day. Swimming, sand castle building (even though it did NOT look like a castle, kite flying, and photo shoots. Jaylee even walked along the beach with me using a shovel as a cane. Dolphins were swimming the coast and Jenni was able get within 20 feet of them. I love her adventurous spirit now! She LOVES being in the water, and she doesn’t even ride the waves in, she just goes out deep and stays there.

We headed to the Boardwalk that night for Mac and Manco’s (I can NOT bring myself to call it it’s new name, Manco and Manco’s). We rented a real wheelchair for Jaylee so we hit a few stores and ended with Kohr’s ice cream cones- surprise, surprise. And then, they were off to PA.

On Monday I drove the kids to Stone Harbor do that Jimmy could experience an inflatable Water Park. When it’s only 2/3 of us, we can afford to do so much more stuff!  We had to wait 2 hours, so we walked down to the beach, which absolutely beautiful. The water was much warmer and calmer. 

Jimmy was extremely excited but nervous at first. He very carefully got through the first obstacle and at the second, he fell in the water. He popped right up with his life jacket and exclaimed “I didn’t die!!!” And then was relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the 45 minutes. Jimmy was even jumping off of the inflatables, doing 180’ turns and then swimming around. Jenni was very attentive to him.

Jackson was a wild man. His favorite part was running as fast as he could around a bend and trying not to fall in. He’s amazingly lumber and athletic. During the last 5 minutes he found the courage to climb up the 10 foot wall and jump off, which became his favorite part.

Around 3pm we headed back to the beach in OCNJ . We tried 44th street, instead of 46th. The water was awful... cold and crashing right in the kids (crashing hard). My boys are much more fearless now that they know how to swim. They are big enough to help carry stuff too. 

On the Boardwalk, they picked swords as their souvenirs. They played with them the entire time we were there. 

We ended the night with s walk to Aunt Betty’s got ice cream with Nan and Poppop. And then one final sword fight.

On Tuesday at 0500, Jennibelle and I headed to the beach in the dark. We had high hopes of finding some awesome shells. We struck out. Totally struck out. We got to see the sunrise though.

We headed to the Surf Sack at 11(after a long nap) for French toast. Then we strolled the Boards for a while. At 2pm we climbed aboard our Pirate Voyage. Poppop came along (like always😁). Jennibelle hung out with the adults during the ride.

The boys were hesitant at first. When it was time to fight off the bad pirate with water cannons, Jackson was 100% invested. Jimmy was frantically running between cannons. I found out afterwards that in his beautiful, innocent, creative, five year old mind, that he was terrified because he believed that the “bad pirate” was going to get onto our ship and turn us into skeletons- for the rest of time!! Oh my! I highly recommend the voyage, for kids under 10. 

Here, they are pretending to be dead.

We spent hours on the beach afterwards, with Mandy’s family. My favorite time on the beach is after 3, when you don’t bake in the sun and it’s not so crowded. 

After Mandy made ziti we headed out for ice cream, again. This time, we had a dance party while eating it. 

 

Weds was our big family vacation day. Meg’s clan joined us. She’s pregnant, by the way. 

We celebrated Cole’s 8th birthday with cake and a glow party right before we headed out to PA. 

My boys cried nearly to the PA/NJ Bridge. They were heartbroken. When I asked their favorite part about the vacation “being with my family”.