Memorial Day Part I

Time for a family vacation.  We realized we have not taken a just Jed, Joshlyn and all three kids vacation since 2010.  After all the excitement of fire alarms blaring in the middle of the night, freezing ocean water, and too many hours in the car with bad Elise we may not take another family vacation for three more years.  I read once "family vacation is a bad time to later be remembered fondly."  Well it might not be that bad, but it certainly is a lot of work with small people.  While at the ocean you are supposed to relax.  High alert mode is more like it when your husband is a mere dot on the horizon tantalizing the sharks, your six-year-old thinks she can surf, your four-year-old likes to wander after pigeons and your baby doesn't understand the meaning of undertow. Ack-my blood pressure.  Regardless of the dangers of sharks, pigeons and undertow we all survived and had a lovely dinner at one of our favorite restaurants  visited Yogurtland and went quickly to sleep, so deeply the SECOND consecutive night of blaring fire alarms didn't even wake up the children and Jed and I put pillows over our heads and went back to sleep.  

Jack and his masterpiece.  Jack prefers sand over sea.  

Jara finding treasures for the castle.  I never got a face shot because she was completely enthralled with the ocean and wouldn't turn around.  She played and played and played.  I need a beach house.

Fearless E.  Jumped in clothes and all.  Was shivering and freezing and still couldn't stop.  She loved jumping over the waves and splashing with Jed.  "MORE!" we heard that a lot. Her love of the ocean and excitement on her face made up for the bad kitty rebellion/uprising in the car.

What you might find in the sand.  

A group of college children were highly entertained by his water-less beach antics, which consisted of boogie-boarding through the sand, castle building, pigeon hunting/chasing, burying himself and collecting shells.  My favorite was the sneaking up on pigeons.  Until he almost caught one of the flying vermin.

Pausing for her photo-op

Lunch time, a little rest for me.  With clothes.  I was freezing the whole time.  70* is way too cold for swimming.  Especially coming from 110*

Playing in the park, warming up, waiting for Elise to be car ready.  Diapers, sand, ocean and clothes make for a bad mix.  Girl got a lifetime of exfoliation.  

Happy Vacation!  See it really is fun.  Let's do it again.  Part 2 coming next...