Just beachy

We did something totally out-of-the-ordinary for our family a few days ago--we went on a mini-spur-of-the-moment Vacation! On Sunday, after church, Mike asked me what I thought about going to the beach, as we all had a few days off from work/school. Hmm... So we went home, did a little research on the Shore, and created a little getaway! We stayed a little mom-and-pop motel in Point Pleasant, about an hour from our house. The room was actually two bedrooms, which was perfect with W, as he was able to go to sleep at his normal time and Mike and I were able to stay up later (as in, until 10). We were such "old folks," playing Yahtzee and watching The American Experience on PBS. It was so relaxing and enjoyable.
The boardwalk was a typical boardwalk, with the silly rip-off games and greasy, too-expensive food. However, there was a decent, albeit small, aquarium that we enjoyed. We got there just in time to see them feed the seals (they also brushed the seals' teeth!).
We ate lunch at a little diner that was surprisingly quite delicious. Mike was craving a cheeseburger, I had a chicken panini, and W had (no big shock) chicken tenders. With full tummies, we went to our hotel, where we had arranged early check-in so that W could get his nap. He was excited about the BIG bed (we barricaded him in with pillows), and went to sleep without a fuss. After naps, we headed to the beach. You have to pay a nominal fee for most beaches in Jersey, so we got our beach passes at the hotel and trooped down to the shore. The water was waaaay too cold (we didn't even get near it, though there were lots of dummies out frolicking in the waves). We instead sat in the sand and showed W how fun it was to dig in the sand.
He was skeptical at first. In fact, he hated it at first. But he quickly warmed up to the idea of it and soon had a great time.

Here he is with his daddy, filling his dump truck with sand and shells.



He got really into running up and down the beach. We were flying his Elmo kite, which he thought was pretty neat.

On Tuesday, we found a practically deserted public beach further south in Bay Head. It was great. The tide had recently receeded, and we were able to collect some really neat shells.

It was pretty nippy and windy.


You can see how windy it was from the flags.


We got home by naptime on Tuesday. W was asking about the "'tel" and the "beech", which leads me to believe that he really enjoyed his trip and would be game for a repeat at some point in the near future.