The Beach, 495, & 95!

THE BEACH, TAKE 1

The drive to the beach was really nice this year, in part because we listened to a really good story along the way.  It was Because of Winn-Dixie and all the kids liked it.  Any story about a dog tends to be a good one.  We only had about 10 minutes left of the story when we were getting really close to the beach.  The kids were getting quite excited, saying, "I see beach houses." and "Eeeee!!!!"  and I was all like, "Quiet! Let's finish the story!"  So the last ten minutes of the book were a little fuzzy, but it made the trip nice overall.

One look at the beach and we discovered that there was a big sand pumping operation happening that closed off access to the beach in certain areas.

Apparently there was quite the storm that hit that caused a lot of beach erosion.  The first day we went to the beach, we were upwind from big bulldozers and construction equipment, so we enjoyed the ocean, the sand, and watching the boats and pipes pump the sand onto shore.  The second day, we were downwind from the operation and we enjoyed the sand, the ocean, the boats, as well as the faint hint of diesel fuel.  In fact, the second day, we were right on the edge of the construction.  So much of the beach was closed, that a lot of the townsfolk were crowded in a small section of sand.  We set up our chairs right next to the "Construction Site. Do Not Enter" sign.  The neatest thing, we thought, was there was a big, very long pool of shallow water right down the middle of the beach, separating it in half horizontally.

The shallow pool.

It was filled with toddlers and seemed ideal to any parent with small kids to have them play in this nice area as opposed to the big ocean.  We had been in the ocean all day, but when a foamy substance started washing ashore, the lifeguards called us out.  So, we checked out the long pool area before packing it up for the day.  At this point, it was getting later in the afternoon and the construction vehicles had been creeping closer to us all day.  We were actually getting our things packed up when all of a sudden, the pristine, ideal pool of water was being flooded with a blackish water with the same foamy substance on top.  We told the kids, "Run! Get ahead of the foam!  Wait for us on the boardwalk.!"  The kids crossed with no problem.  That left Grandma and I to "run" as fast as we could.  Somehow we actually made it without touching the foam.

Despite all the construction going on, the kids really loved playing at the beach.  Josiah loves both sand and water.  He was an equal opportunity user, but Henry and Caroline were ocean-goers nearly the whole time.  They loved the ocean.

We took a few early morning walks.  On our first walk, the boys pretended they were Jedi's with guns.  We made sure they didn't point them at any people since the northeast hosts a different crowd of people than Texas.

Some serious Jedi.

Our second walk, they brought their lightsaber bats.

Super foggy morning.

Caroline made sure every bench on the entire boardwalk had the backrest towards the back so when sitters sat down, they would face the beach/ocean.

We went down to the beach one evening to get a little digging time in.

We took a trolley ride...

...and we got ice cream.

GREAT GRANDMA'S PARTY

After a few days at the beach, we all got in the car to head to Great-Grandma's 95th birthday bash!  I had google maps directions in my hand and Grandma's 45 years of experience driving to DC from Delaware sitting in the passenger seat.  The trip started out great.  We were making great time and I was a little worried that we'd show up too early to the party.  But then we missed the exit to 495.  A few exits down we tried to get back on the road going the other direction (to catch 495), but could never find an entrance ramp, so we got back on going the same direction we had been headed.  Then we saw another sign that had "Alexandria" on it, so we took it.  That's when we took the kids through parts of DC.  Not the cool monuments parts, more of the lock-your-door Anacostia parts.  When we saw the Woodrow Wilson bridge we all cheered.  We were in familiar territory again and, as an added benefit, we no longer had to worry about being early anymore.  It was so good to see Great-Grandma again and wish her a happy birthday on her actual birthday.

The kids were so excited to see all their aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents.  They couldn't wait to meet their new cousins, Jack and Rowen.  They kept saying they wanted to hear what their voices sounded like.  The cousins all played outside together, having a great time getting to know each other.  They also got to play on the playground across the street.  Josiah practiced his physics lessons there by putting big wheels down the slide and watching gravity take effect.  He also rode on a big wheel downhill, turning it quickly so it would skid to a halt.  He had a great time doing it until later, at the hotel, he discovered that it had given him quite a bum-bruise.

Caroline tuckered out towards the end, having played hard all day, but she wasn't too tired to keep eating chips.

Many pictures were taken.   

All the Great Grandkids

When we checked into the hotel that evening, the man at the desk cut me a deal and gave us two rooms for the price of one.  So for the four of us, we had two king beds and two bathrooms.  Todd asked me if I was still wearing my party dress when I checked into the hotel.  Why, yes, I was, and it was worth it to get two bathrooms.  Henry loved that when the adjoining doors were opened, he could do mirror tricks.


The next day I drove back to the beach with the kids (Grandma drove back with Grandpa this trip).  Instead of getting on 495 (again!), I got on 395 (durn google) and took the kids on my own tour of D.C.  At least this time we saw a few monuments as well as the Pentagon.  So, now they can say they went to D.C. twice over their summer break. 

THE BEACH, TAKE 2: WHEN THE REAL FUN BEGAN

The beach got a lot more fun when their cousins arrived.  All of a sudden, all 6 kids were running around outside and it felt like freedom.  They played baseball, football, tag, lightsaber battles, just about everything you could think of with a bat and a couple of balls.  Caroline fell in love with Lucy's dolls and playing them with her. 

We did Pirate Golf...

surfed (got knocked down by) the waves...

dug holes...

went through a case of Pop-Its in 10 minutes flat...

and took the obligatory "grandkids" pictures.

Our kids showed off their Cambodian clothes while posing with their Cambodian cash.

For their final night ice cream, Henry chose the waffle cone, Caroline chose sprinkles, and Josiah opted for candy, mostly the gummy variety.  

Caroline literally ate just the sprinkles and said she didn't want the ice cream.  It was for the best because those sprinkles came back up at midnight.  After throwing up quite a bit, Caroline mumbled, "too many sprinkles."  Fortunately, she wasn't sick with a virus, just a too-much-vacation-junk-food sick.  But that was the end of the beach vacation.  We packed up the next morning and headed back to Hampton, with a slight apology to my brother and his wife for the less-than-fresh bed they were going to takeover.