Sand Surf and Sunshine

Since we were fairly close to the Jersey shore, we took a day to go play at the beach. This was Cassidy, Lauren and Luke's first ever view of the ocean, so it was a special event. Here they are, about to dip their toes in the ocean for the first time.

Spencer and Rick absolutely love the ocean, as does Amanda. Their family spent a lot of time at beaches when they were younger. I, on the other hand, am not a fan of salt water and not being able to see my feet when standing in the water. I'm scared to death of jellyfish and other aquamarine life that might sting, bite or feel mushy. But none of that bothers Rick and Spencer, so out they headed to enjoy body surfing the waves.

I love this picture of Rick, Amanda and the kids getting ready for another wave. It looks like a doozy is coming, doesn't it?

Luke enjoyed playing in the sand. It was right up his alley to be able to run wild, throw things into the water and use his "outside voice". He seemed to enjoy the beach more than any other place we went on vacation. He was so fun to watch. Here he is after running and then taking a dive into the sand. He did it several times and just smiled each time. What a cutie!

He also enjoyed being buried in the sand. Here is Lauren joining him.

A sand castle was also attempted, despite our not having any sand building utensils. Why does it always happen that right when things are looking really good the tide rises and washes everything away?

While Cassidy and Spencer spent time out in the waves with Rick and Amanda, Lauren used her time hunting for sea shells. She found some pieces with beautiful colors and kept making pile after pile on the blanket. Then she found a special surprise - a live starfish!!! He was quickly named Patrick - I know, not very original in this day of SpongeBob.

Lauren wanted to take poor Patrick home with her, so Kyle put some sand and ocean water in one of our empty water bottles and squeezed him inside. (Needless to say, he didn't survive the remainder of our vacation.)

Then we happened to notice a pair of sunglasses floating in from the ocean. We left them lay for quite a while, but the girls couldn't resist asking if they could keep them. Here's Lauren with the second great find. Nice pose, huh?

The funny thing is, when we got into our vehicles and started heading back to the resort, the kids noticed that the sunglasses started losing their shade - they were someone's prescription transition glasses! We felt awful for not trying to find their owner while on the beach, but we thought they were just a cheap pair of sunglasses! Ooooops!

The drive home from New Jersey was rather interesting. Jersey people don't seem to do well with politeness in the midst of road construction, which led to a great deal of "merging issues" as we termed it. What should have been a two hour ride home ended up taking much longer. Boy, were we happy to get back to the resort to just chill. Who new being on vacation could be so exhausting?

Stay tuned for zoo pics, coming soon!