Well, we finally got to get away for a few days. We were all looking forward to it. We went to Seaside Heights, NJ. Cassidy was on the beach and saw the ocean for the first time in February in Virginia. Of course, it was too cold to really enjoy, so this time she couldn't wait to get into the water. Her first impression "COLD!". She loved the sand and had to taste it.
She enjoyed playing with all her sand toys.
Much to the dismay of her big brother (and his best friend who we brought along), Cassidy's attention span at the beach is much like her mother's -- SHORT. After a couple hours of sand and sun, she was crawling back in her wagon and wanting to go.
Since she decided to boycott naps on this trip, trying to entice her to stay on the beach did not meet with much success. So the teens were NOT happy campers. I can't blame Ryan, because he's not used to having to plan around a toddler, and even tho Zac is used to it, it still was annoying.
So we headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. After dinner we walked the boardwalk, when Cassidy wanted out of the stroller, the boys took her down on the beach. She loved running around in the sand, and the boys tossed a ball around. But since there was she didn't nap well, it called for an early evening. She wouldn't settle, so Daddy had to take her for a ride to fall asleep. Our first attempt was unsuccessful, she apparently cried for "Mommy" while driving around, so Daddy came back for reinforcements and the 2nd snooze cruise was successful and she slept through the night. The boys enjoyed their evening in the pool.
Day 2, we went to the aquarium. It was a nice relaxing time. Even the boys had fun, apparently little boys never outgrow their obsession with SHARKS!! Cassidy enjoyed the fish.
Cassidy catnapped to and from the aquarium and after lunch she fell asleep on the way back to the hotel, so we were hopeful we could put her down and the boys and Chuck would head off to the beach while Mommy napped along with Cassidy. HA! Cassidy had other ideas, she popped right up when we got back to the hotel. The boys headed to the beach, and Mommy thought she'd get the stinker back to sleep -- HA! again. So after awhile Mommy & Cassidy headed to the beach.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!
So back at the beach, Cassidy had fun running around, chasing seagulls, and playing in the sand. Zac and Ryan did some boogie boarding, but it was still pretty cold. They collected tons of clam shells (thankfully, Ryan took those all home with him!)
When miss Cranky got going again, we appeased her for a bit with snacks and sandcastles. No surprise that the best part of the sandcastles was knocking them over.
Zac also spent a good part of the time looking for those little sand crabs, he had some luck. That night we went to a seafood place (YUM) and hung out on the boardwalk. The boys were obsessed with coral necklaces and shark teeth and they went into every jewelry store on the boardwalk. I told Zac more interested in jewelry than me! It was a very cool night. And since once again there were no naps, we went back to the hotel early, with the plan of getting her to sleep. It was fireworks night, so I was going to stay at the hotel with Cassidy and Chuck was going to go back up the boardwalk with the boys for the fireworks. Cassidy fell asleep quickly and was out like a light, but of course now Mother Nature had some tricks for the boys and it started to rain. So they decided to hang out by the pool, instead of going back up to the boardwalk. The rain was minimal, so the fireworks did go off, and the boy got to see them from the deck level of the hotel.
Zac's big find, a DEAD crab. ICK. The last day we went up to the beach early, spent a couple hours til lunch time. Dropped the boys at the hotel and did a McDs run, hoping someone would fall asleep. Well she did, but as soon as we went to put her down she popped up, what a STINKER. After lunch, Chuck and the boys went back to the beach for a couple hours. Got even more shells.
We did check out early, just because of sleeping issues Chuck & I didn't sleep well either because of her restlessness at night). And I'm sure Ryan thinks Zac's mom is the biggest b!tch, because they just didn't always get the concept that it was everyone's vacation, not just theirs, and we had to take Cassidy into consideration. It was still nice to get away. Next time we will definitely splurge for a bigger/divided room, we think just because it was such close quarters, Cassidy was too nosey to sleep, afraid she'd miss something.
I LOVE THIS PICTURE! I do wish Cassidy was happier in it, but I love how Zac looks, it also is a perfect example of how the beach was. One minute Cassidy was all smiles and happy, and then BAM.
We were pleasantly surprised tho, when we came home, that when we put her to bed, she happily went in her crib and didn't make a peep and was out for the count, and today she's gone down for both her naps without a fuss, so we obviously didn't RUIN her sleep schedule for those couple days, cause we were a bit worried.
I don't know when we'll head to the beach again, after a few hours there, I remember why we don't go to the beach often. I am not a beach person, SAND yuck. Especially when as the parent, you have the grand job of getting sand out of every knook and cranny.
Our birth announcement, I made it using my scrapbooking program and printed them through Winkflash -- I usually use Shutterfly, but I found Winkflash and they are quite a bit cheaper for prints. 
