Here the Drexler boys watch cartoons with Noah and Livie as we wait for everyone to arrive. Mom and dad came too and gave all the grandkids hugs and money for the shore before we left. :-) The kids liked that!
It was SO hard taking this picture! Why, you ask? Well, because this was their first glimpse of the ocean and they did NOT want to stand around for pictures!!!! They wanted to go swimming!
You'll notice though that they are all wearing sweaters and jackets. That's because it was a cloudy 65 degree day, with the winds coming off the ocean. Not really a great day to visit the beach, but you'll see in a bit that that didn't stop them one bit from enjoying all the ocean had to offer.
The thing I love most about the shore is the boardwalk. So much to see and do on there. It really hadn't changed much from when I was a kid and would visit.
We decided to get some food before heading to the beach, so we could basically get that out of the way and be sand-free while we ate. We HAD to find a pizza place. The pizza out east is so delicious! This would begin our eating tour of NJ and PA, where we would stuff ourselves to the point of vomiting each day. ;-) This pizza started it all! And, boy, was it good!
As you can see, it was a little place and our families took up nearly the whole place!
Here's my brother and his family.
My cousin-in-law Amy and their family. Her husband Phil in behind her in the grey shirt.
Em, Jeff, Madie, Keni, and I sat in the back, since the rest of our families took up the entire right side of the place. I got my hair dyed the day we left, so this was day 3 of not washing my hair. Gross, I know. But, I didn't figure there was a reason to wash it BEFORE heading to the beach. This information will come in handy later in this post.
My brother-in-law Jeff got a slice of pizza with broccoli on it, just to gross me out, I'm sure. His mind has been corrupted by broccoli, thus lending himself to make poor choices, like the one above. He also taught Madie an "I love broccoli" handshake. He's messed up!
Noah and Madie finished up before Pete and Livie, so I went ahead and took them down to the beach. Remember, it's 65 degrees, if that, and the water feels like it's come up from the artic. Noah didn't hesitate at all and went right in! Sweatshirt and all! That sweatshirt didn't last long though, because he fell right in and got soaked! He loved it!!
Livie just took everything off, but her bathing suit and tentatively went in. After a couple minutes, she was screaming with delight as you'll seen in the video post above. She was trying to drag everyone she could into the water with her to experience the pure joy of it! It was by far the best thing about our whole vacation. It wasn't the ocean itself, but the overwhelming excitement of my kids. We just laughed and laughed at them! It was fantastic!
Here are Jeff, Em, and Keni at the ocean.
Madie is running from the waves. She was so cold and wasn't quite as brave as the others when it came to being in the ocean. A wave knocked her over and she swallowed a bunch of water, so she was a little wary of being too far out after that. She still loved it though!
Noah and my nephew Caleb having a ball "surfing" in the ocean. They didn't have boards or anything. Just pretended and enjoyed every minute!
I didn't get too far in, but tried to stay close to the kids at the edge of the water. All of the kids were in the water and we adults just lined the shore watching. Our feet were frozen, so I don't konw how they managed to not freeze going headfirst into the water like they did! Because it was so cold, we were basically the only ones on that stretch of water. It was really nice.
Here is my cousin Phil and his family.
And, here we are. :-) You have no idea how hard it was taking pictures of them when we were by the water! Trying to make them line up, stand still, and look at the camera for more than 2 sec when they could be in the ocean swimming was like torture to them!
Here they are "surfing" again. :-)
Livie just loving the ocean. She just couldn't get enough of it! When we left, after about an hour or so, she was soooo sad. Just crushed her to have to leave. When I planned this trip, I gave us 3-4 hours there, so we could be back in time for dinner with everyone that night. Reservations were at 5. Three hours is just NOT enough time to fit in an ocean visit. I'll remember that next time.
Pete and the kids playing.
Jeff, Pete, and Micah were totally buddies on this trip. My cousin Becky's husband Quinn was in on the buddy action too that weekend. They were so funny together! I've never seen Pete quite as silly as he was over our vacation. He had a great time with all of them!
Speaking of Quinn, this is him with my cousin Becky and their great children. Madie had the best time playing with Grace and Annie and my cousin Phil's girls, Rose and Rachel. I told her we'd see them again sometime soon, so they could play together some more. She doesn't have any older girl cousins to play with in our family here, so to have extended family that has girls her age was a real treat!
Micah decided to be the bravest of all of us adults and jumped head first into the ocean. He came up FREEZING!!!! Tried to get some of the other guys to follow suit, but they looked at me like I was crazy!
Here is Micah and his family. Notice he put his sweatshirt back on after his dive. ;-)
Just as Madie bonded with the girls, Noah had the best time with his cousins! Caleb and Noah (and Isaiah too) were just cracking each other up all vacation long! Apparently "spongey" means "cool" now, because they were calling each other spongey the whole trip. ;-)
We had them line up by the Ocean City sign as we left. Notice Livie is mad. Like I said earlier, she wasn't the least bit happy we had to leave. She cried and cried.
But we finished our trip with a shopping adventure on the boardwalk. We had to go to Shrivers and watch the salt water taffy being made. Did this every year when we were kids.
And, of course, had to pick out some pieces to take home. They have a huge selection of flavors! Got a pretty big bag full.
We decided to get some food before heading to the beach, so we could basically get that out of the way and be sand-free while we ate. We HAD to find a pizza place. The pizza out east is so delicious! This would begin our eating tour of NJ and PA, where we would stuff ourselves to the point of vomiting each day. ;-) This pizza started it all! And, boy, was it good!
As you can see, it was a little place and our families took up nearly the whole place!
Here's my brother and his family.
My cousin-in-law Amy and their family. Her husband Phil in behind her in the grey shirt.
Em, Jeff, Madie, Keni, and I sat in the back, since the rest of our families took up the entire right side of the place. I got my hair dyed the day we left, so this was day 3 of not washing my hair. Gross, I know. But, I didn't figure there was a reason to wash it BEFORE heading to the beach. This information will come in handy later in this post.
My brother-in-law Jeff got a slice of pizza with broccoli on it, just to gross me out, I'm sure. His mind has been corrupted by broccoli, thus lending himself to make poor choices, like the one above. He also taught Madie an "I love broccoli" handshake. He's messed up!
Noah and Madie finished up before Pete and Livie, so I went ahead and took them down to the beach. Remember, it's 65 degrees, if that, and the water feels like it's come up from the artic. Noah didn't hesitate at all and went right in! Sweatshirt and all! That sweatshirt didn't last long though, because he fell right in and got soaked! He loved it!!
Livie just took everything off, but her bathing suit and tentatively went in. After a couple minutes, she was screaming with delight as you'll seen in the video post above. She was trying to drag everyone she could into the water with her to experience the pure joy of it! It was by far the best thing about our whole vacation. It wasn't the ocean itself, but the overwhelming excitement of my kids. We just laughed and laughed at them! It was fantastic!
Here are Jeff, Em, and Keni at the ocean.
Madie is running from the waves. She was so cold and wasn't quite as brave as the others when it came to being in the ocean. A wave knocked her over and she swallowed a bunch of water, so she was a little wary of being too far out after that. She still loved it though!
Noah and my nephew Caleb having a ball "surfing" in the ocean. They didn't have boards or anything. Just pretended and enjoyed every minute!
I didn't get too far in, but tried to stay close to the kids at the edge of the water. All of the kids were in the water and we adults just lined the shore watching. Our feet were frozen, so I don't konw how they managed to not freeze going headfirst into the water like they did! Because it was so cold, we were basically the only ones on that stretch of water. It was really nice.
Here is my cousin Phil and his family.
And, here we are. :-) You have no idea how hard it was taking pictures of them when we were by the water! Trying to make them line up, stand still, and look at the camera for more than 2 sec when they could be in the ocean swimming was like torture to them!
Here they are "surfing" again. :-)
Livie just loving the ocean. She just couldn't get enough of it! When we left, after about an hour or so, she was soooo sad. Just crushed her to have to leave. When I planned this trip, I gave us 3-4 hours there, so we could be back in time for dinner with everyone that night. Reservations were at 5. Three hours is just NOT enough time to fit in an ocean visit. I'll remember that next time.
Pete and the kids playing.
Jeff, Pete, and Micah were totally buddies on this trip. My cousin Becky's husband Quinn was in on the buddy action too that weekend. They were so funny together! I've never seen Pete quite as silly as he was over our vacation. He had a great time with all of them!
Speaking of Quinn, this is him with my cousin Becky and their great children. Madie had the best time playing with Grace and Annie and my cousin Phil's girls, Rose and Rachel. I told her we'd see them again sometime soon, so they could play together some more. She doesn't have any older girl cousins to play with in our family here, so to have extended family that has girls her age was a real treat!
Micah decided to be the bravest of all of us adults and jumped head first into the ocean. He came up FREEZING!!!! Tried to get some of the other guys to follow suit, but they looked at me like I was crazy!
Here is Micah and his family. Notice he put his sweatshirt back on after his dive. ;-)
Just as Madie bonded with the girls, Noah had the best time with his cousins! Caleb and Noah (and Isaiah too) were just cracking each other up all vacation long! Apparently "spongey" means "cool" now, because they were calling each other spongey the whole trip. ;-)
We had them line up by the Ocean City sign as we left. Notice Livie is mad. Like I said earlier, she wasn't the least bit happy we had to leave. She cried and cried.
But we finished our trip with a shopping adventure on the boardwalk. We had to go to Shrivers and watch the salt water taffy being made. Did this every year when we were kids.
And, of course, had to pick out some pieces to take home. They have a huge selection of flavors! Got a pretty big bag full.
Now I had said earlier that I hadn't washed my hair since Thursday when we left and here it was Sat. So, my plan was to leave around 2, so we could get back in time for all of us to shower before our big dinner together with nearly the entire family. Well, we shopped so long that it was 3 by the time we left! I was freaking out! I couldn't go see family that I hadn't seen in a decade with 3-day old hair. But, we made it home and believe it or not, all 5 of us showered, got dressed, and ready to go in 45 min!! That was a feat and a half, I must say! But, we had a great time at the ocean and are already making plans to go back. Can't wait!!!
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