Sun, Sand and Surf

In July we headed to New Jersey. We adore the beach. The sun, sand, water and smiles that they all bring to our faces!

Our first stop was a quick trip to Sesame Place on the way. The kids love it there and we still have our membership from last year. (I do not take my camera in because we took pictures last year and I did not want to worry about keeping my eye on it).
They played in the water and rode down some water slides. No fear, those kids. Charlie and Logan loved the rides. So much so, Charlie actually had a melt down because she could not just stay on and keep riding. Haaaa!

I got a call from our friend, Amber and the kids. They were leaving NYC and were going to join us for a day at the beach. I text them our address of the hotel we were staying in at Atlantic City and they met us there later that night. It just so happen to be Amber's birthday too. So we had a big dinner out to celebrate that. The kids were SO excited that their friends stopped by. All week long, they called the room next to ours "Audrey and Jack's room" well after they had gone home to Pa.

The kids had a blast on the boardwalk after dinner. They rode rides at the pier. Gary and Audrey even rode the Sling Shot (they sit in a ball and get shot into the air and bounce up and down for awhile). It was a long, crazy and fun day.

The second day was spent on the beach and boardwalk. Dom and Audrey got henna tattoos. We went out to eat and for ice cream. Played in the sand and water. Gary and I walked along the beach, holding hands (one of my favorite things to do).

The rest of the week was all pretty much the same. Ocean, eating at new places that we have not been before, boardwalk, rides and fun. We did get poured on one night coming out of dinner. The lighting over the ocean was beautiful but we were soaked and freezing!

Gary played a few slots and the kids and hung out in the casino lobby while he did. These 3 kids...pretty darn cute! (if I do say so, myself)

On Thursday, it was raining when we woke up. Gary and I researched places to go inside during breakfast. We ended up at the Aquarium, with just about everyone in Atlantic City!

Petting sharks

Petting horseshoe crabs

Logan watching the turtles and talking to them like they are the TMNT (I adore this kid)!

After the rain went away, we headed back to the boardwalk and rode more rides. This is the kids second favorite thing to do. The love it! I am guessing we need to make it to an amusement park soon!

And I did some shopping while the kids had a cool tasty treat of shaved ice.

Before we knew it, it was Friday and time to leave the beach. I had lost my real camera charger so no awesome family/kids beach picture this year. This is as good as I got on my phone:

Makes me sad that I will not get a canvas this year of the kids at the beach. However, we may try to go up to the lake and get pictures before the end of summer to add to our vacation wall. We had a good time. Until next year, ocean. Until next year!