Our beach vacation

We spent a week at the beach at the end of June.  It was so nice and relaxing to just be away.  It  might take a few posts to get all the details in, so bear with me!  First of all, it was Henry's first trip to the beach!  The twins had not been since they were 9 months old, so they did not remember ever seeing the ocean.  We planned our trip for almost a year!  We decided last summer we wanted to go to the beach this year, and started planning accordingly.  I am glad we were so ahead of the game, it helped us find an affordable place to stay and have plenty of time to plan everything.  We had pitched the idea to our whole family about going, but no one got back to us for sure except my mom and step-dad.  So, we went on planning with our family and my mom & step-dad.  We had a few requirements for a house.  First and foremost, we wanted something right on the beach.  We wanted to be able to walk out our door and be at the ocean.  This was important to me because I have stayed where I had to drive to the beach.  I'm not a big fan of that with little ones.  It takes SO much to get them ready to go.  I have also stayed on the beach in a hotel/condo, which also took a lot to get ready and go.  Just picture hauling a diaper bag, toys of sand toys, umbrella, beach bag with towels, cooler or cooler bag with drinks/snacks, and probably a kid or two who's screaming the sand's too hot.  Yep, not my idea of a vacation AT ALL!  I also did not want a pool because Emilynn and Henry have NO FEAR of pools, and I figured I wouldn't sleep at night a wink with a pool!  We have access to plenty of pools at home, so that wasn't a huge deal at all.  The ocean was our main focus!   My mom's requirement was an old-style beach house, like she went to growing up.  I spent a couple of weeks searching online and finally found something I thought was what she meant.  I called them to come over and she said, "Yep, that's it!".   So we booked it!  We were so excited from that point on!  We planned and packed and got everything ready.  Our house was a Sunday to Sunday rental, which turned out nice because we didn't hit any traffic going down.  We decided to leave at 9 am to give us plenty of time to get there.  Everyone questioned us leaving so early, but we did it that way for a couple of reasons.  (check in wasn't until 4 pm and it was only a 4 hour drive).  First of all, bathroom breaks.  My kids are potty trained except Henry, so we knew we'd need to stop a bunch of times for pottying.  We carry a potty in the car, but you still have to pull over and unbuckle, then re-buckle everyone.  Second of all, if you know us at all, leaving at 9 am really means 10 am.  It just does.  We also planned to stop for lunch and let the kids stretch their legs a bit.  Honestly, I really just prefer taking my time going somewhere.  I think part of the vacation is in the going and the road trip. 
We were mostly packed the night before, but loaded the car the morning of the trip.  The kids were super-excited!!  We finally got loaded and were on the road by 9:30 or so, headed to my grandma's, our first stop!  Haha!  She called and wanted us to stop by and get a "piece of money" for the kids. She used to always give us spending money for vacation, so I thought it was sweet she was keeping the tradition going.  I was also given a lecture strict instructions to make sure the kids were allowed to spend their spending money on whatever they chose, whether it be food, toys, candy, or anything silly they wanted with NO input from me.  We then pulled out and left at 10 am, as I predicted! 
The kids did great on the ride down, but we did have to stop several times for bathroom breaks along the way.

 Travel tip- carry a kids' potty with you!  Make sure you get one with a lid- this is super-important!  It is nice to be able to pull over and let the kids potty on a clean potty without unloading everyone and heading into a store or somewhere that may not be clean.  It just makes life so much easier, ESPECIALLY during potty training.  You can also take it out the car and sit it under the car while you are in a store/restaurant.  We've done this and don't worry, no one will steal a potty! 

Back to the trip- we even pulled over on the interstate for the kids to potty- scary!  They were happy riding though, and I had packed plenty of snacks (tip #2).  I felt like the whole morning I was doling out snacks. I took apples, graham crackers, peanut butter crackers, applesauce "squeezies", Organic fruit leathers, Organic cereal bars, and plenty of drinks.  I was honestly constantly having to unbuckle my belt and lean in the back to give a snack to someone, or even to Dustin!  It got us through to lunch, which was at a McDonald's or Arby's (we gave a choice!).  We ate but actually ended up eating in the car to get back on the road.  The kids were good on stretching because of above-mentioned potty breaks.  We didn't have as many potty breaks after lunch, which surprised me.  We had already planned to stop along the way at the Monster Truck headquarters.  We knew Carson would have a fit if we drove by and didn't stop, so we just planned to take that in on the way down.  He loves Monster Trucks and was thrilled at this stop! 

 

"Grave Digger"- I have no idea who this lady is and didn't realize she was in my pic till I uploaded them.  It was the best pic I got- with a new friend in it!  Haha!  What do they call it- she "photo-bombed" me?  Cracked me up!

 

Dustin, Carson, Papa Blake, and I paid $5 and rode this Monster Truck.  Carson was super-excited to ride in a real Monster Truck!  It was fun!

 

This stop was a fun way to start our vacation! 

 

We then loaded back up and headed on to the beach.  We arrived a short while later and headed into our rental office.  They were super-nice and gave the kids Frisbees and cookies.  We headed off in search of our house.  We found it and began settling in.  Actually, we dropped everything and headed to the ocean!  :-) 

 Here is our quaint little cottage: 

 

Our house was right on the beach- we walked right along this porch and right down the steps to the ocean.  It was awesome.  The steps to the right in the pic are beach access for the house behind us.  The people staying there were super-nice.  The ocean is right behind me in the picture. 

 

Our house was not a luxury house, but it was nice and suited our needs.  It had 5 bedrooms, some of which were small.  It had a nice kitchen and we loved sitting on the porch looking at the ocean.  The front porch had a beautiful view of the huge sand dune across the road, so you could watch people climbing that which was also nice.  My only house complaint was my mattress wasn't comfortable.  Oh well, I guess I can't have my mattress from home on vacation!

 

Here were some beach pics from the kids' seeing the ocean for the first time(well, Henry's first time/twins' first time they will remember).  Emilynn promptly laid down and made "sand angels".  They were so excited and not all that scared of the ocean.  It surprised me. 

 

Twins heading down to see the ocean.

 

Henry, checking out the beach for the very first time! 

Twins heading to the water with my mom. 

 

I wonder what they are thinking.... love this pic!

It didn't take long to get adjusted!  I caught Emilynn mid-jump.  She LOVED the water.  All the kids ended up loving the ocean! 

All the kids ended up soaking wet!!!! 

 

 

The aftermath of us- footprints in the sand!  My mom loves this picture. 

 

We spent the rest of our first night unpacking, getting a few groceries, and walking on the beach.  The kids got in the water and got soaked a second time!  Oh, and we also saw and ocean rescue on the very first night- with lifeguards running out to save two boys who fell out of a paddle boat and were tired.  It was crazy- I've never seen an actual "real" rescue before. 

It was an action-packed day, for sure and we were tired at the end of it! 

More details and pics tomorrow!  :-)