Vacations are exhausting! You wear yourself out preparing for it, and then wear yourself out again ending it. Only the middle part — once you’re “there” and actually settled in — is relaxing. And in our case, only semi-relaxing, since we still had kidlets to chase after.
But overall, we had a really great time. No major hiccups, Alyssa was great, Ryan was fantastic (no rocking! But I credit that to him being absolutely exhausted after spending the majority of each day frolicking in the pool or in the sand), and Daniel and I had the opportunity to get away for a few hours on Sunday night.
Friday
We checked in, hauled everything inside our room, then let the kids hit the pool. The heated pool. It was quite awesome, btw. I’m spoiled. (So spoiled, in fact, that when I went into the local, non-heated pool this evening, I was freezing!) After spending a few hours in the pool, the five of us headed down to the beach. We got down there right around when the lifeguards left for the day, but we still frolicked in the ocean a bit.
After washing off the sand and taking quick showers, we headed out to The Dough Roller for dinner. It sounds like a pizza-only establishment, but they also served hamburgers, fish, spaghetti, and a few other odds and ends. I wound up having nachos and a few slices of Dan’s cheese & chicken pizza.
Bedtime for the kids was easy enough, since they were so tired! In fact, we all were. I stayed up long enough to upload some photos to Flickr, and then I too was asleep — right before midnight!
Saturday
We must have spent at least four hours in the motel’s pool on Saturday. Dan and I took a break to run to the store for a few things for lunch, and then we came back and made hot dogs, and served them, chips, a raspberry danish pastry and donuts for lunch by the pool.
In the afternoon we took the kids inside the motel room to relax and wind down for a bit, and Ryan fell asleep beside me while I was reading a magazine. Alyssa conked out while watching Spongebob, and I took the opportunity to take a shower and scrub the chlorine out of my hair. While the kids were still asleep, Dan and I went down to the beach to walk along the ocean in the early evening, and to take a few photos.
On Saturday evening we hit the boardwalk. We scrounged up dinner out of hot dogs, french fries and ice cream, checked out some shops, purchased a few items (Alyssa picked out a little aquarium with two water frogs in it!), and then went over to the amusement park. I didn’t do any rides because 1) the prices were ridiculously high and 2) I was more interested in finding a bathroom (I’m pretty sure my bladder is not much bigger than a lima bean), but Dan took Alyssa on the ferris wheel, Alyssa and Ryan on the merry-go-round, and Alyssa and Ryan rode a little kiddie ride by themselves. I purchased a craft of wiffle balls for $5, and Alyssa managed to get her first one in a red-rimmed circle, which entitled her to a stuffed Spongebob.
Then, the long walk back. We started at 14th Street and walked all the way past 1st Street to the Pier, where the amusement park was located. Then we walked alllllllllllllllllll the way back. Did I mention the amusement park was 1.3 miles from where we parked our car? Well, two of us made the walk back. My mom waited for us to come back with the car, and Alyssa rode tandem with Ryan in the stroller.
We got back to the motel room, settled the kids down, and passed out ourselves not long after!
Sunday
Sunday was more relaxed. Alyssa and Ryan were raring to go into the pool as soon as they got up, so we let them chill in the pool for a bit, and then we got everything together for an afternoon at the beach. Dan set up the umbrella, chairs and towels around noon, and I brought the kids down a few minutes later. We hung out and enjoyed sandwiches, chips, water and juice, while the kids played in the sand. Alyssa and Ryan played with a few other kids, and Alyssa walked along the water’s edge every now and again.
Dan and I took the opportunity to try out some body boards we picked up the night before on the boardwalk. He was only in the water for a few minutes, but I was in for a good hour, having a blast with the body boards. It really is a lot of fun and not scary at all, so long as you get the hang of it and make sure to ride the waves, rather than get swept around by them. ;)
In the evening we went back to the motel, and while I stayed with the kids in the pool, my mom and Dan got showered and dressed. Then I came in with the kids, and they got dressed while I showered, and then the five of us went over the Phillips Seafood. We paid $28 apiece (for us adults; the kids were free) for the seafood buffet, but oh my god, IT WAS SO WORTH IT.
After the buffet, we dropped my mom and the kids off at the motel, and then Dan and I grabbed two beach chairs and a beach blanket and headed down to the beach. Sitting down in front of the ocean in the dark was pretty cool, and it was fun when the tide started to come in a bit. After we got bored of that, we went and did some mini-golfing, and then went back to the motel and went to bed.
Monday
We were up by 9am on Monday morning. We were up by 10am the other mornings, but we wanted an extra hour to be able to pack and get out of the room by the 11am checkout. My mom took the kids to the pool, and in between packing Dan and I managed to sneak some time in for a quickie (first time I’ve had sex out of state, hah), and then resumed packing up everything and taking everything out to the cars.
After we checked out, we let the kids play in the pool some more, and then we went down to the beach for a few hours. I did some more body boarding, and my mom tried it out, though she was a little wary since she can’t swim. Plus, the waves totally kicked her ass, both getting and out. Heh.
We left the beach for the last time, let the kids take one last dip in the pool (have I mentioned that they could NOT get enough of swimming in the motel’s temperature-regulated pool?), and then rinsed off, dressed, and hit the road. We were back home by 7:30pm, and had everything in, the kids bathed and in bed before 9pm.
I haven’t done much today. I unpacked most of our stuff last night, and today I worked on laundry and cleaning up around the house. Dan worked early, and once he got home we took the kids out to the local pool. I’m really loving how much Ryan is loving the water now, and how he isn’t afraid to jump right in and swim around (once he has his swim vest on).
Oh, and tonight? BOTH kids were jumping off the diving board and into the deep end (12′)! When Ryan first climbed up onto the diving board last week I about had a heart attack, even though I know his swim vest is firmly in place and there’s a lifeguard right there, plus Dan and I. But yeah, up they both went, and off the board they went, several times. Alyssa needed some coaxing at first, but then she was jumping off time and again like a pro. 
Right now the kids are finishing up their dessert. The busy weekend and two hours spent in the pool tonight clearly worked up their appetite, since they wolfed down two slices of pizza (each), TV dinners and ice cream cones!
And I? Am completely wiped out. Physically, my arms and calves are aching from all of the swimming, surfing and wave-battling I did over the course of four days. And wrangling kids and organizing our days was a little tiresome, and coming home to the standard housework and mountains of vacation-dirtied laundry just sucks. ;)
But I am honestly glad to be home. As nice as our vacation was, and as decent as our motel was (small room, two spring-happy double beds, but everything was clean, the pool rocked, the staff was nice and we were a two minute walk from the beach!), it feels good to be home and back in my bed.
Glad to hear your vacation went so well! But yeah, the preparation and coming home can be quite exhausting!
Getting ready and then coming back from vacations is the parts I really do not like especially when packing for a whole family. If you only had to pack for yourself it’d be okay but add the kids in, or in my case siblings, and it’s hectic!
I’m glad ya’ll did have fun though and from the pictures it was gorgeous there! Alyssa and Ryan looked like they were having a ball!!
Wow, your vacation sounded like it was busy but a lot of fun with the kids and tons and tons of swimming of course. I’m envious! I’m glad y’all had fun though and I can’t believe Alyssa and Ryan are going off the diving board. Wow!
Coming back from vacation is the hardest. I’m glad that you had a good time and the picture of Ryan and Alyssa hugging at the beach is really cute. I’m just waiting to go to the beach now
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Aw looks like you guys had an awesome time, though!! Great pictures!!! :D
So jealous of your trip! It sounds fantastic… just the way an Ocean City trip should be! Isn’t Phillip’s amazing? I really it; the food is so delicious.