First Beach Trip

Summary: I don't expect anyone to even attempt to read this long post. I journaled everything in way too much detail at the end of each day. It's for my own memory. To give you a short conclusion of the trip, it was a success.

The sound of the waves crashing on the beach put us to sleep every night. We woke to that same peaceful sound every morning. We all ate horrible food and were lazy as we possibly could be.

It feels like Natalie aged a few months in the few days we were there. She learned to sign "more" when she wanted more food, learned to play peek-a-boo, and even took a couple of independent steps. I am so proud of her.

Matt and I also enjoyed our time together and rekindled some romance we have kinda let fall by the wayside.

Everything was blissful, minus the day I broke my $400 dollar lens (day three).

 All in all it was an amazing time, one I'll never forget. I hope you all enjoy the photos I've shared!


Day one: September 16th, 2012. Today was great! It was the first time Natalie got to experience the beach and she seemed to like it. The car trip wasn't nearly as long as I thought it would take (about two 1/2 or three hours) and she didn't completely flip out in the car like I thought either.

We got here about four o'clock and once we were settled we headed out to the beach. We got our feet wet and played in the sand. Her reaction to everything wasn't huge but she did give a few smiles and I think she liked the new experience. Then we went back to the room, got cleaned up and I decided to take Natalie back out so Matt could relax alone.

We went for a walk and played on the beach. There was a little girl on the beach who was interested in Natalie. She was about 10 or 11 years old and super sweet. They played together as well as a baby and 10 year old can play together (which isn't very well) and then Natalie and I went back to our room.

We watched tv, ate dinner (pizza) and now she's fast asleep for the night.  I have the balcony door open right now as I type and the sound of the waves is beautiful. Yes, indeed. Life is good.

Pondering life. 

Sandy bum. 

Mommy, baby and ridiculously squishy boobs.  

She really likes taking photos with us.

Day Two: September 17th, 2012 We woke up to the sound of crashing waves because I left the balcony open. (We're on the fourth floor.) After getting cleaned up we went for a short walk on the boardwalk. There we stopped at a souvenir shop where I bought some sunglasses and a magnet. (It's my thing that I have to buy magnets when we go on vacation.)

We got back to the room, Natalie took a nap and then it was lunch time. It took us forever to find a restaurant that looked decent and we finally just settled on going to another hotel that had a restaurant for fine dinning. Food sucked but it was a momentous event. I ordered Natalie some mac-n-cheese (healthy, I know) and I was feeding her I asked her if she wanted more, and signed it to her. She looked at me, waited a little while and then signed more back! I was so phsyed but a little cautious to say she did it on her own. Then throughout lunch I would ask her without doing the sign and she did it back. This was a definite first and I was beyond proud!

After lunch we went to the room to change to go to the beach. We got to the beach, built a really lame but awesome sandcastle (a family first), played in the muddy sand, saw some dolphins and then the weather got gloomy so we went back to the hotel. There we spontaneously decided to head to the indoor pool. After that Natalie took another nap. We hung out in the hotel until dinner. We then headed to a restaurant and ate. It was an okay restaurant. The atmosphere was amazing: laid back, scenery was gorgeous, outdoors, kid friendly... but the food was crappy. It was still a great time. Then we went back and put Natalie to sleep after a couple hours. Now I'm listening to the waves and enjoying some wine. Damn I'm going to miss this place...

Early morning beach

"Look, Mom, I can build it on my own." (My arm looks so discolored because there was something on my lens, not because I'm really dirty.) 

Mud lover

Family pic before dinner

Day three: September 18th, 2012 Today we woke up, got ready and headed out to Asseteuge State Park to try and see some wild ponies. Natalie fell asleep in the car and slept the whole drive. (It should have taken about 40 minutes but we had to turn around a few times because we were a little lost so it took longer.)

The park was a pretty big disappointment. I expected that there would be horses roaming everywhere and that I could get some awesome photos. (I honestly didn't get very many photos today.)

We tried to get out and walk around the beach but it was way too windy. Sand was blowing on our legs and in our face and it hurt like hell.

We then drove around the entire park but didn't see a single horse, even though horse crap was everywhere. We finally decided to leave since there were no activities we could do. Once leaving the park we noticed a car stopped on the side of the road. The passengers in the car were observing two horses that had walked right up to them. We of course were excited and pulled over to get a better look. We gawked, Natalie wasn't impressed and then we left.

We then stopped at CVS for some things and Wendy's for lunch.

We headed to the hotel room and tried our damnedest to get Natalie to take a nap but she was not having it. We decide to head to the beach to wear her out. Once we stepped outside we were hit in the face with huge gusts of wind. We tried to fight it but the sand hit us in the face so there was nothing we could do but turn around. We stopped at the indoor pool and swam for a short while. There was a young couple that was on their honeymoon at the pool and we made small talk with them.

We again went to our room and tried to get her to nap. By this point the weather was getting worse and there were tornado and sever thunderstorm watches. I was a little freaked out. We hung out in the room since there was absolutely nothing to do.

There's a coffee table in the room, and Natalie loves cruising around it. She holds onto the sides and walks around the living room. She was standing near the couch and decided to walk to the coffee table all on her own. She took a couple of steps all on her own and we were so ecstatic! I don't think she even realized she wasn't holding onto anything.

Later, I was distracted by some nut job who was in the ocean swimming while bad weather was occurring and Natalie was doing her thing playing on with the table. Matt was on the other side of the room listening to his voicemail. As I look to check on her she is squatting and standing, then loses balance and hits her face on the table. I was taking pictures of the guy in the ocean (with my telephoto lens that I got for my birthday), and I dropped it on the floor to try and catch her. The lens is completely fucked, which really sucks because I think it's past it's warranty and it was REALLY expensive.

Finally, around five o'clock Natalie fell asleep.

Matt and I spent some time together, and then debated what to do about her sleeping schedule. If we woke her up she would be cranky. If we let her sleep she would be up all night. We decided to try and keep her asleep for the night, despite how early it was.

That of course didn't work and she woke up around eight and she was not in a good mood. We gave her a bath, ate some dinner and played. Around nine thirty I took her down to the pool again and we had fun playing with a ball that someone left. I would smack it across the pool and then we would chase it and do it all over again and she just loved this. We only stayed fifteen minutes because her little lip began to quiver from being cold. Then we took a bath together. I was hiding my face behind a washcloth and saying, "Where's Mommy?" and she would pull the washcloth down and I would shout, "Peek-a-boo!" and she would giggle. We did this many, many times. Then I took a little plastic clam she has and hid my face. This was the same routine as the washcloth, but then I hid her face and pulled the clam away and shouted peek-a-boo. Then she took the toy and put it to her eyes. I asked, "Where's Natalie?" and she pulled it down with a smile as I said, "Peek-a-boo!" She seriously amazes me. She finally fell asleep around 11:15, which is a lot earlier than I anticipated. Matt's knocked out too and here I am again trying to remember every little yet special moment of the day. We're leaving tomorrow around eleven probably and I am really going to miss this.

It was an incredible vacation, one I'll never forget. We're going to be taking home a lot of memories and I can't wait to share them with baby girl when she's older.

Neigh horsey

This thing was getting way too close to me so I had to back up.

Trying to walk along the beach

After a few self timed family shots Natalie was through with it. 

Day four: September 19th, 2012 Good-bye Ocean City! We left this morning around eleven o'clock since Natalie was ready for a nap. Before hitting the road we took one last walk around the beach and got some last photos. It was pretty chilly out, so I'm glad I prepared and packed some long sleeves.

Kinda squinty eyed.