Day at the Beach

Today was HOT here in northern New Jersey (94 degrees and humid) , so Maribel suggested we hit the shore! Perfect timing, since I got a pedicure on Thursday :) Anyway, I spent last night and this morning PACKING up all the gear we could possibly need to keep a 2 year old and an 8 month old busy, clean, and fed on the beach. I woke up at 8:15 but I still didn't pull out of the driveway until 10:45! Soon thereafter I took the picture to the right of all the gear: 2 beach bags, 1 cooler, 2 chairs in the trunk, and 2 kids!



For those of you who aren't familiar with NJ, the "Jersey Shore" is where a lot of people spend time in the summer. You hop onto the Garden State Parkway which takes you straight to all the beach towns. I am pretty sure that the exit numbers are coordinated with the mile markers on the parkway, so everyone here gets a rough idea of where things are located based on the exit number off the parkway ... we live off exit 168, near the top of New Jersey (I think there's only one more exit before you reach NY) and the parkway ends at the most southern beach town of Cape May. Basically, once you hit exit 105 and lower, you're near the beach. Today, we took exit 100 to Bradley Beach. It took us about an hour and 20 minutes to get there (which was great) because there was no traffic. With gas prices so high, not as many people are making day trips or weekend getaways to the beach this summer.

As soon as we got to the beach, I learned a VERY valuable lesson: put sunscreen on your children BEFORE you reach the sand! I didn't apply sunscreen at home because I figured it would get wiped off from sitting in their car seats and I'd have to reapply once we got there. By the time we got all the gear to our spot (two trips from the car), Reagan had already covered herself in sand. As you can imagine, it was NOT fun trying to cover every inch of her with sunscreen.I loved that it was low tide, since there was plenty of flat wet sand on which to run. I can't believe I didn't get a single picture with seagulls in it, since she spent most of her time chasing them. She kept saying, "let's catch a seagull!"

It had been a whole year since I'd visited the beach, so I was excited about going, especially since Reagan loved it so much last year. I loved watching Reagan play in the sand and water. I loved that there was always a nice breeze, so it never felt hot. The water felt wonderful and we were with great company.

Now that I've said some GOOD things about the beach, I have to be honest and tell you all the BAD things about the beach. First of all, I absolutely HATE the sand. It sticks to your skin and just makes you feel dirty. It's very difficult for me to watch sand get in every single crevice of my children's' bodies. It's also very humid at the Jersey shore, so you feel sticky the entire time. After getting out of the water, I felt like I never got dry. Although the breeze felt nice, it also caused our hair to constantly blow in our faces ... I wish I'd brought a hat to keep my hair tucked away. I guess I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with the beach. It was fun, but I think I'll stick with the nice clean pool the rest of the summer :)

Joaquin took a face plant into the sand ...

Reagan playing with her squirt toy

Avery has become quite the little muncher ... she was content sitting in this chair, munching on Gerber corn puffs (Thanks Camille - you got her hooked!)

Reagan had a dirty swim diaper, so I opted to put a clean suit on her after I changed her

Maribel and her mother Nayda

Reagan loved watching the waves, but they scared her. She splashed around in the very shallow area (which was very large because it was low tide), but I had to carry her into the deeper part where the waves were crashing.

Reagan decided to sit on her sister's lap

Cheese!

Avery's hair instantly went curly once we were at the beach! Isn't this "mohawk curl" adorable?I guess she's going to have curly hair like her sister :)

Last summer, someone told me this: "Never go to the beach without a bottle of Baby Powder!" I can't believe that I remembered to throw it into my bag, but I did and it TOTALLY SAVED ME!! Honestly, this is one of the best things for removing sticky sand from your body. When we got back to the car, Reagan helped me smother her body with baby powder ... the sand came right off and it left her skin feeling smooth and soft. She looked like a ghost afterward, but I'd rather have a car full of baby powder than sand!

All in all, it was a great day at the beach. We started packing up our stuff at 5:00pm and by the time we hit the road, it was about 5:40. We got home around 7:00 and we immediately hit the bathtub! I'd never felt so happy to be CLEAN!