Ocean City 2013

The growing Stefany clam made our annual trip to Ocean City, New Jersey this past week.  For as long as I can remember, our family rented a house for 2 weeks.  This year we decided to give up a week and splurge for a beachfront property (3808 Wesley Ave).  It was worth every penny.  Once you go beachfront, it will be very hard to go back to anything else... At least until the kids are older.

I mean, look at this view...

And our slice of heaven steps from our house (and flushing toilets, cold drinks, toys, babies during naps... You get the idea)

It was definitely not a vacation with 4 small kids.  Instead of reading a book for hours on the beach, happy hours, and peaceful dinners, we had noise, chaos, biting, screaming, and 6 am wake ups.  It was memorable to say the least and I think we all loved every minute of this precious time with our kids/grand-kids.

A rare happy hour.  

The weather was cloudy and rainy Sunday through Tuesday afternoon.  We made morning trips to the playground at 34th street, pushed strollers (and each other) in the alley, and played on and with Poppop, Uncle Sam, and Uncle Jason.

Bloody Mary at 9 AM... when you've been up since 6 AM, it
feels like 5 o'clock :)

The bigger kids decided Braylen needed all his toys

Chillaxin' on the amazing double recliners

Good thing Dr. Hannah is right there to address Cole's poked
eye courtesy of Evie

First meal and Cole is already making us laugh

Uncle Rides

Every vacation isn't complete without a trip to the ER.  Uncle Sam decided to sharpen a humongous knife to open the package of chicken.  Yep, another trip to Shore Memorial for Jason...

Check out Uncle Sam's semi-permanent thumbs up

It took Evie almost the entire week to warm up to the idea of being sandy (fine by me).  Her cousins dug holes and built sand castles around her. Braylen was content sitting in the Bumbo in the pool or in the chair Daddy created for him in the sand.

She stood like this for probably 20 minutes.

I raved about her beautiful curls

Ahhh

The Hollencamp crew spent most of our time close to home in the pool.  Evie wasn't as anal about sand in the pool this year.  She even jumped into the hole Daddy dug.  No pictures to prove it...

Any digging progress was voided by Cole Bug :)

All the kids played with the tea set nonstop

Braylen enjoyed the breeze while Hannah did
interpretative dance around the compound

Braylen joins the pool party!

And of course there are the obligatory family shots..

One of the few pictures at the lifeguard stand

Yes, Jason is seriously burned.  He decided to make up for 3 days
of no sun by not wearing sunscreen.... I, on the other hand,
barely look like I was in the sun.  We'll see who gets skin cancer first.
My guess is me.

All grandkids are wearing G creations

We were blinded by the sun 

 The best part of this vacation for me was watching the cousins interact.  Cole and Evie are now old enough to play (and have massive tantrums).  Hannah was super sweet to Evie and Evie ate up the time with her big cousin.  Cole beats to his own drum (or his Daddy's drum).  He just wanted to play with the girls, but most of his attempts ended up in high pitched screams "NOOOO COLE!"  Good thing Braylen will be in the mix next year and Cole will have a buddy.  Nevertheless, they were all cute together :)

Keeping it G rated (haha)

Hannah specifically asked to dress like Evie most days

You better lock the bathroom door or you'll have
unwanted visitors

:)

Hannah was gentle and loving to her little cousin

Braylen enjoying some time with this cutie

My two babies

Miles of beach and these two have to be on the same plot
of sand....  ah, siblings.

Thank you G and Poppop for continuing this family tradition.  We love the Jersey Shore!

Fun Filled Fourth

Despite Catonsville, MD being a hot spot for 4th of July activities, this was the first 4th of July in a LONG time we did something 4th of July-y.  It is always so dang gone hot in Maryland, so we opt to do nothing.  I really hate when my knee pits sweat...

This year it was a glorious day in Ocean City!  After a rainy/cloudy few days, the sun was out and all of Ocean City was decked out in red, white, and blue.

"Mr. Independent"

We started off our morning with goodies from Dots Bakery.  We rarely eat anything sweet for breakfast at our house; therefore, a sprinkle doughnut was heavenly to Evie.

Hannah, on the other hand, knows the goodness of a
sprinkle doughnut and was happy to take anything Evie didn't
lick off her plate...  But Evie ate every. single. sprinkle.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a BLIMP!!

After dozens of attempts at pictures of the kids...

...we high tailed it to the bike parade.  Apparently you just show up before it starts, grab a number, and march yourself down Central Avenue.  Maybe next year for this crew

We need to get G and Poppop in the right
colors for next year

The best part was the firetrucks at the beginning

Waving to the Miss Night in Venice girls.  

Evie and her hero, Poppop

Some fun floats among the bikers

After the parade, we hit the beach!  Or some of us hit the sand right behind the house :)

She even had her colors correct on the beach

That night, we bundled up (yes, it was freezing!) and walked 30 seconds to the beach to watch the various fireworks up and down the coast.  Uncle Sam took the night shift at the house with the sleeping little ones.  The booms weren't loud and there was no patriotic music going, but it was so neat to be on the beach at night with hundreds of other families dressed in hooded sweatshirts and wrapped in beach towels.  After the fireworks ended, someone started singing God Bless America.  Every one chimed in.  It was a memorable experience, thank you G for making us do it!

Over the Moon Happy

This week marks Evie fourth week of summer school as well as her first time not crying at drop off!  Weeks 2 and 3 were sad partings for Evie.  She clung to me as soon as we got to her classroom door.  Screaming, foaming at the mouth crying, and overall hysterics shortly followed as I left the room.  Her teacher claimed she only does it for about 5 minutes at the beginning of class then she is fine.

I also got a good report on week 3 that Evie was playing with other kids.  I guess she wasn't other weeks?  Anyhoo, she is making progress!

This week at story time, Miss Julie read On The Moon.  The kids made astronauts and moon walked.  Evie made her astronaut dance for me at home.  Cracks me up

Moon dancing walking

Showing Braylen her astronaut (after she crushed her mask in)

Astronaut Evie hangs out on her cup (I immediately pulled out this cup
to help her drink from an open cup.  Apparently Evie struggles with this
skill at school.  Is she really the only 2 year old that can't do it?!)

Evie is into drawing these days.  Her easel is a hit.  She requests we help her write her name a lot.  I think they work on this at school too.  After dinner Evie asked to draw at the table while we cleaned up the dishes.  I drew her flowers and instructed her to use certain colors to fill in the stem and petals.  I was so impressed with what she created with simple instructions!

After enthusiastic "good jobs!" from me, Evie congratulated herself
on every petal she colored.

PLEASE let Evie have more artistic talent than me!

I guess you could say I was over the moon happy with my little girl's growth today!

Being Girlie

Evie and I had a little girl time together this morning while Braylen napped.

I painted Evie's toe nails for the first time!

She sat very nicely in Braylen's chair

Matching nails for our beach vacation