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!