The Hazen Family: The Jersey Shore

I probably should have expected a bit of a crazy day when both kids were awake by 5:45 this morning!!! We had been planning on going to the beach (well, the shore as it's called around here), and Grandpa had taken off work so he could go with us. Danielle was going to stay home with Grandma. After waking up at 5:30am, I figured she'd probably be ready for a morning nap around 7:30am. We had planned to leave for the beach around 9am, so the timing would work out well for me to put her down for a nap before leaving. Um, note to self - when plans involve babies and toddlers, be prepared to change the plans!!

I started trying to put Danielle down for a nap around 7am because she was really acting tired. After nearly an hour, she still wouldn't go down. I was debating with myself whether or not to even to go to the beach at all. She was extremely fussy, and I was pretty sure that if she was fussy with Mommy, she'd be even more fussy with Grandma. Then she decided to throw up. Not just spit up, but really throw up. It's the first time she's ever thrown up, and it was pretty gross! No wonder she wasn't acting herself!! With Aunt Kim in the shower that has the tub, I immediately put Danielle in the kitchen sink to take her clothes off. I told Peter that we couldn't go to the beach today because Danielle was sick. He wasn't too pleased with that, and he kept saying he wanted to go to the beach. I felt bad because we had been talking about the beach so much and how fun it was and here we were telling Peter he now couldn't go - very tough for a 2-year-old to understand.

When Aunt Kim was done with her shower, Peter and I gave Danielle a bath. Apparently throwing up made her feel better because she seemed back to her normal self during her bath. After watching her a few minutes, I told Peter to go ask Grandpa if he still wanted to go to the beach. The weather was beautiful, so we could just take Danielle with us. In the end, all of us (Grandma and Danielle included), spent the day at the shore. Peter said that Danielle felt better because he wasn't homesick anymore. :)

It felt a bit strange at first that I was putting on my swimsuit to go to the beach when it wasn't even 60 degrees at 9am. However, it warmed up into the 70s and felt great by the time we got there. After being up since 6am, Peter was a bit tired and disobedient at first, but he settled down quickly and LOVED the sand and the ocean! He had a great time playing in the water with Grandpa while Danielle and I sat on the blanket.

Then, once Danielle was settled in with Grandma on the boardwalk, Peter and I enjoyed playing in the waves and in the sand. As we walked into the water, he wanted me to carry him so we could go further out. Um, I really don't care to be in the ocean that far out, so I told him that we couldn't go that far unless we were with Daddy. He accepted that answer and we spent our time playing in the water where we could still see our feet. :)

Once we had enough of the sand and the water, we cleaned up and headed to the boardwalk. Danielle put her feet in the sand once just to say that she did. :)

Peter enjoyed playing some games. Aunt Amy tried to convince him to play her favorite game (skee-ball), but he was much more interested in the basketball game instead. He also enjoyed bonking the moles as they came out of the holes.

Then it was on to the rides! For the first time, Peter was actually tall enough to ride some of the boardwalk rides. He even rode them by himself!! He had a blast - it was neat watching him get so excited to ride a bicycle (the motorcycles) and the big frucks!!