Life along the Mommy trail: Vacation to NJ

Family photo on the board walk of Ocean City, NJ

The NJ trip was interesting, to say the least. It had it's good points and it's bad points. But I believe that happens with any trip that you take!

We traveled late Tuesday night and arrived in Ocean City, NJ around 4am. Sam's brother Ben was up waiting for us, and helped us bring everything into the house. Once everything was in the house, I got JD back and kicked everyone out of our room so that I could get him down. I've come to learn that JD doesn't sleep in the car. So the trip was long for us all, but he was very well behaved throughout the whole thing! Even I was getting cranky after 6 hours of driving. I was amazed at how much traffic was still in NY city at 3am!!

Wednesday morning we got up and went for an early morning walk over to the farmers market with Sam's parents. We picked up some fresh fruit and some flowers. On our way back to the house, we ran into Sam's grandmom. So JD finally got to meet his Great-Grandmom. It was such a sweet moment,and you could tell she really was happy to see him. She couldn't stop gushing about how handsome and big he was. Melts my heart that I was able to get some good photos for JD to have. I hope he gets to continue to spend time with her so that he can have memories to go with them.

That afternoon we headed off to the beach, and JD loved it!! The water was a nice temperature too, so I let JD put his toes in the surf. We had a beach hut, so we were able to stay out for a bit. JD took his naps right on the beach and we enjoyed spending time with the big Fox clan. It was a bit overwhelming for both of us since there were so many that wanted to meet me (since they hadn't come up to our wedding, and then to meet the baby!) That night we went to dinner at one of Sam's dad's brothers rental house. (They do the big family dinners) After which, we headed up to the boardwalk with Sam's brothers Pat and his family, and Benny with his girl friend. We went to get ice cream and uncle Pat gave JD his first taste of vanilla ice cream. Boy did he love that. Following that, we hit the beach at sunset, so that the boys could play Frisbee with Zoe and Joe. (Pat's 2 children) That day went great, and we ended it with JD going to bed like an angel and we got to play games with the brothers.

However, Thursday everything went to the wind. Sam thought I was being crazy with some of my rules with the baby. My big one is that children can not hold him if they are standing or on the couch. While we were getting ready for breakfast, I look over and Sam's father had handed my son off to Sam's niece. I looked at Sam to fix it so it didn't make a scene. But he told me I was over-reacting!! I was livid. I couldn't believe he would flat out do that. Especially when certain things were done for his safety. We had a pretty mean blow out, so I took JD and locked ourselves into our room. It was a rainy day, so it proved to be a long one anyways. Sam just didn't get the point. I went out to speak with Zoe and explain that it wasn't her fault. It was that some things need to be followed and her Uncle Sam was not following them. Well I sadly got my point across that evening during the family dinner. That night was held at our house, and one of the cousins has a baby boy that is a month older than JD. Zoe was holding him (thankfully on the floor) and he pitched himself forward and smacked his head on the floor! The baby wasn't hurt, just stunned. But it definitely woke Sam up! Pat looked at Zoe and explained that that was why I had the rule to hold him while sitting on the floor. B/c babies wiggle a lot and are hard to keep still. Imagine if that baby had been up any height! That night Sam apologized for what he had done, and we moved past it. After the dinner, we headed off to the boardwalk again to have ice cream and play some mini-golf. So, all in all it was another great evening.

Friday was another sunny day, so we were able to head back to the beach to enjoy our last day at the shore with the family. We stayed for that evenings dinner and a last walk on the board walk. Then about 8:30 we left and headed home. JD did well again in the car, even if he didn't sleep. The traffic home was a lot worse then on the way down, but we hit NY city around midnight on a Friday night, so I was surprised.

All in all, it was a decent trip. But boy were we all glad to finally be home!!

And here are all the photos! Well some of them!