Beach Babies!!

A trip to New Jersey in the summer wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Jersey Shore.  Grandpa, Aunt Amy, Aunt Kim, Peter, Danielle, and I spent the day on Wednesday down at Ocean Grove, a quaint little town with a wonderful beach. 

The weather was just perfect - hot enough to enjoy the water, but not too hot to make sitting in the sand uncomfortable.  Danielle's first trip to the beach last summer was a bit too early in her life for her to really enjoy it.  She showed us this year that she is definitely a beach baby!  She started digging in the sand as soon as I sat her down and she didn't stop until time to pack up. 

It took her a few minutes to warm up to the ocean, but once she did, she loved it!!  Just like Peter enjoyed jumping the waves,  Danielle kept saying "more, more" after a wave would come.  I helped her jump waves until my arms were sore.  Then she enjoyed playing in the water.

Peter's favorite thing about the beach this trip was collecting shells.  There were TONS of mussel shells all over the beach, and more would wash in with every wave.  Peter spent most of his time collecting shells and sitting in a hole in the sand with his collection of shells.

We enjoyed a picnic on the beach before calling it a day.  Danielle threw a fit when I tried to get all of the sand off her hands, so she enjoyed a crunchy mix of Pirate's Booty and sand. 

We finished the day with a walk around town and ice cream.  Danielle fell asleep just as we were headed down the boardwalk and slept until we were ready to go to the car.  The rest of us enjoyed the sites including the tent city that has been there since the late 1800's.

Once home, Peter enjoyed showing off all of his shells, including a mussel shell that still had the mussel inside! 

Here's a little video showing how much fun the kids had at the shore.