The last full day of our trip was to be spent on a beach along the Jersey shore but the day had a lot of hiccups.
Everyone woke up completely cranky because we were all over-tired. Mike locked the keys in the car while packing it up. Matthew got sand in his eye at the beach and was hysterical while leaving (and making a colossal scene). I stepped on a nail when leaving the beach that went through my flip flop and punctured my skin. Our hotel by the beach was TINY, a little dingy, and we had about half the number of towels that we needed.
Thankfully we had a really nice time at the beach. I just wish the rest of the day hadn’t turned out to be such a nightmare. Things actually went so badly that I had to cancel plans to go to a boardwalk amusement park with a friend vacationing in NJ. The boys (and their parents) just weren’t up to it.
Our spot at the beach.
We actually had to pay to go to the beach (Seven Presidents Oceanfront Park in Long Branch, NJ) which is something I’ve never seen before. Because we were going on a weekday (Friday), we only had to pay for Mike and me and then we also had to pay to park. I think it was $21 in total. The nice part was that there was a club house right at the beach with concessions, a bathroom, outdoor showers, etc. It was nice to have those conveniences.
The beach got insanely packed. I’ve never seen anything like it. I never felt like anyone was sitting right on top of me but there were people everywhere! This wasn’t too bad – it got significantly more busy after this.
The water was pretty rough and the current was really strong so it was really difficult for us to handle the boys in the water.
Mike got “talked to” about not going out too deep into the water while we were there. We just couldn’t win on this trip!
After baths/showers, naps, and a big dinner, we got a restful night of sleep and headed home in the morning. It was a loooong but (thankfully) uneventful drive home.
All-in-all, it was an awesome trip. 🙂