A Trip We Won't Soon Forget...

Ed and I have been separated at night on this trip. He slept in a room with Gavin and I slept in a room with Brian. Last night Brian ended up in my bed in the middle of the night. A twin bed. I have the bruises to prove it. We all slept in this morning until after 9am, which was nice. Even nicer was that we and many other family members spent the next several hours in our pajamas! My sister, Meg, made a great breakfast of pancakes and bacon and we all just hung out.

It took us a while to get ourselves together and onto the beach - which is sad as we are literally steps away from sand. Gavin was, once again, loving the water. I sat with him for a while and loved watching him laugh as the waves crashed around him.

At one point while filming him a BIG wave came in and toppled him right on his back. He wasn't phased a bit! It was a true miracle that my camera didn't get flung into the ocean as I reached down to grab him!!

Ed and I switched boys and he took Gavin out further into the ocean for some real action. Brian was happy to play in the sand...

And, as usual, was covered from head to toe. Ed came up with an ingenious way of de-sanding him before we went into the house!

The boys didn't last too long on the beach before we came back for naps. We knew we'd be going to the boardwalk tonight so naps were a priority! Gavin slept for a good 2-2 1/2 hours, which is huge. Brian sat quietly in his crib and read books - but didn't shut his eyes once.

Later we all got together for dinner. These are all the grandchildren that were here (minus baby Isabella!)

We couldn't wait to get to the boardwalk. I was so excited that my parents and my sisters would get to see Gavin and Brian on the rides.

Gavin enjoyed a moment with his Pop - I'm not sure what they were talking about, but Gavin sure was happy!

Brian, who fell asleep on the car ride to the boardwalk, took a long while to rally. He was exhausted!

We started off on the fire trucks and everyone was so excited to see Gavin riding alone thanks to "Granny's Chest Strap". Believe it or not, they had to stop the ride at one point for my child. Not Gavin...BRIAN! He started crying and wouldn't stop. They stopped the ride and Ed went in to get him. If Gavin could talk, I think we would have heard, "Hurry up and get my brother out of here so we can start this ride again!"

Brian enjoyed the rest of the night from his stroller and watched his brother have fun. We tackled the Frog ride...

Daddy took him on the Elephants...

And then a whole bunch of us rode the Merry go Round together.

Gavin's Godmother, Aunt Bean, even got the gold ring!!

We had such a great time over the last few days. Tonight was our last night with my family. Ed and I will head back home tomorrow and everyone else is staying at the beach until next week. We're going to try to pack in a lot of fun before we leave tomorrow and will have lots to unpack once we get home, so I will not be writing a journal entry until Tuesday. Even though we only stayed a couple days, we're so grateful that we were able to spend the time that we did with everyone. This is one trip we won't soon forget.

Happy 4th of July!!