For our 6 year anniversary, Michael decided to surprise me with a trip to the beach. He was going to keep it all very hush-hush and just tell me what to pack like the night before, but since we had to take Shaelyn with us, he decided the better approach was to tell me we were going to the beach for our anniversary, but to not tell me which beach or where we would be staying. So we packed up the car with everything we would need for ourselves and a baby for a 3 day trip to the beach. Turns out that is a lot! The car was packed to the brim! We did not want to find ourselves on a nice vacation with a cranky baby, so we packed every single toy she owns and her Exersaucer so she'd have something to do when we were in the hotel room.
Since it's a 3 1/3 hour drive (give or take), I sat in the back to help Shaelyn avoid having major meltdowns in the car. We somehow avoided major ones, but still had some minor ones along the way. Poor girl! She just hates her carseat!
The front passenger seat folds forward, so I was able to put my feet up and use it as a great changing station whenever we made pit stops. Plus, it helped me keep from feeling claustrophobic. And we were on our way... 
Michael took us to Carolina Beach, which is on the southern tip of North Carolina. We've never been to any of the beaches here, but it was recommended to us by some friends as a fun place to go. We love that it's reasonably close and the surf is mild (although there were still some idiots out there trying to surf on non-breaking waves).
We stayed in a place also recommended to us by our friends, Andrew and Andrea. I don't know if you can see the sign, but it says No Vacancy. When Michael called to book our trip, there was only one condo left. They were having a wedding on the beach that weekend (hey, it's a good weekend to get married!) and everything was full. Luckily we ended up on the 8th floor so we could look down and see the ocean. All the condos have oceanfront views, and you can get a 1, 2, or 3 bedroom condo. Michael said our condo reminded him of the places he used to stay as a kid when his family would take vacations to the beach. It was really nice and we highly recommend it!
This is a view from our 8th floor balcony. The whole back wall of the condo is sliding glass doors so you can see out on the ocean even if you're not out on your balcony. The tide was in when we were there, so as you can see, the beach is kind of small. But everyone still had plenty of room to do what they wanted, at least during the day. At night, the water would come all the way up to those little fence things you see all along the beach (they are there to keep the dunes from eroding). Anyway, it was hilarious to see the last few stragglers out on the beach as the tide was coming in, trying desperately to keep their towels and chairs dry on the last spots of dry beach. They always ended up getting their things soaked, and one little boy had to chase his family's cooler as it was getting swept away in a wave.
Every morning and evening we went for a walk along the beach as a family. Michael carried Shaelyn in the Baby Bjorn. She did not like these walks, but we persisted! And for some reason, she always knew when Michael was walking through a wave, even though she wasn't getting sprayed, and would cry. Consequently, Michael walked higher up on shore and I enjoyed getting my feet wet.
Our morning walks were great! As you can see, the tide is out, there's lots of beach to walk on, and NO PEOPLE! That's because most people sleep in when they are on vacation, not get woken up every morning at 7:00 AM by their 6-month-old. But it turned out to be great, because we had a lot more time on the beach than we would have had we be getting up at 10:00 or 11:00.
Here are our footsteps along the beach (our friends just went on a vacation and took a similar picture and we wanted one too). This is in the evening when the tide is coming back in.
Another advantage of waking up for a 6:00 AM feeding - you get to see the sunrise over the ocean! Michael snapped a quick pic before coming back to bed for another hour before Shaelyn woke up for the day.
As I stated, we brought along pretty much every toy Shaelyn owns. We then put all these toys in a pile on the living room floor. She had a field day playing while we would be making breakfast or getting ready for the day. Here you can see her attempts at crawling.
Even with all her toys around, her favorite thing to play with was my hat. Already a "dress-up" girl, and she's not even 1!
Our hotel (or building full of condos, I'm not quite sure what to call it) had both an indoor and an outdoor pool. We figured Shaelyn would love to swim in the indoor pool since it was like a very big bathtub. But alas, she hated that too. So we took turns holding her under the canopy while the other swam in the very refreshing outdoor pool.
Here's our first trip down to the beach Friday afternoon. I'm trying to point out the beautiful scenery to Shaelyn, who was very unnerved by how loud the waves were and how salty the air was. But it makes for a cute photo-op nonetheless.
Still so adorable in that little pink bathing suit!
Here's Saturday morning - as you can see a lot more people down at the beach. It was pretty windy, so Shaelyn's tent wouldn't stand up straight. But we pointed it away from the waves, and she had a grand ol' time playing with her toys. Again, Michael and I had to take turns swimming in the ocean while the other one stayed up on shore with Shaelyn.
We did let her venture out of the tent to see if she would like the sand. You can see how she felt about that below:
Even though she wasn't enjoying the beach necessarily, she did have fun playing with those toys in the tent:
We finally changed her out of her bathing suit once we realized there was no way of her ever getting in the water. Michael took this picture thinking it would be a good advertisement for Gatorade!
There were a lot of shells on the beach since the tide was so far in. Normally I don't collect shells when I go to the beach. Growing up in Florida makes you take seashells for granted. But I realized that Shaelyn has never seen seashells before, so I had a good time collecting some for her. I was very particular in the ones I kept - hopefully she'll enjoy looking at them when she gets a little bit bigger.
Yes, I know, I'm anal. I organized my shells into color categories. But it made them look so much prettier I thought. Now I just have to figure out a way to display them in Shaelyn's room...
We were at the beach on Father's Day, so I made breakfast for Michael and we ate it out on the balcony overlooking the beach. We put Shaelyn in her Exersaucer and decided that all of our neighbors really enjoyed hearing "the apple is red" and "3 purple triangles" at 7:30 in the morning!
Michael enjoying a fatherhood moment on Father's Day! That little girl sure makes everything worth it!
The front passenger seat folds forward, so I was able to put my feet up and use it as a great changing station whenever we made pit stops. Plus, it helped me keep from feeling claustrophobic. And we were on our way... Michael took us to Carolina Beach, which is on the southern tip of North Carolina. We've never been to any of the beaches here, but it was recommended to us by some friends as a fun place to go. We love that it's reasonably close and the surf is mild (although there were still some idiots out there trying to surf on non-breaking waves).
We stayed in a place also recommended to us by our friends, Andrew and Andrea. I don't know if you can see the sign, but it says No Vacancy. When Michael called to book our trip, there was only one condo left. They were having a wedding on the beach that weekend (hey, it's a good weekend to get married!) and everything was full. Luckily we ended up on the 8th floor so we could look down and see the ocean. All the condos have oceanfront views, and you can get a 1, 2, or 3 bedroom condo. Michael said our condo reminded him of the places he used to stay as a kid when his family would take vacations to the beach. It was really nice and we highly recommend it!
This is a view from our 8th floor balcony. The whole back wall of the condo is sliding glass doors so you can see out on the ocean even if you're not out on your balcony. The tide was in when we were there, so as you can see, the beach is kind of small. But everyone still had plenty of room to do what they wanted, at least during the day. At night, the water would come all the way up to those little fence things you see all along the beach (they are there to keep the dunes from eroding). Anyway, it was hilarious to see the last few stragglers out on the beach as the tide was coming in, trying desperately to keep their towels and chairs dry on the last spots of dry beach. They always ended up getting their things soaked, and one little boy had to chase his family's cooler as it was getting swept away in a wave.
Every morning and evening we went for a walk along the beach as a family. Michael carried Shaelyn in the Baby Bjorn. She did not like these walks, but we persisted! And for some reason, she always knew when Michael was walking through a wave, even though she wasn't getting sprayed, and would cry. Consequently, Michael walked higher up on shore and I enjoyed getting my feet wet.
Our morning walks were great! As you can see, the tide is out, there's lots of beach to walk on, and NO PEOPLE! That's because most people sleep in when they are on vacation, not get woken up every morning at 7:00 AM by their 6-month-old. But it turned out to be great, because we had a lot more time on the beach than we would have had we be getting up at 10:00 or 11:00.
Here are our footsteps along the beach (our friends just went on a vacation and took a similar picture and we wanted one too). This is in the evening when the tide is coming back in.
Another advantage of waking up for a 6:00 AM feeding - you get to see the sunrise over the ocean! Michael snapped a quick pic before coming back to bed for another hour before Shaelyn woke up for the day.
As I stated, we brought along pretty much every toy Shaelyn owns. We then put all these toys in a pile on the living room floor. She had a field day playing while we would be making breakfast or getting ready for the day. Here you can see her attempts at crawling.
Even with all her toys around, her favorite thing to play with was my hat. Already a "dress-up" girl, and she's not even 1!
Our hotel (or building full of condos, I'm not quite sure what to call it) had both an indoor and an outdoor pool. We figured Shaelyn would love to swim in the indoor pool since it was like a very big bathtub. But alas, she hated that too. So we took turns holding her under the canopy while the other swam in the very refreshing outdoor pool.
Here's our first trip down to the beach Friday afternoon. I'm trying to point out the beautiful scenery to Shaelyn, who was very unnerved by how loud the waves were and how salty the air was. But it makes for a cute photo-op nonetheless.
Still so adorable in that little pink bathing suit!
Here's Saturday morning - as you can see a lot more people down at the beach. It was pretty windy, so Shaelyn's tent wouldn't stand up straight. But we pointed it away from the waves, and she had a grand ol' time playing with her toys. Again, Michael and I had to take turns swimming in the ocean while the other one stayed up on shore with Shaelyn.We did let her venture out of the tent to see if she would like the sand. You can see how she felt about that below:
Even though she wasn't enjoying the beach necessarily, she did have fun playing with those toys in the tent:
We finally changed her out of her bathing suit once we realized there was no way of her ever getting in the water. Michael took this picture thinking it would be a good advertisement for Gatorade!
There were a lot of shells on the beach since the tide was so far in. Normally I don't collect shells when I go to the beach. Growing up in Florida makes you take seashells for granted. But I realized that Shaelyn has never seen seashells before, so I had a good time collecting some for her. I was very particular in the ones I kept - hopefully she'll enjoy looking at them when she gets a little bit bigger.
Yes, I know, I'm anal. I organized my shells into color categories. But it made them look so much prettier I thought. Now I just have to figure out a way to display them in Shaelyn's room...
Even though there were signs everywhere that said "Don't feed the birds", people still felt it necessary to feed the seagulls. Most people fed them off of their balconies. I must say, it was quite entertaining to watch. The seagulls would fly into the wind, which would allow them to hover in the same place mid-air like a humming bird, but without having to flap their wings. Then they would catch the food people would throw to them in mid-air, instead of having to go to the ground to find it. We were above a lady who was feeding the birds on her balcony (about the 5th floor), and we got a great video of them catching the bread crumbs in their beaks.
We were at the beach on Father's Day, so I made breakfast for Michael and we ate it out on the balcony overlooking the beach. We put Shaelyn in her Exersaucer and decided that all of our neighbors really enjoyed hearing "the apple is red" and "3 purple triangles" at 7:30 in the morning!
Michael enjoying a fatherhood moment on Father's Day! That little girl sure makes everything worth it!
