We attempted our first vacation with the trio by taking a trip to Ocean City, MD. We rented an apartment for a week on 14th st. and Baltimore, just one block off the boardwalk. Even though Mommy and Daddy are used to taking care of the kids by ourselves, we anticipated needing some help in order to pull off a successful beach trip (especially with the kids only being 17 months old). So we planned our trip that we would be there the same time as Aunt Sue & Dave.
We had the kids packed up into the Explorer by 11:30 a.m., but we needed to visit the nursery to order a replacement tree for our evergreen that died out front. Due to our work schedules, this was the only possible time for the two of us to do this. So it was by 2:00 p.m. before we actually had lunch and really started heading for the beach. Jonathan was cranky while we were in York, but they seemed to handle the ride down fairly well. We called Aunt Sue and Dave when we arrived, and they came over to help us unload. With their help, it didn’t take long at all to get the car unloaded. Then Dave and Daddy went to the grocery store while Aunt Sue stayed with Mommy and the trio. After the groceries were purchased, we put them in their strollers and heading down the boardwalk in search of diner for Mommy and Daddy. We went to Caruso’s Pizza, which is one of our favorite pizza joints on the boardwalk. Anna and Lydia had their first time sitting in a highchair, and they did okay. Jonathan was sleeping, so we left him in his stroller. By the time we were done, it was after 10:00 p.m., so we headed back to the room.
We expected that trying to have them sleep in pack-n-plays might be hard the first night, but we had no idea how hard. Lydia just sat against the wall for awhile, but seemed tired and eventually laid down and went to sleep. Jonathan and Anna were another story. Jonathan seemed tired, but because of Anna crying he would not calm down and sleep. Anna seemed really unhappy. If you held her, she would calm down. But try to put her in the pack-n-play, and she would fire off again. This kept Jonathan awake until about 2:00 a.m. Anna kept falling asleep on top of Daddy, but would wake right up each time Daddy tried to put her down to bed. By 3:00 a.m., there were flashing lights coming into the room from outside. For some reason, two large fire trucks were right outside with the emergency lights on. There did not seem to be many fire fighters around, but the trucks stayed there for about 20 minutes. Finally by 4:00 a.m., Daddy was able to put Anna to bed and she laid down and went to sleep. By that point, Mommy and Daddy were wondering whether to even stay or just pack up in the morning and go home. In the morning, we did decide to stay.
In the morning, changing the diapers of Jonathan and Anna proved to be a challenge. They both wanted to wiggle and squirm, and it took both of us to get each of them done. Lydia was no different than normal for hers. Once we had them fed and ready to go, we called up Aunt Sue & Dave. They came over and helped up get the kids in their strollers. As it was the final day of Sunfest, we headed straight for the tents to look around. Dave went looking for his brother and mother while Aunt Sue stayed with us. Of course we had many people stop and ask questions anytime we stopped. Once we were done looking at the crafts, Sue & Dave offered to wheel the kids around so Lisa and I could get something to eat without having to watch the kids. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out around the inlet and boardwalk area. As they don’t like being in their strollers to for too long, the kids were a little cranky off and on throughout the day. We did take them out of the strollers around the inlet. They really liked the ocean breeze blowing through their hair. Our biggest concern was whether we would have a repeat of the previous night. This time Lydia and Jonathan settled right down. Anna cried again for about an hour straight. Eventually she decided to sit in the corner of the pack-n-play, but refused to lay down. After a couple hours she got tired enough to lay down and go to sleep.
On Monday morning, diaper changes were a challenge again for Jonathan and Lydia. We called Sue & Dave and decided on going to the outlets at Ocean City and having lunch at Ledo Pizza there. Aunt Sue and Dave helped wheel the kids around anytime they got cranky sitting still when we were looking in the stores. When we got to Ledo Pizza, it was (thankfully) not very busy. So we put Jonathan and Anna in highchairs at Mommy and Daddy’s table, and Lydia was in a highchair with Sue & Dave right across from us. Lydia seemed to really like the individual attention she was getting. We all gave the kids some cheese and crust from our pizzas, and they seemed to like it. After leaving Ledo’s, we were walking down to Marshall’s. Daddy suddenly felt one of the stroller wheels bumping. Daddy expected to find gum. Instead he found the pin half of a clothing security device wedged into the tire!!! The tire was holding air, so we left it in. Once we were done at the outlets, Mommy and Daddy stopped back at the apt. to grab some more drinks/food for the kids. Then we drove to the only bike repair shop listed in the phone book. We got to the bike shop right at 5:00 p.m., and they were to close right then. Daddy explained the problem and pleaded with them to fix it if they could instead of having to wait until 10:00 a.m. the next day. They clerk looked at the wheel, and said he could fix it in about 5 minutes. So $11.25 later, we had a new tube in their stroller tire and were ready to roll. So we headed back and parked at the apt, and strolled down the boardwalk again. This evening, Anna didn’t cry more than 5 minutes before going into the sitting mode.
Tuesday we slept in a little later. Once we got headed down the boardwalk, Mommy and Daddy were hoping to find some spaghetti for lunch. It was 11:30 a.m., and the one place said they would not take an order for lunch before noon. So we kept walking. Then we thought we could get some at Dough Roller. So Aunt Sue & Dave took over with the kids again, and Mommy and Daddy sat down. Then we noticed in the menu that the dinners were not served until after 3:00 p.m. We asked the waitress anyways just to see if they would make us some, but no luck. So we settled for sandwiches. Given that Daddy had a meatball sub, its obvious they had the meatballs and sauce. So why couldn’t they cook some noodles too??? Later in the day, we took the kids back to the apt. to change them into their swim suits. We were not sure whether going onto the beach would last 2 minutes, 20 minutes, or more. We were pleasantly surprised that they all seemed to like playing in the sand. Anna liked dipping her hand into the bucket of ocean water, and putting some on her head. Lydia liked playing with some of the shovels in the sand, and Jonathan seemed to like pushing the sand with his hands. Anna was the first one to figure out she could crawl around on the sand. So Daddy went with Anna while Mommy, Sue, and Dave watched the other two. Eventually Jonathan and Lydia figured out how to crawl around too. Anna actually tried to walk on the sand too, and did okay for being new to walking in general. After about an hour, Anna suddenly started crying and would not stop. So we knew it was time to call it quits. We took them back to the room, and gave them baths. Lydia was good, but Jonathan and Anna both really wiggled during the bath. Later Sue & Dave were nice enough to pick up some spaghetti dinners for us and brought them to our apartment.
Wednesday we decided to travel up to the Rehoboth, DE outlets. Given that Thrasher’s French Fries was closed the night before on the boardwalk in Ocean City, we drove into the beach area first to get some fries there. It was much more humid inland than along the beach. Off and on the trio kept getting cranky. By the end of the day, it was Lydia who spoke up and let us know she had enough. So we headed back towards O.C. Before we got back to MD, we called Sue and asked if they could check out Fat Daddy’s to see if they had menu’s we could take. Sue said they would walk the menu up to us so they could see us a little bit. We told Sue & Dave we were not sure whether we would leave on Thursday or Friday based on Anna being extremely unhappy at times. We ordered some subs from Fat Daddy’s after the kids were put to bed.
On Thursday morning, we were still not certain whether to leave or stay another day. As Anna was impossible for her diaper change again, we decided to go ahead and pack up and leave. It took about 2 hours to pack everything up. Mommy wanted to stop in Salisbury at a country store on the way home. So Daddy waited in the car with the kids. When Mommy came out, we fed them before heading on our way. The trip home was fairly uneventful. When we put them in their playroom at home, they all lit up like christmas trees. After feeding them and changing into their jammies, they seemed to go to sleep okay.
Friday morning, Anna cried a little before her first bottle. She drank the bottle okay, and played in the bedroom with Jonathan and Lydia. But once we took her downstairs, she cried for about 15 minutes before she calmed down.
It is hard to tell, but we wonder if Anna was strictly upset by the strange place. Or if she was/is teething on top of that too. Even Saturday evening, she was really upset again. Jonathan woke up Saturday evening crying too. Lydia has been fine.
