We had planned on doing quite a few of the attractions (water park, aquarium, etc) but Chase was so content splitting his time between the beach and the pool that we weren't going to disrupt that and it lent itself to a very relaxing week for everyone involved. Our daily routine went something like this: waking up around 8:30/9am (Chase included), hit the beach and pool from 10am to 1pm, bathe, eat lunch and put Chase down for his nap by 2:30pm (he would sleep until 5:30pm), then it was either eat in and go back to the beach or head out for the evening. Chase was usually in bed for 10pm and then we got to enjoy a couple of child free hours with our friends.
As I said previously, Chase was a huge fan of the beach. We would load him and all the beach belongings into our wagon, roll out of the building elevator and be on the sand. We have said we are only staying ocean front in the future as it makes it so much easier while we have little ones (and all of their stuff). As soon as the wagon would stop Chase would toss out all of his beach toys, climb out and get to work, aka digging. While he thoroughly enjoyed making sandcastles, his favorite beach activity was running in knee deep ocean water. It was quite possibly the cutest thing ever as while he was running he was talking and giggling the entire time. Being a beach bum myself, it melted my heart seeing him enjoy the sun, sand and surf so much. Our condo had a pool overlooking the ocean which was quite handy for my pregnant self and I would hop in to cool down. Chase got brave enough to start jumping into the pool (holding our hands of course), but he much preferred chasing the lone bug or two he saw on the poolside.
One night we went to Medieval Times for dinner and it was so much fun. The food was surprisingly tasty and Chase was kept well entertained between the jousting and fighting and his light up sword. Every boy needs a sword in my opinion! We really liked the area Broadway at the Beach; lots of restaurants and stores to browse around. It's here where Chase and James built their first (toy) car together. It you haven't ever heard of it check out the store RideMakerz, think Build a Bear concept but toy cars, it was awesome. Another evening we bought Chase a kite and we spent some time on the beach flying it, until a storm rolled through and we figured flying a kite while there is fork lightening around us wasn't the smartest idea.
I was surprised at how well Chase behaved on this vacation. I fully expected him to not want to sleep in his pack n play (was never an issue), be fussy about eating (ate everything in site) and just a little 'off' seeing we weren't at home in our normal routine. Besides the one morning he decided to slap me across my face, he did really well. His laid back mood made it a very enjoyable vacation for all 3 of us. I can speak for everyone when I say we were really sad when it was time to head back home. Of course the beach, and beautiful weather are hard to leave but more importantly it was so nice spending 8 days back to back the 3 of us. Nobody had to rush off to work or run errands etc, we could just be. Bring on vacation 2015...except it will be the 4 of us :)
