Thoughts on our beach trip.

-Camden loved the ocean. This wasn't his first experience with it, but he certainly doesn't remember our last trip to the beach (he was 9 months old). He could've stayed in the water all day. Every time a wave came, he'd repeat this line to me: "Another one, Mommy! A big one!" I must've heard that sentence a thousand times over the course of the week. He also added a very cute "Oh my doodness!" when a particularly big wave came.

-As much as he loved the water, Camden hates the feeling of a wet (and sandy) bathing suit. This resulted in a mostly nude toddler running around the beach.

-Speaking of being mostly nude, we continued potty training at the beach. I didn't want to push it, but I also didn't want to lose any ground we'd gained. So, we brought his potty and kept him mostly diaper free. He didn't have a single pee accident the entire week (he did have one poop accident). I'll start tackling the "only potty trained while nude" issue over the coming weeks, but I'm proud of where he is now-- certainly not something I expected!

-When you live in a house with two two-year-olds for a week, you will hear a lot of "Me!", "Mine!", "My turn!" and "NO!"

-Camden loves his cousins. I felt like he got to experience having siblings for a week and he enjoyed every minute of it. The first question he'd ask every morning when he woke up was, "Where's Jayboo, Alte, and Vava?" (Jacob, Alex, & Will).

-Matt and I (and every other couple in the house) got to have a date night. I had to laugh that, on our rare kid-free night, we were seated in between tables with toddlers. Not that I minded-- I just appreciated the irony & enjoyed my relaxing meal while watching the other moms whip out play-doh and crayons in desperate attempts to entertain their kids.

-Our beach house was...interesting. In a lot of ways, it was awesome-- ocean front, a good size, a great, big living room area for the kids. But the sleep situation was tricky. Matt, Camden, and I slept in a room in the basement, under the living room floor. Every single step anyone took in the living room produced a loud creak in the ceiling in our room. And my parents slept on the top floor in the master bedroom which was, oddly enough, lacking a door. I'm not sure who designs a house with a bedroom with no door, but it also made for some tricky sleep for my parents.

-Camden experienced his first aquarium trip. He loved it. He was most interested in the fish and turtles-- and the humans dressed in scuba outfits cleaning out the fish tanks. He kept asking us to reassure him that the various fish and reptiles wouldn't get him, though.

-We headed down to the boardwalk for fireworks one night. They were a big, big hit with Camden. He wasn't bothered at all by the loud noise. He kept jumping up and down and clapping each time a firework exploded. Good thing it's almost the 4th of July because he's already asked to "do dat again".

-Camden is not a fantastic car rider anymore. He used to be excellent in the car, but now he hates being restrained for any length of time. The trip wasn't even long--less than 3 hours. But Matt and I heard "Get me out of this seat", "Wanna sit in your lap, Mommy",  and Wanna go hoooome!" repeatedly.

-All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Vacations certainly aren't what they used to be (ahem, relaxing), but there's nothing quite like getting to experience new things through your child's eyes.

No way does this kid like the ocean.

Camden kept announcing, "Everybody diggin'!" 

Working with Nan...already a technology pro at 2-and-a-half.

Hanging out with Pop.

So excited he couldn't stop jumping up and down.

Mesmerized by the fireworks.

Gators at the aquarium: "Him not get me, Mommy?"

And our final evening..."Bye, beach!"

PS- We also did a few maternity shots at the beach. Pictures to come soon.