Beach Baby, Beach Baby There on the Sand...

This week we had a great beach vacation with Mommom and CharliePop! It was a lot of work getting everybody packed and ready, but Isaac's pure joy over every part of our trip (including eating blackberries at Hardee's while everyone else ate burgers and fries) made it all worth it. He only got in one nap each day and went to bed way past his regular bed time, but he was so happy and pleasant the whole time.  

Isaac & Buster are ready to hit the road!

After getting unpacked we sat and enjoyed the ocean view from our balcony. Isaac was SO excited when he looked outside. He made his really happy "ahhhh-hhhh!" sound while pointing outside and looking back at us to see if we saw the great view too. As you can seen from many of the pictures in this entry, Isaac often had his finger pointing excitedly at something during this trip. (and this may seen like a lot of pictures - some may argue "too many", but in my defense, this is only a third of the pictures that were actually taken. #firstchildproblems)

helping to unpack

really proud of himself for rearranging the furniture...

Then we headed out to dinner at Crabcake Factory.  There was a really long wait for a table so we decided to get carryout.  While Daddy and CharliePop waited at the bar for our food, Mommom, Mommy, and Isaac walked to the beach for Isaac's first time walking in the sand. (He did get his feet in the sand last summer when he went to Rehoboth. Relive that memory here.) He only hesitated briefly when he noticed the sand felt different than the firm ground he was used to. He struggled a bit at first to walk straight and kept going in a circle, but by the time we reached the water he was so confident that he pulled away from Mommom's hand and made a run for the waves. She had to chase him to catch him in time.  Fearless, this one is! He loved it when the water came splashing over his feet, squealing with delight. 

While on vacation, Isaac was particularly wiggly for diaper changes and getting dressed, and when Mommy put Daddy in charge of the morning diaper change while she showered, Isaac gave him quite a hard time.  Mommy came out to find Isaac with a diaper barely hanging on, and his onesie around his neck, and a defeated Daddy who had given up on the struggle! 

After breakfast on the balcony and some duct tape flip flop alterations, we headed down to the beach.  

Isaac loved everything about beach life! He loved walking in the sand, splashing in the surf, playing with his sand toys, chasing seagulls, and perhaps his favorite of all, checking out the holes and pits that other people had dug earlier in the day. He also got really excited when helicopters flew overhead and would excitedly follow it with his finger and stare until the helicopter was well out of sight.

midday nap

Isaac had a great time playing in a moat-type sand pit that some guys had dug earlier in the morning before we even came down (it turned out to be a beer pong table. I wish we had a picture of it "in action". It was quite a sight!).  He had a blast walking and crawling around the perimeter of the pit, giggling and laughing as we chased him. Several times he face planted and got a mouthful of sand, but the only ones that seemed bothered by that were Mommom and Mommy. 

Do you see that helicopter??

Fun in the sand pit...

At one point we watched Isaac walk up to a two little girls, about 2 and 7 years old, and he just started "talking" to them. We even saw him point up towards our condo as if to say, "I'm staying up in 9A. What about you ladies?" The next thing we know, Isaac was sitting in the sand as still as can be, being buried in the sand by the two little girls.  I don't think he sat that still any other time during the whole trip. 

Later in the evening we went to Northside Park for a walk down to the pier. Isaac had fun checking out the bayside view, the crabbers, and pushing his stroller. Then we ordered some pizzas from Lombardi's and got milkshakes from Justine's.

being silly after his bath

backrubs for Mommom:

Tuesday morning we woke to gray skies and heavy rain so we went out to breakfast at Crabcake Factory.  

poor attempt at a selfie 

making his menu selection

cleaning up his table area

kale & lemons for Isaac

After breakfast the sun started to come out so we wound up getting in a beach day afterall! Although Isaac missed the memo and took a 3 hour nap in the condo (he needed it!).  When he finally woke up, he joined us for more beach fun. 

Isaac saw the snacks coming out so he stealthily climbed in my chair to get a good seat!

beach hugs for Mommom:

We buried Isaac in the sand, which he of course loved. When we were done he gestured for CharliePop to hand him a shovel so he could dig himself out of the hole. Such a character!

Free at last!

"a little help, please?"

warrior 2 pose?

Faker!

Then we found this big blue shovel, and it was the best thing ever....

Isaac had an interesting hands-free digging technique.

Chris and his daughters found us on the beach and Isaac had a great time playing with Josie and Maddie.  

Speaking of Mommom and Mommy, Isaac definitely now distinguishes between saying "Mommom" and "Mamma".  He also started doing a lot of singing on this trip, with the words being something like "gaggagag gagaga" in a sweet singsong voice.  (Once we got home, the song of the night was "dadda, dadda, my dadda, daddaaaa". Such a catchy melody!)

Isaac can't get enough of that view!

Our final night in OC, CharliePop said he wouldn't mind having tacos for dinner, so after some searching we found Mothers Cantina, but when we arrived they had a really long wait so we went to Tequila Mockingbird instead.  They also had a bit of a wait, and it was already late (in Isaac time), but Isaac hung in there until the end of dinner when he started to get a bit fussy and had to cuddle on Mommy until we left.  

On Wednesday, Daddy got up at 4:30am to head back to Baltimore for a PD, so Mommy and Isaac road home with Mommom and CharliePop.  Isaac really enjoyed having Mommy riding in the backseat with him.  He held her hand and played "catch", read some books, and then eventually fell asleep for the last half of the ride home.

Thank you, Mommom & CharliePop!