Beach with the Murphy Family

Every year my family gets together and goes to the beach for a week. This year it happened to fall on the 4th of July and if anyone goes down that week then you know it is crowded! The weather was not that great, but the company was and we all had a great time. My parents were of course there, my sister came in from Indianapolis and my aunt came in from El Paso, Texas. Everybody arrived on Friday the day before the 4th to get settled and hopefully avoid some traffic. Brian and I had a pretty good trip down with the kids and they slept most of the way. However, now that Christian is potty trained he knows that there is one way to get out of his seat...I have to go to the bathroom! We quickly out that he was just wanting to get out of his car seat and that stopped! We did not stop very much after that except to buy some fireworks for us to shoot off the next night!



Once we got to the condo we went to the grocery store and stocked up for the week. Later we had cocktails and out to dinner before it got to late. Those of you with children know there is a time frame of when to get into and out of a restaurant before meltdowns occur! Well lets just say that this was not the night! They were both tired from the drive and needing sleep soon! Thank goodness for all the extra set of hands to help entertain and help with the children! My daughter on the other hand does not let many people hold her so I was on my own there.



The next day was a beautiful day and we all went out to the beach or pool whichever they preferred. Brian was there for a few days and was hoping he could get Christian into the ocean. So far this summer he has not been a big fan of the beach or the big pool as he calls it! He would play on the beach, but not get in the ocean. The pool was his favorite place to hang out, so that is were everybody else did too. Everyday out at the pool they had activities for children. Heather helped Christian win a watermelon eating contest and he received a t-shirt. The kids got to tye dye their own t-shirts and he had a blast doing this and Heather did too! :) We decided to go out and eat early that night because it was the 4th. There was a huge fireworks show that night and we wanted to get back to watch it from our balcony. We had the perfect view and they seemed to go on forever! Since the fireworks lasted so long the boredom set in for the little ones and we went inside. Brian and Christian set off some sparklers, but saved our fireworks for later. I put Henley to sleep and followed soon after.

The next day was a good day too and we pretty much did the same thing everyday...the pool. Brian bought a blow up boat hoping this would entice Christian to get in the ocean, but the only thing that happened was there was a boat in the pool! They had fun and that is all that matters!



We went to the outlets one day and did some shopping. We had dinner at Harbor Docks and went home to relax. The rest of the week went pretty much the same. The days were spent out at the beach or pool. Christian began to love the beach and enjoyed playing in the waves and building sand castles. Heather and my dad did a good job of keeping him entertained and busy. I spent alot of time inside because of nap times. I did not mind the quite time and had a chance to read my book that I had ordered on my kindle.



We had a a lot of great dinners and a lot of wonderful family time. Brian and my Aunt had to leave early due to work and other commitments, but it was fun having them there for awhile. There was a place close by called Pier Park that had all kind of fun things to do. There were yummy places to eat, bars, shopping and lots for the kids to do. There were carousel rides, climbing walls, a running train you could ride through town and much more. We spent a couple nights there and needless to say, riding the train over and over. Thank goodness for my sister the who loves to play endlessly with Christian. That definitely takes some of the work off me during the days and nights! We even played putt putt golf one night and Christian loves it. I
am not so sure he understands that he can not just hit whoever's ball he wants? However, he had fun and we just shared balls and played the course. What do you expect from a 21/2 year old?

We had a wonderful time and it is always is nice to be with family. I am probably leaving things out, but it is hard to write it all down. Thanks to everybody who helped me with the little ones and the trip itself!