We recently got back from a family reunion on the east coast. We flew to New Jersey then drove a couple hours south to the Jersey Shore. I had no idea what to expect, I was envisioning, probably like most people who have never been, some variation of MTV’s depiction of the Jersey Shore. But I was pleasantly surprised! Turns out the Jersey Shore covers about 140 miles of coast line with many different beach communities throughout. We stayed in an area called Ocean City.
The family shared a beach house a couple blocks form the boardwalk. The kids and cousins loved our after dinner strolls along the boardwalk, and me too, most nights we were treated to dreamy pastel colored skies. After 5 or 6 is always my favorite time to be near the water, there’s something so calming about being by the ocean after the crowds have subsided plus the temperature probably dropped a good ten degrees by that time! I kept it easy breezy most days, this wide leg jumper by Billabong got a lot of wear. So many fun things happening on the boardwalk, there’s a great amusement park called Playland’s Castaway Cove, it was super kid friendly for both of our kids ages 6 and 4. In addition to rides and games there was also creative art activities, like Sand Art. Dress by Sanctuary Cross Body Bag is Zara last season but similar here Cross Body Bag Black Slide Sandals Sandals So much greenery throughout the town. I was actually surprised by all the tree lined streets. The house we stayed in was a 4 bedroom, for a couple nights there was 14 of us, cozy but lots of fun. The wrap around front porch was my favorite spot of the house. I actually was able to finish reading a book in its entirety! (I read Room, by Emma Donoghue. Amazing story which was made into a movie last year) Sad to say that hasn’t happened in a long time. I even started reading a second book while on vacation. (Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last)One of my favorite days was taking a trip to theOC Water Park . It wasn’t too far down the boardwalk. This was our first time taking the kids to a water park and it was such a blast! The park itself was pretty small, maybe a handful of slides and a splash zone for the smaller kids. It was the perfect size for us though, it was easy to keep track of the kids plus cousins and it felt like a really safe environment. Outside of the slide they had a climbing wall which was perfect when for the kiddos when they wanted to take a little break from the water. The coast line stretches for miles, this is just a glimpse but I have never seen more umbrellas lined up then I did here.
Atop the Ferris Wheel!
One of the kids’ favorite places to eat was Manco Manco Pizza. They were serving up pizza right out of the oven. This place was a throwback to me, you can’t tell from the photo but it has a very 50’s feel to it, diner style seating.. if you’re on the boardwalk you should definitely check it out.
Ok, we made many a trip to this toy store. In my son’s words, it was “the coolest toy store ever”. Basically the store is lined from floor to ceiling, as you can see, with Star War characters, Godzillas, aliens, dragons etc.. I mean, what else do you really need? It’s called Mike’s Toy’s and Collectibles. On the off chance we got a full day of good behavior we would pop over to this store. It’s located on the boardwalk.
Fiona and Keely. You could not get these two out of the water. We spent most days set up on the beach.
My husband’s brother and his family. All in all it was a great trip to the east coast. Ocean City is definitely a family friendly town. I can see us going back for another reunion in the near future. We really had a blast!
xo
Christie
hadas aharon says
how lovely 🙂
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Christie says
Thanks for commenting, have a great weekend!