The Gaspard Blog: Ocean City

This September we traveled to Ocean City, NJ to celebrate my grandparent's 60th anniversary and enjoy a family reunion at the shore. Not everyone was able to attend but a lot of us were there which was a great blessing because a family of six children has turned into 17 grandchildren & 8 great-grandchildren. We're a lot of people.

The day we left was Ana's first birthday. We celebrated before we left (see old blog) and she didn't seem to mind. Although I imagine I'm going to get an ear-full once she can read and knows about birthdays. We love you sweetie.
Grammie & Pop flew with Ana and I took James while Clay flew out after work. I couldn't figure out why they would choose to fly with a lap infant but I quickly ushered them towards the gate before they realized what the 'lap' part in lap infant means.

James LOVED playing with Carter, my cousin's son. They're about the same age. Carter taught him how to drive the tractor and I suspect James understood exactly what to do even when he was pretending not to hear us yell "stop!!"

The next day we drove to Ocean City and promptly met on the boardwalk to see how many Philly Cheesesteaks we could eat in a 24 hr. period. The answer is 3 to 4. Four without consuming liquids.

Then it was time for some second-cousin quality time! James, Carter, Addison & Justin...

And here was Ana in her pretty birthday dress with leggings and bracelet from Gigi & Papa. This was all I got of her in the dress but you can imagine how cute it is!

Not everyone was able to attend but it all started with this family of 6 kids...

And then...

Which led to these people...

And these people. That's right, that's a baby falling off the couch.

All of the grown-ups (and I don't include myself when I use that term) put together a fancy trip for Mom-mom & Pop-pop to NYC to see Jersey Boys. They have since reported that they had a lovely time.

The next morning James and Grammie spend some time working on puzzles and reading books on the deck. The beach front condo Old Moneybags rented was wonderful! (that's what my Dad likes for us to call him) I could just send James & Ana right down to the beach without even having to go with them because I could mostly see what they were doing anyway.

AND THEN WE HIT THE BEACH!
James had never been to the beach before so this was a great adventure!

Later Uncle Rob came down with cousins Luke & Karly. Luke is 2 and can hit a pitched baseball pretty much every time it comes his way. Everyone else took a turn too.

A Great Grandfather-Great Grandson heart to heart out on the deck...

The airshow was that weekend in Ocean City and the boardwalk was the place to be for a great view.

Wyatt, Aunt Carol & cousin Courtney

Addison & James
(Addison is a year and a half older, so I've got 18 months to teach James how to smile properly for a photo)

Then it was beach time for the rest of the week. No amount of sun exposure can stop this group.
Clay and his freckles are always surprised by how long we can sit out at the beach.
I have many childhood memories of this whole crew sitting in their beach chairs at the shore.

Aunt Tina, Uncle Rob, cousin Luke

Cousin Courtney, Aunt Jill & baby Wyatt

My brothers & Clay spent the majority of their beach time constructing a giant sand castle. Probably the kind they dreamed of as children but weren't physically able to supply the amount of water and digging necessary. They graciously allowed the children to participate and put them to work.

Drew spent the rest of his time doing this...

Not very smart with kids around. Here's James thinking about kicking sand into Drew's face.
Wait a minute, from the look on Drew's face maybe he just did it.

And of course Grammie made it better.
James & Drew are in constant competition to get Grammie's attention.
It's a classic youngest child vs. first grandchild struggle.

Pop-pop had the magic touch for getting Ana to take her nap.

Ana enjoyed playing with Wyatt. She loves cute babies!

Another wonderful part of our trip is that we were able to visit with the Swisher family!!! The Swishers live in Pennsylvania but drove over four hours with their three kids, one on the way, to see us for 24 hours. So I guess they win the good friend contest. It was such a blessing to see them. The kids are all wonderful and I loved seeing how they've grown. They fit right in with the Poley crowd, natural easterners after only 2 years in PA.

I'm afraid the kids may have picked up some bad habits being around my family...

Look at this beauty--due in January!

It was so great to see you, Swishers! Thanks for coming such a long way for just one day!

How do you explain to a baby that part of a vacation is sleeping in?

We did enjoy some lazy mornings..

This week was the first time Ana met her Poley great-grandparents.

James acquired his second pet--a hermit crab he named Sammy. When I was a kid we usually came home with pet hermit crabs from the boardwalk. I am proud to say that Sammy is still alive and well as I write.

James took Sammy to the beach with him the next morning. Take one last look, Sam, because for the rest of your life you'll just be looking at us walking around our house.