Our Super Summer Vacation - Part 2

I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of our family vacation.  If you're a little behind, no worries, you can scroll down to the Archives (on the lower right hand side) and catch up.  Now let's jump in to the second part of our trip!

As I mentioned before, Ocean City has one of the best boardwalks in America and no trip is ever complete without having at least one leisurely stroll down it and we were lucky enough to have time for two!  With carnival games, rides, all kinds of t-shirt and boutique shops, not to mention candy stores and even sidewalk performers, you can almost be overwhelmed by the boardwalk experience, but it is so worth it.  At night, I find all the lights, smells and sounds to be almost intoxicating.  They can make you  feel like a kid in a candy store and you literally don't know what you want to do first.  That being said, I suggest you plan ahead for how much money you want to spend there, because you'll be surprised how quickly you'll have spent a small fortune.

Our first trip down was on Tuesday night and it was magical!  We made a quick stop for ice cream and then headed straight to Trimper's Rides/Amusements.  Trimper's area is closer to the main road than the beach and they have great rides for the younger/smaller kids.  We've been to Trimper's before and the twins always have a great time on the rides, but I think this visit was their best one yet!  Why?  Because this time they got to go on their first roller coaster with their Papi!  Yes, my metalhead man proudly stepped up (without hesitation, I might add) to the challenge of riding the Wiggly Worm roller coaster with his kids!  Watching the three of them whip through the small twists, turns and even a small drop, warmed my heart and will live with me forever.  Once we had our fill of the rides, we headed over to the beach side of the boardwalk for a planned beach event.  This year, Ocean City has fireworks on the beach every Tuesday night at 10pm for the entire summer (final show will be Sunday, September 2nd).   As Thing 1 & Thing 2 have never seen them before, I thought this would be a great first experience!  Personally, I can get lost in those colorful explosions for hours, but this time I could barely focus on them.  I was too busy being completely enamored with the look of pure joy on my kids' faces.  With each explosion they would giggle and squeal with delight, while shouting for us to look at how much bigger and brighter each new explosion was compared to the last!  Their smiles were so infectious that I couldn't help but join in their happiness and by the time the approximately 15 - 20 minute display was done my whole face was sore!  I could have lived in that moment forever and I'm so grateful to have been able to give my children such a beautiful memory that will hopefully last a lifetime!  If you've never had the chance to see fireworks on the beach, I highly recommend it!  I mean, really, everything is just better at the beach, right?!

Our second trip to the boardwalk was all about the rides and yours truly even got in on the action - sort of!  This time we went to the Jolly Roger Amusement Park side.  Much like Trimper's, Jolly Roger has lots of fun rides for kids of all ages and this time Hubs went on a couple of rides by himself.  As for me, there was only one ride I was interested in going on - the Ferris Wheel!  The Ferris Wheel is reported to be the largest one in Ocean City and I believe it's probably one of the most popular attractions.  During the day, you get a magnificent view of the beach and the inlet.  At night, there's nothing but lights as far as the eye can see - car headlights, venue lights, the boardwalk lit up bright enough to almost make it look like it's daytime - all of it is truly breathtaking.  Needless to say, my favorite time to ride is the nighttime.  So, after some serious convincing (it's not really hubby's favorite thing to do) and impatiently waiting in line, we finally had our turn on the Ferris Wheel!  It was awesome!  We laughed, talked and for the 15 minutes or so that we were on that ride, it was like the rest of the world disappeared...that, my friends, is why I prefer riding at night  (peaceful sigh.)

Sadly, our last day came all too quickly and as we travelled down Coastal Highway to head out of town, we decided to make one last stop for family fun at a great indoor/outdoor miniature golf place called Old Pro Golf.  Old Pro Golf has 3 locations in Ocean City and they each have a different theme.     We chose the one on 68th Street because of it's indoor/outdoor feature.  OK, I'll be honest - the dinosaurs on the outdoor course were just too cool for me to pass up!  The indoor course was equally impressive with an "Under the Sea Adventure" theme.  Both courses appeared to offer nice challenges for my little golfers, but since it was our last morning to soak in the ocean breeze, we decided to play outside.  The kids would pretend that the dino and caveman sculptures were real and that they were trying to eat our golf balls!  My husband and my son, both, got a hole-in-one, my daughter came very close and I actually came in last place, but none of us really cared - we were just happy that we did it together.  Interestingly enough, that is the one thing all of us came home talking about - how great it was to spend so much time together.  

If nothing else this vacation reminded me of the importance of not taking my family for granted and to make every moment together count.  Sure, it sounds simple, but we all know it's not.  Between smartphones, tablets and all other forms of portable technology we've become overly accessible to everyone.  I advise you all  to remember to unplug every once in a while and give your loved ones your full undivided attention...especially when you're on vacation!  On that note, I'll bid you farewell for now  and leave with a few pictures of our time at Old Pro Golf.  Enjoy!

 

Our Super Summer Vacation - Part 1

Can you believe the summer is almost over?!  The only thing keeping me from the brink of depression is knowing that football season is right around the corner!  But, that's a post for another time.  Today I want to tell you about the wonderful family vacation we had in Ocean City, MD.  In fact, we had such a great time that I'm giving you two posts about it!  In my opinion, Ocean City is one of the best vacation destinations in the DMV (metropolitan area comprised of DC, Maryland, Virginia).  With 10 miles of free access beaches and a boardwalk that is recognized as one of the best boardwalks in America (see for yourself here), it offers something for everyone!  

As I told you in my last post (Freedom is Beautiful) things have been a little crazy & very busy for me and my family, so we were more than ready for this vacation.  Of course, in true rockstar style, my husband had a show the night before we left.  I do NOT advise this for anyone!  It is pure craziness to be out until almost one o'clock in the morning, knowing very well that the next day you're going to be trapped in the car for a minimum of 3 hours with TWO 5 year olds that must be entertained at all times - even the portable DVD system can't hold their attention very long.  Truthfully, we were so anxious to get out of town that the show was a bit of a blur and we didn't really allow fatigue to set in until we got in to our hotel room.  Ahhhh - our hotel room....correction - our oceanfront hotel room!  This year, we stayed at The Carousel Hotel, which is about a 15 minute drive from the boardwalk.  This was our second stay at The Carousel, but our first time in an oceanfront room and let me tell you, waking up to this sight every day was spectacular!!!

As for the hotel, while it's not a luxury resort type of place, it is very family-friendly with a bounce house for the kids, indoor & outdoor pools, an onsite restaurant and even an ice rink which features nightly performances by a female dance team that you can view for free!  I know some people may not care about all that since, you know, you're at the beach and all, but it is nice to have these amenities whether you use them or not.  Now, if you ever decide to stay at The Carousel, I have two pieces of advice:

1.  Splurge for the oceanfront room (check for specials before booking)
2.  Ask for a room on the 3rd or 4th floor

The 4th floor has the  best view and you shouldn't hear too much noise from the outdoor pool/patio bar area, but know that their check-in is a first come, first served style, it's good idea to be patient and keep your options in mind.  

We stayed for 5 fun-filled days / 4 glorious nights and had the time of our lives!!!  Most mornings we admired the sunrise and had breakfast in our room.  That's right, I went in to full Domestic Diva mode and made enough breakfast food for the whole week - pancakes for everyone!  The first two days we were complete beach bums - out on the sand by no later than 9:30am and we didn't leave until we were hungry enough for dinner!  Sadly, our sunscreen didn't have the same staying power and we all got a little burned, but we still had a GLORIOUS time!  The twinks were ridiculously happy making sand castles and playing in the surf and we all had a blast watching my rockin' hubby be thrown around, sometimes quite viciously, by 3-4 ft waves.  I remember thinking to myself a number of times, "Life doesn't get any better than this!"  I mostly waded in the water, so I could keep a close eye on Thing 1 & Thing 2 (you guys are used to all my nicknames for the twins by now, right?)  And, I have to tell you, I think I must have been a mermaid in a past life because I am never more at peace than when I'm in ocean.  Speaking of peaceful, I can't tell you how nice it was to spend so much time disconnected from all of our electronic devices.  I mean, we had our cell phones in case of emergencies but other than that we allowed ourselves to be unplugged from our social networking accounts and to my delight, my mister didn't bring his company cell phone nor his computer.  For the first time in a long time, we truly enjoyed each others company, gave each other our full undivided attention and just lived in the moment.  I advise all of you to do this as much as possible and see if it doesn't vastly improve not only your relationship, but also the quality of your "Family Time".  At nighttime we came alive and ventured out to the boardwalk for some family fun, but we'll talk about that next time.  For dinner we ate in the hotel restaurant and checked out a couple of the local restaurants.  Before I tell you about that though, I have to say, for me the best meal of the day was lunch.  All we ate were simple sandwiches and hot dogs, but the scenery and the atmosphere....well, I think we can all agree that nothing can compare to having a picnic on the beach!  Who couldn't look at this all day?!?

 

Back to dinnertime!  There is one restaurant I have to tell you about, Higgins Crab House - it's an all-you-can-eat place and a "must see" for crab lovers!  They have two locations, but my personal favorite is the one on 128th Street.  They have outdoor seating and even though some of the seating is right next to Coastal Highway, the main road in Ocean City, it's still relatively peaceful.  The one thing you should be aware of is that occasionally some inconsiderate (insert explicative) person may decide to smoke out there, regardless of small children or even pregnant women being around them (grrrrrr - makes me so angry).  Moving on - since I'm a vegetarian, I order my and the kids' meals from the a la carte menu, while my hubster gets his grub on with the all-you-can-eat crabs and chicken platter.  Yes, you read that correctly - crabs AND fried chicken, plus corn, coleslaw and all-you-can-eat fries!!  Obviously, I can't tell you first-hand how it is, but I can tell it must be phenomenal because despite his lips being on fire from the Old Bay, my man put down 3 fully loaded trays of crabs!!  I even had to use my ice water to make him a cold compress for his lips so he could keep eating!  

So, there's your first glimpse in to our vacation.  I hope you've enjoyed it!  Next post we'll get in to our putt putt golf adventure and our time on the boardwalk!  If you want to know more about Ocean City, check out their official website here and find out more about The Carousel here.  For now, I'll leave you with a couple of pics of The Carousel Hotel and Higgins Crab House.

Until next time my friends!