A week at the beach | July 2016

Last week, my little family headed to Ocean City, MD to live that beach life for a week. It was baby Louisa's first trip to the beach, and Max was an old pro (check out our trips to the beach from last year: Ocean City, Portugal Part 1, Portugal Part 2, Michigan; also see our Florida vacation from earlier this year). My mom and sister were able to come out for the first weekend, and then Victor's parents came for two nights mid-week. We had lovely weather for the first part of the visit, but the hot temps and humidity rolled in on Thursday and it became pretty unpleasant, mainly because we had an 8-week-old with us. Overall, it was a wonderful week of sun, surf, sand, pool, fish tacos, wonky naps, v e r y early wake-ups (between 5 and 6 AM most days when Max usually sleeps till between 7 and 8!), and great family memories. Here are some photos from our week at the beach!

Views from our rental condo. We could see the ocean AND the bay! 

Napping on the beach = Louisa's favorite activity on vacation 

Max became a bubble-blowing pro!

I've been to the boardwalk dozens of times and this was the first time I saw this sign!

The message in this sand sculpture is so needed right now given the events of the past month or so.

Both kids were crying here. One was hungry, the other was cranky. We went to the pool before my mom and sister left since Max refused to nap. As the three of us were talking and I was holding Max in his swimmy vest, we all commented about how quiet he was being and we looked and saw that he had fallen asleep! Getting a bone-tired, already-sleeping kid out of wet swimming clothes was quite the challenge, but we managed to get him on the floor in one of the bedrooms to nap. He woke up quite angry!

 Victor and Max flying a kite. Louisa is lying under that umbrella.

 Lou and I did a lot of umbrella-sittin'. Also, fedoras are my new fave for sun protection. My scalp/part gets burned pretty easily so a hat is necessary!

Mean-muggin' on the way to the grocery store. He made that face the entire ride!

 Max refused to lie down for nap in the bedroom, so many naps were brought to us by Finding Nemo (or rides in the car).

Max loved the heated pool at our condo and turned into a little fish!

 Max didn't want his picture taken here. This was the least angry of the many shots I took.

Despite my mother-in-law's efforts to keep him awake on the drive to the boardwalk, Max still fell asleep in the car and slept through lunch and most of our walk.

 I joined Snapchat while we were there (I know I swore I wouldn't, but I have some serious FOMO!) Find me! My username is rachiepalm.  Max and I were having fun with the filters.

 We took Max to the pool at 6 PM on one of the hottest days we were there; the "feels like" temperature was still 99 degrees that late in the day! Luckily we had Louisa's stroller fan to keep her comfortable.

 Love Max's smile here!

 Driving sissy around in the arcade. A glimpse of our life in about14 years!

Such a lovely trip!