Adventures in Parenting: Cape May Visit

Last week, Pauline & I packed up the kids and headed to Cape May for two days to visit my cousin Robin whose inlaws recently bought a house close to the beach. We got there on Wednesday morning before lunch and went home after dinner on Thursday - I thought we were there for the perfect amount of time. Our crew can be a bit overwhelming to those that aren't used to the chaos that our life has become.

lots and lots of photos after the break (sorry for the repeatitiveness for BBros family that already saw Robin's photos)

Our "compound" on the beach included a tent for the twins, and a private tent for Preston. Bentley, Oliver, & Sergio happily took residence in a sand hole, leaving the chairs for Robin, Pauline, & me. The boys spent the better part of the day playing in the sand, fighting only occassionally over who got to use which shovel.

After some coaxing, we got the boys into the water. Oliver & I both had a lot of fun when he felt comfortable enough to let me toss him in the air. I handed him off to Uncle Sergio to throw, since I figured Sergio could probably get a bit more air. Right after I reminded Sergio that Oliver REALLYdoesn't like getting his hair wet, Sergio threw him higher than even he expected (since Oliver weighs less than Bentley) and Sergio struggled a bit to catch him. The splash got Oliver's hair wet - oh, the horror! So, that ended that swim.

After dinner on Wednesday night, we packed up all the kids and headed to the Wildwood boardwalk. We were quite a sight! Pauline, Sergio, & I each had a baby in a carrier while Robin had the big kids in the double stroller. The twins eventually ended up in the stroller, since the big kids were hopping from ride to ride. I wish we had gotten a photo of all of us! Robin & I would get O/B on & off the rides, while Pauline & Sergio had the three lil' ones. Pretty funny that some people thought the two of them were the parents of 3 babies!

The first ride they went on was a train of cars and the boys were in heaven. They were less enthused by the Dumbo ride that went high and both got off asking for steering wheels. The flying helicopter ride marked the beginning of the end of our evening. Bentley started crying because he wanted to sit next Oliver, even though he was the one that had moved into the front seat. Oliver, who was already close to loosing it got freaked by the combination of Bentley's tears and the height they had risen to.... they actually stopped the ride for us to get them off (unprompted - we were more amused than anything else). We managed to sneak in a ride on a rollercoaster and a funnel cake for Pauline before heading out. You can't visit a Jersey boardwalk and leave without a funnel cake!

On Thursday morning, Oliver woke up at 6:30am, a real bummer since Bentley is a late sleeper and I was hoping that the late (10pm) bedtime would buy me at least an hour of extra sleep in the morning. So, since the rest of the house was asleep and I knew there was NO way I could keep my 3 quiet for 2+ hours, I decided to cart them off. After breakfast at Uncle Bills (more on that later), Robin & Pauline came with us into downtown Cape May to take a walk on the boardwalk. Of course, we had to introduce Pauline to salt water taffy and fudge - a trip to Cape May isn't complete without fudge!

Once we got back, it was off to the beach. Unfortunately, Oliver didn't last as long as we would have liked and had to go back to the house for a nap midafternoon. The boys enjoyed playing in the sand some more and really had fun playing paddleball.... well, enjoyed Robin & I throwing the ball to them to hit.