Beach Vacation | Stone Harbor
You guys, I did it. I'm only four months "late" with this post, but here it is. This past September, we spent the first week of the month in Stone Harbor, NJ, enjoying our last "beach week" as family of three. We stayed with my parents who'd rented a house (thanks Mom & Dad!) for the week, within walking distance of the little town and ocean.
Once we'd settled into our room the first day, I said to T.J. "Let's just walk down to the beach so she can see the ocean, so she knows where we are." To which he laughed and replied "Yea okay, and NOT get in... right? She's gonna run straight for it." Annnnnnnd she did. Clothes and all. 😂
T.J. and I had decided before we even left for our trip that we were really going to make an effort to stay off of our phones during our vacation, so for me that looked like taking my "real" camera with me most places. It really worked for us, too! We got to the end of the week and I'd taken mayyyybe 5 photos on my phone and I don't even know if T.J. had taken any!
Now I guess we did have to wait like four months to really see the photos, ha ha, but oh well! It was worth it.
Note the last image in the set below where June is clearly negotiating with T.J. for "one more time" of running into the ocean with her clothes on.
Watching your kid enjoy the beach and all that comes with it is so much fun, minus sand in ALL the places of course. It was our first vacation where June really played in the water, collected shells, "helped" T.J. dig holes and chased the seagulls. I am always grateful for how active and involved T.J. is with June, but I was especially grateful for it at the beach. Splashing around in the ocean at 20 weeks pregnant just didn't sound like the most fun thing to me.
We went to the boardwalk one evening to get molasses paddles from Douglass Candies and crab fries from Chickies & Petes. June spent a lot of the night twirling around in her beloved pink dress, and asking every three minutes if she could have more "sprinkles"... aka, sucking the sprinkles off a $4 chocolate covered pretzel.
Most of our mornings started off slow with breakfast at the house or walks downtown to get coffees and doughnuts and play on the playgrounds. We spent one day at the local Cape May Zoo, which I just love. It's free to the public, although you can give a donation to the cute old man who hands out the maps when you drive into the park. I feel like I barely got any photos of Junie at the zoo because she literally just sprinted from one place to the next until we got to the very end. I was having a hard time keeping up, let alone getting out in front of her to take a photo. 😂
After the zoo, we came back to the house so June could nap, and then went to the beach for the afternoon once she woke up. I think she and T.J. ran to and from the waves about a thousand times, while I sat in my chair and ate cheese and veggie straws. #livingthatmomlife
I love how windy it looks in the photos below and that June's hair looks so light in color and salty. It's definitely gotten darker the last few months and seeing these images from September makes that super obvious. Also, SUNSHINE. Just look at the warm sunshine in these photos! There is HOPE!
Our last day on the beach was a little bit colder than earlier in the week, but that didn't stop June from wanting to run full speed towards the water and then be chased back onto the beach by myself, T.J. or my parents. The joy on her face, mixed with the blue sky and puffy clouds, just makes my photo-loving-heart so happy.
So, there you have it. A little glimpse into our beach vacation from this past September. Editing these photos realllllly makes me want to travel somewhere, or start planning this year's vacation! Crazy to think that we'll also have a 6-9 month old in tow (depending on when we go to the beach) for our vacation this year.
What are you favorite, family friendly, beach towns? I've grown up going to Stone Harbor, which is why we love it, but I'd be interested in trying somewhere new, too! Let me know in the comments!
