Vacation to the Jersey Shore with the Smiths!

Tuesday night we packed up and headed to meet the Smiths at the shore! Of course Nola wanted to watch the Little Mermaid, her new favorite movie, on the way down!

Wednesday morning the girls were up and outside to feed the ducks.

Over the whole time, I think eating/feeding about 50/50. I couldn't tell who loved the bread more, the ducks or the kids.

Wednesday was pretty rainy all day so we decided to go to the aquarium in Pt. Pleasant.

We saw seals, sharks and many types of fish.

Smile Nola!

Smile Lily!

The touch pool...Nola got to pet a stingray. She loved it!

"Which way do we go George?"

"Look at those crazy fish Nola!"

Nola on the growing tree!

Happy Girls!

After the aquarium we ate lunch and played on the boardwalk.

Nola playing her favorite fishing game! She won a big green Nemo fish!

Best Friends!

Last year we went to the Music Man ice cream shop where the staff puts on a show while you eat your sundaes. This year we decided to try the kids story time. They were doing "Beauty and the Beast!" The girls kept themselves occupied while we waited in line.

We got to pick between vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream.
Nola got vanilla of course.

Yummy ice cream!

The kids were asked to go up and be part of the show. Of course Nola was ready.

Belle

The Beast

Kids doing "If you're happy and you know it?" during the show.

The Beast scared Lily.

Belle falling in love with the Beast!

And they lived Happily Ever After! We liked the show except for being scrunched and we liked our sundaes better so next year we're going back for the regular show.

Since the kids didn't nap we headed back to the house, bbqed, and put the kids down for the night. We got to hang out, relax and visit with Becky Markley. We had a nice time!

Don't you hate that it doesn't matter if your kids nap or not, they still wake up at the same time every day and it seemed even earlier on vacation. The guys left before 6 to go play golf and luckily the weather on Thursday was much better so we took the girls and Christopher outside to play.

Lily Paige

Thursday afternoon the dads took the girls on the wave runners.

Proud Daddy!

"Look at me, I'm a pro!"

Relaxing!

More playing time in the pool. This was definitely a huge hit! The girls kept pouring water out of the pool on all of our feet and our chairs. Whatever kept them occupied :)

Ok, here's my favorite part of vacation...Thursday night we went to dinner at Luna Rosa which was right next door to Karma where the cast of the Jersey Shore hangs out on Thursday nights.
While we were eating dinner we saw MTV people with backpacks and clipboards picking certain people and having them sign waivers for being on tv. A little while later we saw camera men around so we knew they were coming.

Sure enough after a little bit we saw the taxis pull up and Caitlin and I jumped up and ran over to take pictures.

We stood at the entrance and took pics of them coming in. They didn't look so happy!
J-Woww

Deenik, the new girl who takes Angelina's place for season 3.

Situation, Vinny, & Pauly-D

Pauly-D & Ronnie

So after we watch them go in we go sit back down because we figured they went upstairs in the bar and we wouldn't see them again. I was already so giddy it was ridiculous :) I finally convinced everyone to take one walk around the bar before we left.

Let me set the stage for the bar. Everyone was in short skirts or dresses and high heels, definitely dressed for the club! Caitlin and I were in sundresses to our ankles and I was definitely the ONLY pregnant person in there, not to mention 10 months pregnant.
Anyway I got everyone to take one walk around and sure enough they were all split up right inside the club. They were so close we could almost touch them. Here are J-Woww and Snooki dancing.

Ronnie was right there! I just wanted to pet him but Jay held me back. (Not to mention his comment that he hadn't seen me smile that much in the last year...what is he trying to say?)

We stood on the side and just watched for a while. Ronnie looked lonely. He wasn't hanging with the other guys, Sammy wasn't there, and the other girls were hanging at the bar. We watched this 80 yr old man (see below), with a picture of his two grandkids ironed-on his shirt, make his way to the bar and stand next to Snooki. Not sure if he just wanted to be on camera or if he was a groupie, but he got on camera and Snooki was dressing him up with makeup. Pretty funny!

Old man on the right!
After a little while longer we decided to leave because we definitely felt out of place. Caitlin was terrified of being on camera and being labeled a grenade. We'll be back next year Karma!

Friday morning came very early and the kids were up at 6 am sharp. Okay, I'm going to apologize right here because this is the only picture of Christopher I have. I am so sorry! I got to hold him a lot and he is ADORABLE and such a good baby. I just didn't get any good pics. Next year you'll have your buddy and I'll make up for the missed pictures!

Good Morning everyone!

Morning ritual of feeding the ducks!

The guys took the girls to the beach so we could relax and tan.
Looks like they had a fun time!

Nola loves the water!

And making sand soup!

Lily with her Gi-Gi

More sand soup!

After nap we headed to the Seaside boardwalk for dinner, rides and games.

Groupie shot!

"Don't worry Nola you will love him later on!"

Dance party at the restaurant!

"We promise we're good drivers!"

"We're even better driving The Mystery Machine!"

Train Ride

Smile!

The dads took over the frog game when the girls couldn't hit far enough!

"Go Dad go!"

Lily's dad won...but "We losed," according to Nola!

No tears though because we took them for ice cream!

Here is the store where the Jersey Shore cast works. Vinny and Ronnie were on duty but we couldn't get close enough. There were a ton of people taking pictures and waiting in line. The night before was much better!
We walked the whole boardwalk about 3 miles. I was definitely shuffling by the end!
Saturday we woke up, cleaned up and headed home. I thought for sure this baby was coming!

THANKS SMITHS for a fantastic time as always!
We love our tradition!
How are we going to do with 4 kids next year?