During the week leading up to our annual labor Day "vacation" to Ocean City, MD with Julie's sister and her family, one of my coworkers forwarded me a funny article written by a guy who argued that once you have kids you no longer take vacations, you take "trips". Admittedly we had prepared ourselves for the fact that our week at the beach was not going to be a true vacation but after reading the article I feared that we would come home from the beach in greater need of rest and relaxation then when we left.
For those that have a hard time envisioning how we would do at the beach with 21 month old triplets, add another couple, their 2 kids (ages 30 mos and 8 mos) and their two dogs to the mix in a 2 bedroom condo and you will understand why we were setting our expectations extremely low for this trip. To make matter even more extreme, some high school friends were staying in the condo a couple doors down with their 3 kids all under the age of 5. At one point we actually had 6 adults, 8 kids and 2 dogs in one condo...it was very relaxing.
Thankfully our fears were exaggerated and what we ended up experiencing is what I would call a Tripcation. While we obviously were not able to sleep in or play endless board games, we were able to enjoy 9 days away from home hanging out with family. (This was actually the 10th year in a row that we have gone to OC with Julie's sister and we spent a bit of time reflecting on how this trip was slightly different from those first few years).
Our biggest fear going into the week was how the kids would sleep since we had to share a room with them and because the boys had been having trouble sleeping through the night ever since the surgery back in July. I was able to rig up some chairs and a sheet (in a better configuration then the previous year) which kept the kids from seeing us when they woke up and thus affording us an extra half hour in the morning before we were forced to get up. The kids all slept through the night every night which was a huge answer to prayer and then did pretty good with naps as well. (Although we had to put Andrew's pack and play in the bathroom for naps because he was waking the other two up early). It was actually fun to listen to them chattering in the morning with each other, apparently unaware that we were only a couple feet away. Our favorite part of the morning was listening to Andrew string together a bunch of nonsensical words and then end the sentence with his new favorite word, "outside" (pronounced oussssiiiddde in the same manner as the Whazzzuuppp guys from the old Budweiser commercials). For example: Mona banah supa dupa nafsha ousssiiidddde!
Our other big fear was that the triplets would not get along with their cousins. Going into the week we envisioned a lack of sharing and a lot of "mine's" being shouted on a regular basis. To our surprise the kids got along really well and there was very little refereeing needed (at least between the trips and their cousins...there was plenty of fights between Ryan and Andrew).
The biggest difference and improvement this year over last year was that the kids actually went on the beach and enjoyed it (for a little while at least). With the exception of one or two days we took the kids down to the beach for an hour or so each day. They had fun scooping sand, chasing seagulls and sprinting headlong towards the ocean. We took turns taking the kids down to the ocean so that they could splash in the water and that was probably the highlight for each of them.
Nadia in particular loved the water and we were constantly chasing her as she ran for the water, completely ignoring our calls for her to stop. Andrew's favorite beach activity was scooping sand and pouring it through a sifter. Ryan was his normal cautious self and although he liked the sand, he did not like putting his hands down into the sand, which made for some funny moments as he tried to stand up without using his hands. Ryan also surprised us at his positive reaction to the water since he is usually the least excited about going in the pool at my mom's house. In fact Ryan's favorite part of the trip didn't really involve the beach at all, instead he was enthralled with the elevator. He always wanted to push the buttons and since we were on the 5th floor he learned to press the 5 button to go up. For the first few days after we got home from the beach whenever we were outside and told the kids that we needed to go inside, Ryan would say "up 5".
We did a lot of other fun things like taking the kids to a local park, walking to an awesome doughnut shop, and taking the kids for a stroll on the boardwalk. We were even able to get out for dinner a couple nights thanks to my mom who volunteered to hang out in the condo while the kids were sleeping so that we could go out. My brother-in-law and I were also able to play a lot more games than either of us thought we would which was another nice surprise.
All in all it was a great trip and we even agreed to do it again next year. In the meantime here are some pics and videos to give you a sense of our tripcation.
"Can I pease has a snack?"
Nadia is not the only one who can do close ups!
"I feel your pain guys...it sucks to be small"
Daddy learns to count while Nadia poses for the camera
Cousin Avery rocks the sprout!
Ryan went from this close to putting on a shoe by himself to a full blown tantrum in just 20 seconds!
They may be "fun size" but they are still too big for both of them to share the tub...
"Cousin Ally are you sure you can read the words in this book?"
Being able to read a book while 4 toddlers battle over an inflatable tub is not a skill that can be learned, you must be born with it (and alcohol helps too)
Every year Julie makes me an awesome cake for my B'day and this year was no different...and no its not weird that a 33 year old has a LEGO cake
"Hold on Ryan...we're getting out of here!"
"Bow before my cuteness!"
Once she's on the trail of a shadow, Nadia is unstoppable
Despite numerous attempts, we had to settle for 2 out of 3, as usual
Andrew and Ryan can keep themselves entertained for quite a while with a good slide...
...and not to be outdone by his brother...
"We are tired of you putting us together for pictures..."
Daddy looked much happier than this after we stopped for doughnuts
Andrew's favorite activity...transferring sand from one spot to another
Digging for fruit-snacks
Look at that tummies!
While Ryan wasn't a big fan of the sand, Andrew had no such aversion
"I has all the fruit-snacks!"
A small glimpse of the circus that was our time on the beach
"Why have been wasting time on the beach when we have this sprinkler to play with?"
Nadia ponders her predicament
You can guess why there are no pictures of a half buried Ryan...
"I'll pose for this picture but only if you let me try to pull down the umbrella"
A scene from our Little House on the Prairie theme night
This video was taken at our friends' condo at the tail end of a "dance party" that included 8 kids...don't you wish that you could have this much fun on "vacation"?
This was the best video we had of the kids on the beach...not great but you will at least get the idea...
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