Ocean City with Mormor

Nate and I have wanted to go to Ocean City, Maryland for some time.  It is a large and popular resort town about 2.5 hours away, with nice beaches along the Atlantic Ocean. (The beaches 30 minutes from our house are on the Chesapeake Bay).  We finally decided to go the first couple days of the off-season when the hotels were 1/4 the cost and dogs are allowed on the beach.  The girls also had a day off of school which made it even easier.  The weather cooperated with sunny days in the upper 70's, which was perfect to stay outside all day.  The ocean was still warm from the summer.  Mormor was here visiting, so we all got to go together. 

Our hotel was half a block from the beach.  The ocean and beach were beautiful - nice sand and clean water.  It helped that we had the beach almost to ourselves since it was during low season.  Snoopy thought it was nice to relax on the beach too.  He was on the beach with us half of the time and he was a good sport relaxing in the sand and walking around exploring off-leash.  At one point he went missing and I heard someone nearby laughing.  I looked over and a woman was sitting in her beach chair eating food and Snoopy was sitting at attention next to her begging.  He kept trying to shake his paw with her so she would have to feed him.  I'm glad she was a good sport.  Snoopy didn't appreciate being called back over to our area. 

The waves were pretty powerful (at least compared to Miami).  One of the highlights for Lydia was having the waves crash against her while Nate held her steady.  Some of the time they were in deep enough water that she had no chance of standing against the waves without Nate holding her. She is the adrenaline junky of the two girls. 

Karina enjoyed the waves crashing on the shore too.  She stood so that her calves would get drenched when the waves came and it was one of her favorite activities.  She had a blast doing it, grinning from ear to ear in anticipation of the waves hitting her feet.  Here are Mormor and Karina waiting for a wave:

She and I also tried waiting for the waves sitting down and got completely drenched and knocked down a couple times:

Karina had more sense than me in this next picture.  We were sitting waiting for waves to hit us.  She saw a big one coming and got up quickly enough to get away.  I on the other hand, am not able to jump up as fast, and I ended up being knocked down right after this picture was taken when the seemingly tiny wall of water hit me:

Karina also liked playing chase with the waves.  When the waves came in,  she would dart away from them as fast as she could.   Here she is anticipating the waves and running from one:

All of us enjoyed just walking and playing along the water's edge too:

Playing in the sand was of course another prime activity.  

We found many treasures in the sand including crabs and shells, but most interesting (to me at least) were the number of mermaid's purses.  Nate remembered from our Morris Island tour in South Carolina last year that these little black cases are what once held shark eggs.  They are called mermaid's purses and there sure were a lot of them.  The ones I opened were all empty though with no shark eggs anymore.  I'm holding one here:

Derek was either worn in the Ergo for walks and naps, or held on someone's lap.  We couldn't trust him in the sand (poor guy).   

My snuggle bug:

Lydia wore herself out after hours in the water and playing.  She spent quite a while resting and cuddling on Mormor's lap:

Nate had the foresight to bring our kite with us there and Karina proved to be an expert.  Once it was in the air, she just kept running with it.  She ran north along the beach for a mile straight before we stopped her and told her she had to make her way back to our stuff and the rest of the family.  I heard a lot of people comment how cute they thought she was grinning and running with her kite along the water.  She was incredibly proud of herself for keeping it in the air.  We were very impressed too. 

Lydia got a chance to hold the kite control for a while and she too was proud of herself for flying a kite.

More pictures of us along the shore:

Derek did not quite appreciate being at the beach all day.  He wasn't allowed to crawl on the sand at the beach because he puts everything in his mouth.  Mormor put him on one of the queen beds in the room that she and the girls were sharing and he was so excited and relieved to be able to move on his own.  Finally with a little freedom:

The afternoon of the second day we were there, we went to Assateague Island state park and national seashore, which is just south of Ocean City.  Assateague is a 37 mile long barrier island with hundreds of wild horses.  Supposedly they have been there since the 1600's.  We spent much of our time trying to search for the wild ponies, along the beach and along trails.  It was a little disappointing that we didn't see any on the beach and in the water, like in the pictures online.  I had had visions of hanging out at the beach with horses wandering nearby.  A national park ranger told us later that they mostly only venture over to the beach and the water on really hot muggy days when they are trying to escape the insects.  We were there on too nice of a day basically.  We did end up seeing 14 horses, including 3 foals though.  The beaches were stunning and picturesque there too.  

On a walking trail in search of horses:

Derek was quite pleased to put his cute little toes in the sand.  He kept bouncing in it, enjoying the new texture.   He loved Mormor taking him out to feel the ocean water too:

 

Playing on a beach on Assateague Island:

Fun to cuddle with Mormor:

There was a very bouncy little boy with us, ready to move mostly on his own.  We all joined in on the excitement and bounced with him along the sand:

Getting in some last pictures before heading home:

A blog post from Assateague Island wouldn't be complete without some of the horses we saw.  There were a couple of them wandering around near the beach facilities (a mommy and baby).

And two more we saw from the car:

Ocean City was great and we would love to go back sometime.  It was a great destination.