jersey shore!
i'm not talking about the tv show :)
the boys and i took a momma and boys trip back to the east coast while lance and baby sister have a daddy-daughter weekend. my parents were spending the week at a house just a few blocks from the beach and it was the perfect time to go...but i wasn't quite sure i wanted to have all 3 by myself on a plane. so we decided to divide and conquer.
the boys were so excited about a trip to the ocean and riding on an airplane. they did great! and since i had one less kid than normal, it was a pretty relaxing trip.
we spent our first day on the boardwalk and the beach. i love being back in the world of jimmies (aka sprinkles), more than one kind of ravioli in the grocery store freezer, ellio's pizza, birch beer and scrapple....oh and apparently chocolate covered bacon...
the weather hasn't been completely friendly to us this trip, but i have been enjoying the cooler temperatures and beautiful scenery on my runs. and since this is the first trip to the beach for the boys they were none the wiser that it is supposed to be warmer when you visit. they still had a blast in the water and did great.
ocean city also has some wonderful parks and play areas and is very family friendly. there was a park within walking distance of the house that we made several trips to. all of the outdoor activities have been wearing the kids out. miles in particular fell asleep in some crazy positions or places.
we found a little children's museum that got us through a day that was a bit too rainy for anything else. kids enjoyed it and it was really a neat little museum for being inside a random mall :)
after 5 fun-filled days of beach, parks, good food and family, the boys and i headed back to oklahoma. they even did well on the flight back. thank goodness for electronic devices! and a play area at the philly airport where they could burn some energy before the airplane ride.
i don't dress ethan in girl clothes or jammies, but the weather was so warm when we visited that we ran out of clothes for ethan to wear...for some reason i brought more short-sleeve items for miles than i did for ethan. and he had to go a night in butterfly jammies. he (and both the girls) thought it was too fun. lance did not.
the boys did really well on the plane ride. neither napped either trip, but they didn't scream the whole time either. though miles tried to :) i ended up having to break out the emergency jelly beans that my sister sent with me at the end of our flight back otherwise i think the guy in front of us might have lost it. he kept looking back at us...maybe wondering why i was making my child scream as loudly as he was, i'm not sure. maybe he thought the power of his glare would silence miles. little did he know, miles is a stubborn thing and it takes a lot more than a glare to silence him. i've actually found a glare to rile him up more. but realistically it was a reasonable flight and the flight attendants on that particular flight were very helpful, which isn't always the case.
they had a great time visiting with the east coast family and the kids played very well together the whole trip. miles has started in on his incisor teeth, which seem to be the worst ones teething-wise (for both him and ethan), so i learned about the magic powers of baby motrin (why have i never used this before?!?) and how it calmed and helped with sleep. tylenol apparently has nothing on motrin! we even got in a swimming pool visit at the hotel pool where my parents stayed and miles LOVED it!! had a blast. ethan was calmer and preferred to stay on the steps, but still had a good time. poor guy unfortunately had to wear a pink floaty-suit thing, but luckily he took it in stride. 
