Oceanside

There were a lot of fun things on the calendar for this summer, and the beach was no exception.  We'd been counting down all year to a fun week in California.  Chase enjoyed jumping in the water and playing in the sand.  Ty liked exploring new things and new places - and new people.

We enjoyed some of our regular traditions, like going to Joe's Crab Shack and trying to get a quick family picture...

We also found out Ty loves pineapple

Apparently Ty drove for a bit too!

We had a minor detour on the way home.  There was a ton of traffic, and GPS gave us another route home.  But obviously someone needs to update this road because there was no way it was going to work out.  This dirt road was after a big drop from a previous dirt road.  Yeah, not a safe plan for us.

Tired boys after a week full of fun in the sun

It was another great year in Oceanside.  We're looking forward to #GardnersInCA2017 :)

Memorial Day at Coney Island

We decided to enjoy some sun for Memorial Day and went out to Coney Island.  We hadn't been before and decided we wanted a day at the beach.  We left for Coney Island in the morning and stayed for a couple hours.  It was a really fun day in the sunshine!

Chase getting ready to leave.

Can't forget the hat.

Sitting on the train like a big boy.

Getting excited to finally be in Brooklyn.  It's a long train ride!

First stop, lunch.

Chase enjoying a corn dog from Nathan's.

He ate the entire hot dog!

Nathan's is famous for the 4th of July hot dog eating contest.
Can you imagine eating 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes?  Gross.

Then we headed to the beach.  We walked around the Boardwalk a little to see all the rides and attractions and get to a less crowded area of the beach.

This picture cracks me up.

The second we picked a spot on the sand, Chase was off to get closer to the water.  He found a hole some kids were playing in and quickly made friends to play too.

We spent most of the time running up and down the beach with Chase because he loved standing in the waves.  The water was really cold, be he didn't seem to care.  (And there are a million pictures following of this!  Marcus was enjoying using the camera.)

And he did have one big tumble, but he jumped back up and pulled us back to the waves.

He also discovered the excitement of playing with the wet sand.

He was kind enough to share the sand.  :)

And the second we'd get him back to our towels to rest for a minute, he'd grab one of us to head right back to the water.

Chase was not pleased when it was time to leave.

He was really upset about it.

But two minutes after being changed into dry clothes, he crashed.

We had a fun day at the beach.  It was a fun way to spend the holiday.  

Happy Memorial Day!  

(And happy 30th anniversary to Grandpa and Gram.)