long beach island, new jersey

The first week of August, we visited family who rented a house by the beach. We stayed two nights and it was such a nice little break from the everyday. It was great to spend a few days unplanned and out of our element. We ate good and drank even better. It was such a fun time for all of us. The house  was two away from the beach and had a beautiful pool differing from ours in the sense that it was much, much warmer. It was nice for a change...especially come night time. We swam from early morning to late afternoon  and then into the late hours of the night. 

I haven't been to Long Beach Island in well over ten years. It's about 20 minutes further out from the beach we typically visit, but still the same ocean. The change of scenery was greatly welcomed as we needed a switch. Where we typically go is wonderful, but it's pretty busy, and there are many distractions, cue: ice-cream, pizza, rides, games, and cheap stuffed animals that no five year old can deny. It was nice to solely focus on the sand + water, and nature. 

I love when the beach is easy to enjoy. Let me rephrase that, I love when the beach is set up for safe, fun, limitless kid play...insert sand bars, calm waters, and lots of shells and pebbles to explore. We had the best luck during our visit when the ocean formed into a lake-pool of sorts with an island. I have never seen the ocean do anything like it. All of the kids loved it, us adults too. We had our own little private island with a waveless ocean-pool. Little fish washed ashore and Logan just loved picking them up, filling her bucket, and assigning them each names. She ended up with a family of three: Mr. Willie Fish, Mr. Nillie Fish and Ashler. She even convinced some older and squeamish cousins to touch her new pets. She swam underwater in the ocean-- a first for her, pranced, flipped, and twirled about. She loved just being there, and I loved that too. It was fantastic and we hated to leave.

We are thankful for loving, generous, and inviting family.
If there is one thing I want Logan remember from this trip, it's just that.