Summer Vacation at the Beach

So I had typed a whole lengthy post about our vacation and somehow lost it and didn't have the heart at the time to type it all again. So here we are a few days later and I thought I would at least add something! We had a really great vacation. Our first vacation with all of us and Ellie seemed to enjoy it. She did fantastic on the car ride there and back as did the other girls. 12 hours in a car is no small feat for 3 active girls but they did great with very little complaining. As for actually liking the ocean and beach, I think the jury remains out on that one for Ellie. She liked the tidals pools the few times she was able to play in them...and did seem to get used to the ocean the last day or two. She didn't like the crashing water and wanted mommy to hold her a LOT. But she really did seem to have fun. Both Mackenzie and Ainsley of course LOVED their time at the beach. We had 7 days of amazing weather which was a first for us. Usually there is a day or two of rain and a day or two of just cold yucky weather but not this year. Fantastic every singe day we were there with maybe a passing shower in the evening one night. We enjoyed going to the boardwalk as always and also spent a day at the local zoo which all of the girls loved. We even brought along Rachel, the middle Luke daughter to keep us company. She was a huge help with the kids and we enjoyed having her with us. For those of you who follow this blog and don't know...we vacation with our friends the Lukes every summer. I think this was our 6th summer at the beach with them and we LOVE it. We don't get to see them very often as they live in PA and are missionaries with World Impact. They run a camp that allows kids and families from the inner city to come and taste of life outside the city. They have invited us on their vacation for the last six years and we have now acquired a love for the beach!!
Enjoy the pictures and I will post video of Jeff surfing soon!