Favorite NJ Day Trip Beach Spot: Point Pleasant

Point Pleasant Beach has become one of our favorite day-trip destinations with the kids.  It's only an hour away from us and has a lot of kid-friendly attractions on Jenkinson's Boardwalk that make it a no-brainer repeat place for us. 

We always park in the same private lot on Ocean Avenue right behind the amusement park because of the direct access to the beach, bathrooms in the adjacent arcade and since we always finish up the day at the amusement park after the beach.  So by the time we've done everything and we're completely exhausted, we only have to walk a few steps to our car.   Granted, you will pay a little more than the municipal lot across the street but for it's worth it when you have to haul 2 young kids and all our stuff.

Our day at Point Pleasant starts at the beach.  One of the best purchases I ever made is this Sun Smarties Beach tent.  It pops right open and folds easily (once you get the hang of it) for compact storage in a bookbag. 

P enjoying the shade of the tent

L surrounded by dinosaurs

Lunch is usually a platter of fried seafood.  Beward of those hungry seagulls though!  Hubby put the plate down for one second and a bird swooped up an entire fried fish fillet!  And moments later when my son dropped his french fry in the sand, another bird pounced and flew away before we even knew what happened.

After a few hours at the beach, we pack up and head over to the amusement park.  My son is 3 and the rides are perfect for him.  He doesn't like a lot of "thrill" and so he totally surprised my husband and me both when he even made his helicopter go up and down. 

There were even some rides that my one-year old could enjoy....well until the carousel started moving, that is.  And then she was eager to get off the horse. 

We took a break from the hot sun in one of the arcades on the boardwalk.  This one was a huge claw...you know the one.  This game really gets you to believe you can get one of the prizes.  Even after the claw picked up an Angry Bird, it bounced and then the prize slipped through the claw.  We were fooled...twice.

My son had a hard time with the concept of rolling the skee balls and kept throwing them, to the fear of the parents in the neighboring lanes.  But he was much more successful with basketball.

We didn't go to the Aquarium this time, but the nice thing about it is that once you buy tickets you can go in and out all day.  That's a nice feature if you want to get out of the sun and enjoy some air conditioned shade.