Blogger Beach Bash at The Golden Inn

Earlier this week, we had one last hurrah to celebrate the end of summer. Our family attended the Blogger Beach Bash at the Jersey shore. I’d been looking forward to this trip for weeks. For the past few summers, we haven’t had a chance to get to the beach, and I’ve been anxious to spend a few days with my toes in the sand.

Of course, in true Shane family fashion, no trip is complete without a bit of drama. When we went to unload our bags at the hotel, we realized that MY suitcase had never made it to the car. Yep. My bathing suits, clothes, shoes and pajamas were all neatly packed in my own little suitcase at home beside my bed.

We debated going shopping, but decided it was a better use of time and money to just go home and get my bag. I volunteered to go, but my dear husband took one for the team. While I sat on the beach and watched my kids splash in the waves and chatted with my friend Whitney, he drove 4 hours round trip to retrieve my suitcase.

I know. I do not deserve him.

I’ve stayed in Avalon before, and it’s one of my favorite South Jersey beaches — definitely one of the more upscale Jersey Shore towns. For accommodations, there are lots of nice homes for rent, ranging from modest to palatial, and a few hotels including the Golden Inn. There’s no boardwalk to speak of and shops are few, but the homes are lovely and the beach is beautiful. It’s nice and quiet — perfect for a relaxing vacation.

If you’re looking for something to do, the Wildwood Boardwalk isn’t far, but we prefer Stone Harbor — a quaint beach town with tons of shops and restaurants that is only a mile down the road from the Golden Inn. We ate at Stone Harbor Pizza for dinner one night, where they have much more than just pizza (and they had a gluten-free crust, YAY!)

The big draw for the Blogger Beach Bash was Sandman Matt — a professional sand sculptor. Take a look at the sandcastle in the photo above that he sculpted just for this weekend.

He explained that he sets his sand sculptures with a spray of water and glue (yes, glue!) Amazingly, this sand castle stayed put for several days.

He showed our group how to create a smaller, less ornate version of his sandcastle.

It was truly fascinating. After his demonstration, he set everyone to work on their own sandcastles. The kids (and adults, I daresay) had a blast.

My crowd could not be convinced to leave the water, but that’s part of the fun of an event like this. Everyone can do their own thing, and we all get to visit and get to know one another. Many of my fellow Philly Social Media Moms were there, and we enjoyed hanging out and meeting each other’s families.

Jo-Lynne | Joey | Trina | Tina

As a Blogger Beach Bash attendee, we paid a reduced rate for our room at the Golden Inn, which included breakfast and lunch and the sandcastle sculpting lesson by Sandman Matt!