Atlantic City Trip (Super Long Post!)

We spent 4 nights and 5 days in Atlantic City, NJ and we had a blast! I was worried it wouldn't be too child-friendly, but there were tons of kids, plenty of restaurants for them, and a pier with rides! Obviously Landon is too young for the rides, but when he's older it will be great! Jeff and I really enjoy AC and I feel that there's something for everyone in our family. We will definitely be going there every summer.

We took several walks on the boardwalk, took Landon to the little AC Aquarium, went outlet shopping, out to eat several meals, and we went to the beach twice. We had gorgeous weather with the exception of late Saturday afternoon and evening. It POURED, but the rain did stop long enough for us to go get some dinner.

Before I get to the fun pictures, I just need to tell you all to never stay at the Trump Plaza if you visit AC. We've stayed at the Tropicana before, which was great, and the Hilton, which was fine, but I think it's closed down now. We read a few reviews of Trump Plaza on Expedia, and they were good, so we decided to book. We should have been more thorough in our review reading, because a few pages in and we saw tons of reviews that described what we experienced perfectly. Too bad I didn't see them until after we got home because we never would have booked there if I had. The hotel itself is in an AWESOME location right in the middle of the boardwalk and near lots of stores and restaurants. Jeff said the casino and staff there were great. I didn't go to the casino at all, so I have no idea. The common areas were clean, but everything could use some updating. The room was my huge issue because it was a little run-down and was not even close to my standard of clean. The toilet leaked, so we constantly had to put a towel on the floor to soak up water, and the sink leaked a bit too leaving the counter all wet on one side. The bed was fine and the sheets looked clean thank God. It was very clear though that the maids did the bare minimum because Landon left crumbs all over the floor from eating his breakfast while walking around and they were still there after they said our room was cleaned. They clearly didn't vacuum or dust, and there was also tons of sand left in our tub after we all showered after our beach visit. I know hotel carpets aren't the cleanest, but I have a 14 month old and keeping him off of them was impossible. Landon's legs and feet were filthy after crawling/walking around on the carpet in our room one day and I was horrified. Jeff was going to complain, but the line at the front desk was always way too long, so we wrote a honest, but not favorable review on Expedia instead. My other issue was that all 3 pillows on our bed were feather, which Jeff and I are both incredibly allergic to. Jeff called housekeeping to ask for non-feather pillows and they tried to tell him they were out of pillows! When Jeff said we were both allergic, they changed their tune and sent someone up to switch out our pillows. I don't care what our reasons were, as guests who paid good money to stay here, if we wanted non-feather pillows, it shouldn't be an issue. We will NEVER go there again. I want to try the much nicer Caesars right next door next time.

Friday we walked on the boardwalk and went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner after we checked in and unpacked. L loved it there, so we went back Monday night as well. The wait was insane, but we passed the time with some Starbucks iced tea and just hanging out. It was no big deal.

Our first full day in AC (Saturday) we took Landon to the aquarium in the morning. It was small and lame compared to what we have at home, but Landon loved it and that's what matters.

The tarantula tank. I stayed far, far away even though Jeff tried to get me to look. I am terrified of spiders, there was no way in hell I was looking in there. Landon seemed to like it though.

Saturday afternoon it rained so hard and the roads flooded. I enjoyed watching cars try to drive through all of the water on the roads from our window.

The boardwalk after the rain. It was freezing, but we were able to run out for some pizza quickly before the rain started again.

On Sunday morning we went to the beach. The weather was great and Landon had a lot of fun! He was a bit apprehensive about the sand, but he absolutely loved the ocean! He giggled and splashed when the waves crashed on him and it was so cute!

That afternoon after showers and naps we went to the outlets. Landon got a few t-shirts at the Disney store, and Jeff and I got stuff from J. Crew and Old Navy (which was not an outlet. Very misleading). We also went to Starbucks and sat for awhile which was nice.

Landon is obsessed with putting straws into cups. It was a big part of how we entertained him at restaurants during this trip haha!

Landon also loves my travel hairbrush that I keep in the diaper bag. He likes to "brush" his hair with it. I'm also just in love with this picture.

Monday morning we went to The Beach Bar for a buffet style breakfast. It was your typical buffet, nothing special, but it was pretty good. It was nice to sit on the beach and we got a gorgeous morning! After that we went to the mall at Caesars and Landon fell asleep pretty quickly.

We didn't buy anything, but we did watch a fun water show at the fountain and then we went to their observation deck to look at the ocean. Landon didn't get as much sleep as usual the night before, so he took 2 naps this day.

Monday afternoon after lunch and naps, we went back to the beach. Landon had even more fun the second time :)

Family shot. Um, looking at these pictures I realize that this suit did me no favors. My body will never be the same after pregnancy, but I promise my boobs aren't that saggy (but they are a lot saggier due to 12.5 months of breastfeeding. Awesome). Gotta love the lower tummy pooch that will never go away too. Black swimsuits from now on. Holy hell.

Tuesday morning we loaded up the car, did express checkout, got some breakfast, took one last walk on the boardwalk, and drove home! Landon did so incredibly well on this trip! We basically ruined his schedule, but he rolled with the punches and he slept pretty well too. I'm glad we know that we can travel with him now and it will be fine! I plan to do a separate post on how we handled his sleep because this one is way too long already! If you made it to the end of this post, bless you haha!