Recently we spent a night at The Reeds at Shelter Haven to get away for a little (and because I’d been craving the salt air) and it was beautiful! My grandparents have a house in Avalon so we go there frequently in the summers and because Avalon is so close to Stone Harbor, I grew up going to 96th street, the main shopping drag in SH, often as well. When The Reeds opened, Joe and I heard really great things but since having the kids, the beach has taken on a different life for us- a wonderfully different life, but different nonetheless. Anyway, we heard there was this really great place on the bay that has amazing margaritas, great food, and an even better view. And though we didn’t get to try the margaritas, our stay didn’t disappoint. Also, I can hardly handle this picture of Amelia with her umbrella (this picture is from Sunday right before we left)!
The first thing we did when we got into town was to stop at the beach. I’ve had this feeling tugging at me that I needed to see the ocean for months now so it was the first thing I wanted to do. Also, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let the kids run around on the beach for a bit after a 2 hour car ride! They didn’t want to leave and neither did I!
Something about seeing and hearing the ocean makes me feel instantly grounded and smelling the salt air is calming.
bag: Mar y Sol
How beautiful is this view? The kids absolutely loved it! They hardly left the windows any time we were in the room. I posted a video of the room we stayed in on my stories while we were there so I’ll try to put it up in my highlights today so you can see it. When we walked in, there was milk (a glass for everyone, including the kids!) and homemade chocolate chip cookies on the table which is the true way to my heart… dessert AND a water view?! Also, the cookies were so good that I wanted to order some to take home- the only reason I didn’t is because we left kind of in a hurry on Sunday because Joe caught a stomach bug. I guess we’ll just have to go back!
This was the view from our balcony off of the living room area. I could look at this all day! I also loved that the room had this view because the kids take a pretty decent nap midday and it was so nice for Joe and I to be able to sit down with a cup of coffee and a cookie during their afternoon naps and just look at the water.
After checking in, we walked down 96th street to find a place for a light lunch. We ended up going to the burger bar in the theater really close to the hotel. The food was good (we loved the truffle fries) and it was kid friendly so it was a win win for us. Then we headed back to the room to put the kids down for their naps.
We don’t have a fireplace at home so I love staying in hotels that have them, especially in the rooms! This was heated the room so fast and was so pretty to look at, especially at night after we put the kids to sleep. It was so relaxing! I wasn’t sure how hot it would get so we didn’t leave it on for long periods of time (I was too nervous with the kids) and we made sure that one of us was always right by it just in case.
After their naps, we wanted to get outside for a little before the sun totally set so we ended up walking around the back dock area and had an incredible view of one of the prettiest sunsets I’ve seen. We all enjoyed the fresh air, even if it was a little cold, and it was another opportunity for the kids to run around outside for a bit before dinner. Amelia loved looking at the water and wanted to keep going out on the dock where the boats were.
We decided to go to the hotel’s pizza pub right next door for dinner and had a really low key dinner. It was so good! There was a Hawaiian type pizza they had with pineapple and pork roll that I really wanted to try but the rest of my crew (other than Joseph) are not adventurous eaters so I’ll have to try it another time since we were just ordering a whole pizza. We ended up with a plain pizza (I got mushrooms and olives on the side) and it was really good!
Joe and I ordered breakfast on Saturday night to be delivered early on Sunday morning because we love getting breakfast in bed when it works with our vacation plans so I was so bummed when he woke up sick early that morning and couldn’t eat it with us. I used my tripod and self timer to get this photo and it was so much easier than I thought it would be. Probably because the kids were so interested in all the food that they weren’t trying to run away so it only took a few tries to get this. However sweet this photo looks, in reality the only person eating her breakfast in bed was Princess Amelia. I ended up chasing around Prince Joseph most of the morning and reheated my coffee about 5 times as usual. But the food was delicious! I seriously thought about it all day! We kept it simple because, well… kids, and got scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast, pancakes, and a fruit plate but it really was all so good! And the coffee was good, too, which is big for me because I can’t stand weak coffee!
We really had such a nice time at The Reeds! It was so nice to visit during the off season because it wasn’t overly crowded (I don’t know about the hotel but 96th street gets very busy in season) and even though everything wasn’t open, there was enough open that we weren’t at a loss for places to go. Also, we really want to go back soon and be able to spend a little more time on the beach as it gets warmer, and maybe spend some time at the Cape May Zoo for the kids! Hopefully Joe will be able to experience their breakfast first hand next time! Also, I did add the videos I took while we were there to my Instagram highlight feed so I hope you get a chance to check them out!
