It's spring break. Mary Anne and Stacey accompany the Pikes on a beach trip to Sea City to babysit their eight children so the parents can have a real vacation. While there, Stacey becomes infatuated with an older lifeguard named Scott, leaving Mary Anne to do most of the work. Mary befriends a local boy, Alex, and his cousin Toby, before calling Stacey out on her neglect. The girls go out for burgers with Alex and Toby, only for her to realize that Scott has a girlfriend. The group ends their vacation happily, with Toby even giving Stacey a gift before they leave.
Back in Stoneybrook, Dawn attempts to nudge Sharon and Richard back together. Richard eventually gifts Sharon a turtle. Kristy, already overwhelmed with moving into the new house, is asked to babysit Karen and Andrew, and is locked in a shed as the kids scatch the paint on Watson's prize car. Kristy admits the incident to Watson.
Tropes:
- Age-Gap Romance:
- In a negative example, Mary Anne instantly brings this up as why Stacey's crush on the lifeguard is inappropriate, even referring to him as a "man" (she guesses that he's seventeen). As might be expected, it goes nowhere.
- Late in the episode, Byron tells Stacey he has a crush on her (he's 8 or 9). She lets him down much more gently than Scott did her.
- Are We There Yet?: Stacey narrates that the car trip with the Pike kids involved "three vomiting incidents and 650 million are-we-there-yets."
- Beach Bury: The Pike boys do this to Mary Anne, leaving her to be rescued by a couple of local boys who are used to it.
- Beach Episode: Stacey and Mary Anne accompany the Pikes to Sea City, where they spend most of their time at the beach. The two don't get to relax much since they have to babysit the kids. Stacey also crushes over a teenage lifeguard and spends most of the first day obsessing over him, much to Mary Anne's annoyance.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Dawn swipes her mom's phone in an attempt to invite Richard over for dinner. He isn't fooled for a second.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Dawn calls her mom "Sharon" in the opening scene, which is odd, since she's consistently referred to her as "Mom" before this.
- Cast Incest: Referenced by Alex when he and Mary Anne are talking about crushes. He mentions liking a guy at theater camp and that it got awkward when he was cast as the father of the aforementioned crush.
- Contrived Clumsiness: Stacey tries to get Scott's attention by pretending to twist her ankle while running in front of his lifeguard station. He doesn't even notice.
- Creepy Child: Vanessa Pike, who speaks only in rhyme throughout the episode.
- Description Cut: The girls are surprised that Mary Anne got permission to go to Sea City and wonder how her father is taking it. The scene cuts to Richard Spier staring at a photo of his daughter before suddenly breaking into a sob. It immediately cuts back to Mary Anne saying he's doing okay.
- First Kiss: Stacey has her first kiss at the end of the episode with Toby, right before she leaves Sea City.
- Foodfight!: The Pike boys get in one on the beach, using an entire bag of cheese poofs.
- From Bad to Worse: Karen tries to make Kristy feel better about the scratched quarterpanel on Watson's car by telling her that he hardly ever drives it (low mileage), it's really old (a classic), and one of less than a hundred made (a limited edition).
- Irony: Mary Anne gains the platonic friendship of a local boy. Stacey, who's desperately attempting to be noticed romantically by an older teen, fails to do so, though she does get the attention of Alex's friend Toby, who is around her age.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Stacey is a smart and mature girl, but loses all rationality whenever she obsesses over a cute guy. For example, when she crushes on the lifeguard in Sea City, she genuinely considers Mary Anne's sarcastic suggestion to pretend to drown as a way to get his attention. After she has her first kiss at the end of the episode, she wonders aloud if she could get dual citizenship (since the boy she kissed is Canadian).
- Not So Above It All: Kristy still isn't fully comfortable with the impending wedding and other changes to her life, but when she's standing in her new bedroom, she can't help but be impressed.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Scott has this reaction after his girlfriend points out that Stacey has a crush on him. Apparently this is a regular occurrence and he just doesn't notice.
- Overcrank: Done to show Stacey's attraction to the lifeguard she sees running down the shore.
- Schmuck Bait: Karen claims her dad keeps "all his secrets" in a room adjacent to the garage. Kristy goes inside, but the door locks behind her when she closes it.
- Shout-Out: Two in one conversation. When hatching a plot to get Sharon and Richard back together, Dawn says "The game is afoot", and calls the idea "Project Parent Trap".
- Split-Screen Phone Call: Split screen is used when Dawn calls Richard and asks him to date her mom again.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: It's not exactly clear why Karen fetches two huge steel wool pads to "wash" Watson's car, but she does.
- The Unhug: When Kristy agrees to baby-sit Karen and Andrew, Watson, pleased she agreed so easily, first clasps her by the shoulders, then goes to hug her before backing off and awkwardly shaking her hand.
- Winning Over the Kids: Kristy is finally beginning to warm up to Watson somewhat, though this doesn't stop her from hanging up on him as soon as he agrees not to tell Elizabeth about the car. He seems to consider even that much a win.
