Beach Week

Well... as Hagar the Horrible once said, "It's tough to get back to work after a vacation!"

We have returned from the family reunion on Frank's side: a beach house in Wildwood, New Jersey. Who actually lives in New Jersey? Nobody in the family, of course. We just chose a "central location" so 3 of the 4 families could drive. Pam and her crew in Seattle would have to fly no matter where we chose, except of course for the Seattle corner of the U.S.

For those of you who were like me, and had no clue on the planet that there were beaches in New Jersey, I can report that YES! They EXIST! And it was even sunny for us, all but one day. The water was NOT warm, mind you...Frank and I donned wetsuits to make boogie-boarding more comfortable. (The water is freezing in California, too...)

The 2nd day we took the boards out, I was pummeled by a wave, actually twice, and came away with a beautifully scraped chin and a very sore jaw. Who knew you could go from an upright, standing position, to churning upside-down to hit the back of your head on the ground, and then immediately hit your CHIN on that same sandy bottom? New mantra, repeat after me: "I respect the waves...I respect the waves...I respect the waves..."

It seemed that the cousins had a grand time, which I believe is truly the main point of family reunions, after all. That, and letting the grandparents see everybody. Here is "Everybody!"
I haven't downloaded all the group shots, but this is one windy beach attempt. (People are such good sports to put up with photo shoots!)

We were able to have all 17 under 1 roof, so I think that was more fun. Meals together, board games like crazy, reading novels, and of course Grammie D brought fun crafts for the kids. Wildwood and Cape May are actually pretty family-friendly, for anyone who finds themselves in that corner of the state of New Jersey. They boast wide beaches, boardwalk amusements, mini golf, a park nearby, paintball, movies, bowling...of all that I just listed, the only one we didn't do was the bowling; I'm just telling you that it was there.

We drove down on July 4, a week ago last Saturday. Our detour was Six Flags, since this year it made sense for us to get season passes (Kathi's visit to Boston made us check it out, and we could get some free tickets for them so we got the passes, which are good nationwide). Thinking it was going to be crowded on July 4, but what the heck, we stopped for 3 or 4 hours to ride whatever rides we could. Happily, they were running ALL the cars on most of the rides, so the lines went quickly. This also helped us avoid Saturday traffic to the beaches.

I took about ten thousand photos, because...that's what I do. I will spare you all those photos, however. Maybe I'll include Teresa on a boardwalk ride,












Frank miniature golfing,
and Kara and Teresa, and David and Nick playing in the sand.











Now, sorry Hagar, but reality calls--we're back! :) Have a great week!