OCNJ and Earl

So!  We went on vacation!  A REAL one with sand and beaches and seashells and...it was just lovely.  We haven't been away for more than a few days as a family in several years, so it was well overdue. 

We rented a house in Ocean City, NJ (and got it kinda cheap since it was the last week of August and considered "out of season" and the original family that was supposed to rent it backed out, and we ended up not going through a realtor but getting it directly from the owner).


I should probably start this off by mentioning that the Saturday prior to leaving, John and I went on our very last concert from our Summer of Concerts/Fun/Actual Dates and saw My Morning Jacket.  I am not as familiar with the band as John (I sorta recognized two, maybe three songs), but I still enjoyed the show--and of course the opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy an evening with my husband.  You know, I really used to adore that guy before we had kids, and we got all tired and grouchy and business-like all the time.

So!  The very next day, we had to leave for Ocean City.  But first!  I had to finish packing!  Cuz, I was painting all week and after all that and trying to get some of the house back in order for the baby sitter and all the laundry caught up for the packing and distributing the pets to kennels and friends' houses, I kinda of did not have time for some of the actual packing.  I mean, all the foodstuffs and beach paraphernalia and kid-entertaining backpacks and toiletries were done--I just didn't have most of the clothes in the actual suitcases.

The sitter watched me in awe (she stayed the night to make it easier on all of us), and she helped keep the kids out of my hair by playing Mario Cart with them while I ran around matching shirts and shorts and then just throwing stuff in Izzy's bag (ending up with a bag full of mis-matched clothes for her, half of which we didn't need).

The house was a block from the beach path.  It provided everything--including beach towels and toys and tags and a washer/dryer and two bathrooms and five beds (and even a pull-out couch) and a whole nice note full of tips of places to go and places to eat and even movies and games (although a bit outdated), and I even saw a whole closet full of baby stuff--pack 'n' play, high chair, stroller.  Oh!  It was perfect!

Monday we went to the beach and the boardwalk.  We ate lunch at this Italian place that had the BEST wood-fired pizzas.  I cooked slightly overdone hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner.

Tuesday we went to the beach and packed a lunch and then got home and got a bit grumpy with each other (too little sleep and long drive catching up on us, I suppose), but then we played a game of outdated Pictionary.  I made spaghetti for dinner (I should write a post on that later...).  I took the kids back out to the beach that evening where the low tide provided all kinds of WHOLE shells to their glee.

Wednesday we went to the beach and the boardwalk.

Thursday we knew that Hurricane Earl was going to start wrecking havoc with the waves, so we decided to go down to Cape May instead of the beach.  We went to the Zoo (Free!  and puts Local Zoo to shame!) and the lighthouse where we discovered that Mary has some sort of phobia with those iron stairs with holes in them.  Huh--who knew?  We also discovered that John and I are waaaaaay out of shape (that we BOTH knew).  We went out to eat at a pricy seafood/steak restaurant where I had an awesome bowl of clam chowder--and couldn't finish my crab cake.  Keith discovered he likes scallops.  We bought some NEW games and played them.

Friday Earl got downgraded to a tropical storm, but we still felt its effects as it was overcast and rainy most of the day.  We still went to the beach.  We dipped in our toes and watched the HUGE waves (the beaches were closed for swimming, not that we would have gone in, anyway).  We realized we probably could have brought the skimmers we bought the kids.  We realized we should have gone ahead and put them in their bathing suits as Keith and Izzy got completely soaked just playing around.  We went back to the boardwalk to say our goodbyes.  We played another one of our new games.

Saturday I cleaned up the house, and we packed up the car, and then we walked around the corner to a donut shop where they had the most heavenly donuts!  I'm not a huge donut fan and I wanted MORE.  Silly John only bought 6 donuts.  WHAT was he thinking?

We then drove to Philadelphia and checked out the Liberty Bell, which was kinda cool.  Then we got back in the car and headed home.  We got in right around 7:00.

And now for some bullets!

• This is the first vacation where I've actually UNPACKED my bags and put all the clothes in dressers for everyone.  It was great! 
• With the washer/dryer, I did laundry every day.  We only used the one set of towels.  I had hardly any laundry to do when we got back.
• That means that I overpacked.  I could have gotten away with probably three outfits a person since that's about all we really wore all week.
• I kinda wish we'd gone to the beach on Thursday.  We were nervous about the Earl waves, but we probably could have at least let the kids dip their toes in like we did on Friday--and maybe actually use the skimmers we bought on Wednesday!  How cruel to buy your kids beach skimmers and then not USE them while actually on a beach!  I'm still glad we went to the zoo, but we were too tired to go out to the beach after we got back.
• We need to plan a Philadelphia trip.  You know...if we can ever afford to take another real vacation again.
• I ended up arranging for a friend to pick up Zuko from the kennel for us on Saturday.  The kennel normally has Sunday pick-up, but changed it to Monday due to the holiday.  Not only could I just not stand the thought of our poor little puppy stuck in the kennel that long, but we would have had to pay for two extra days when we were HOME!
• Poor Zuko ended up with a touch of diarrhea Thursday.  We all think he was just stressed out from being away from us for so long.  Poor little guy!
• Izzy will actually TAN when in the sun.  This amazes me since the other two and I just basically burn.
• SPF 85 was my friend that week.
• We acquired three more stuffed animals and a plastic brain with eyes that pop out. Seriously?
• Mary was silly enough to bring one stuffed animal to the beach on Friday (HOW did she sneak that out without John or me noticing?), and he just about got carried away, along with our shoes, when one of the BIG waves came in.
• John did not get into the water until Wednesday.  Izzy would not go into the actual ocean until Wednesday when Daddy finally brought her in.  She would only go in if she was held--but she still had a ball jumping the waves in our arms.
• I could stand living a little closer to the beach.
• I really, really want one of those donuts right now.

Pictures are scattered between two cameras--the majority being on the new one I don't really know how to use yet.  Maybe I'll take some time to figure it out next week....