Vacationing down the shore...Part 2

Here are some more pictures from vacationing down the shore. When I started this post way back when there were things I wanted to remember and type down, but I didn't and now I don't remember! Getting older...gotta love it. I know you're all here for the pictures anyway... so here they are

This plant is almost 60 years old. That's right! My grandfather (or grandmother) planted it when they built the house down the shore.

Out of all of the hydrangea plants that were planted around the house. This is the sole survivor, and it still produces the most beautiful flowers.

Maddie is in total agreement. The flowers are awesome!

She loved to chase the waves trying not to get her feet wet, except on her terms... when the wave wasn't advancing any farther, she'd strike, splashing about.


There is a huge assortment of beach toys down the shore. Her favorite by far is the watering cans followed closely by the big shovel. She never really dug any great big hole...she'd just fill the bucket then dump it right back out again then start right over.

There were also some great sunsets on the bay. The way she is sitting cracks me up, because she does this all on her own quite often when she's just sitting somewhere...she crosses her legs like a proper little lady.

MomMom, Aunt Kristy, Molly and Madeline having a grand ole time on the beach playing. Cole was off with Dominic so he missed out on the picture. PopPop and Daddy were out on the boat.

I'm already dreaming about going back in September...*sigh*

Garden

*This post brought to you from Ron's facebook page*

I decided to try a garden this year and things seem to be going well so far. Although we won't be saving any money this year with all the set up costs... But its been interesting and fun for Maddie too, the sunflowers are hers. We got back from vacation last week wondering how well it make out untended, it was fine, more than fine even. Here's what it looked like a few days ago.



The large plants overgrowing everything else is zucchini. Apparently it really likes miracle grow. I planted 5 and they are much too close to each other and everything else. So next year, maybe 2 in the same amount of space. The next day I noticed a couple of small ones starting to sprout and then in about 3 days they turned into these.


So, I guess if nothing else, we should have a bumper crop of zucchini this year.

Vacationing down the shore in July...Part 1

We spent a lovely week down the shore (that's Jersey talk for "we went to the beach") for vacation from the daily grind. This July the weather has been cooler than normal and we really had a beautiful week to be down the shore and spent the majority of the time on the beach or at the bay beach. Ron did go out fishing and crabbing with Dad two days as well. Here are some photos from the trip...

The beach is her domain, the sand, and the sea...

Several hours were spent with sand toys digging holes, building drizzle sand castles and heck, just using a watering can and "watering" the sand and filling the buckets over and over and over...
I mean, really, over and over and over...


Of course there was also swimming! Maddie was tentative about jumping the waves on the "big girl beach" at one point she was hiding behind Ron as the waves came in. But she got over that pretty quick and kept wanting to go deeper in the water!

There was also a good amount of playing on the playset at the house as well. This made for just a wonderfully relaxing time. Walk to the beach early in the morning (we're early risers and were on the beach most days before 9am), come home for lunch and nap, then either go back to the beach or play on the playset while Mommy tries to read her book. One block away is a produce stand where we got fresh sweet corn...and you know, everything was within walking distance which was a nice change from home. The only thing I wish we had brought with us is our bikes. We'll have them for September though!

The bathing beach was well loved. She liked it because I'd let her go in deeper by herself (the entire thing is shallow) and of course she had on a life vest...and sometimes a wet suit as well - I swear the girl can't hold her body heat!

We were there with Mom Mom and Pop Pop which was fun, even though Mom Mom had to go to work several of the days. We still had fun waking her up in the morning *grin* and having dinner with her at night. We got to see Pop Pop all day (well, that is until he and Ron went out on the boat a couple of the days).

It's hard to say, but I think it's a pretty safe assumption that Maddie had fun while we were there. She had a different bathing suit for each day (Thanks for the hand-me-downs Molly!) and was uber-excited each morning when I told her to get dressed in a bathing suit each day.

More photos and more about vacation later...

Happy Birthday Pop Pop!

Unfortunately we couldn't be there for Pop Pop's birthday today so we had to resort to a group sing-a-long on the telephone.


Hope you enjoyed your Birthday Blueberry Pie!!! Here is a picture of Pop Pop while we were down the shore on vacation - Next time *smile* when I'm taking a photo Dad! ;)

So, there we were...

As a continuation from the last post...

So, there we were at the Liberty Day celebration with live music, crafts and games for the kiddos. It was a nice day, not too hot, not too cold, we got there early enough and set up our chairs and blanket in our finest red, white and blue garb...

Maddie wanted to wear her American flag t-shirt and picked it out herself for the "fireworks party". She likes this t-shirt a lot it because it's "sparkly" which is kinda hard to tell in the photo, you'll just have to trust me on that one.

We wandered around and did sand art (note the dolphin necklace), Maddie had her portrait done, we blew bubbles and listened/danced to the music (you can guess which one of us did which) and had a picnic dinner.

All in all things were going as planned...except, Ron wasn't feeling all that well. About 20 minutes before the fireworks were supposed to start, he started talking about needing to go home, he was feeling nauseous, with sharp pains in his back. Now, Ron isn't one to complain about not feeling well...so we left before the fireworks (try explaining THAT to a 4 yr old) and on the way home Ron said, I think we need to go to the hospital. Well, 4 hours in the ER and he was admitted for having a kidney stone!

Maddie and I got home around 1:30-2 am, she was amazingly well behaved for being WAY past her bedtime and in a very boring location. They did have a play room in the ER (who knew?!?) and there were other kids there, so that did help some too. But once we knew that he was going to be admitted, the two of us headed home to get some rest.

My parents picked her up on Sunday and took her down the shore (or as Maddie excitedly said "on vacation!") to play with cousin Molly for a few days. Ron was released Sunday evening from the hospital and felt a whole lot better - He doesn't want to go through that again. He has a follow up appt but, so far all seems ok!

We drove to the shore last night and picked her up...she had a blast - apparently Maddie and Molly play very well together (Brilliant move by my parents to keep from getting exhausted). They went swimming at the bathing beach, fishing on the boat where Maddie caught a little fish (also known as...the bait, a minnow) and some blue crabs, played on the playset for hours at a time, walked around the lighthouse, had ice cream and watched the sunset on the bay...yes, I'd say she had a good time. Only 5 more sleeps and then we get to go back, this time WITH Mommy and Daddy =)

Happy 4th of July!!!

The 4th started out just great, including heading out to the Liberty Day Celebration with live music, kids crafts, games, etc which was to culminate in fireworks. Madeline was super excited to see the fireworks, she kept asking if we'd be going out on Uncle Kevin's boat though (which we did last year to watch the fireworks - she LOVED that).

Unfortunately we didn't see the fireworks but as a consolation we did spend the evening in the ER including playing in the emergency room play area. Talk about fun!

more later...

A DelMarValous Weekend...

I returned from FL last Friday night and then proceeded to spend the entire weekend running around visiting people all around DelMarVa...from Easton to Rehoboth

Saturday we surprised Nana and drove down to Easton to wish her a Happy Birthday! Of course, it was Saturday and she was working, we didn't call first (uhm, it would have spoiled the surprise!) and when we got there, she wasn' t there.

So, not ones to just sit about (could we ever with Maddie around?), we set up the sprinkler we brought with us and let Maddie have fun frolicking in the water until Nana arrived.

There might have also been some impromptu gymnastics as well...


And yup, we did surprise her =)

Sunday we drove down to Rehoboth Beach and spent the day with one of the ChangDeKids families - Alicia & Julie Mei and her family who were vacationing there.

Maddie and Julie Mei met last year at the reunion in VA Beach, they had a great time playing together and they just picked up where they left off...

Despite living in DE for 10 years, we have never actually spent a day at the beach in Delaware. We always go down the shore in Jersey.

The grownups sat and chatted while the kids played and splashed in the water.

Even Ron got in on the fun and went into the ocean to swim for a while! We were then treated to a wonderful meal cooked by Alicia and her sister. It was good to see them again and know that we'll see them at next year's ChangDeKids Reunion as well!

So, where was I?

I spent a week in Apalachicola, FL! Florida's Forgotten Coast! Had a meeting there for work, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't all that excited about it. I mean, it was temp of 102 degrees with high humidity. We were told to be prepared for 110 heat index - have I mentioned that I'm more of a "fall" person? Well, it was hot, but I did also have a good time. Even opting to sit outside in the shade rather than inside the air conditioned buildings.

We stayed at a beautiful B&B, The Coombs House Inn which was wonderful.

The rooms were very comfortable and it was just like being a home. The meeting room was also quite convenient and it was within a quick walk to down town.

It was the first time I had been to the Gulf coast and had the opportunity to wade into the Apalach. Bay, feel just how warm the Gulf is, see stingrays (being careful not to step on them!) and lots of birds, searching for sea turtle nests, saw oyster tonging, tasted tupleo honey and went beach combing for shells. Not to mention nearly being way too up close and personal with a strong thunder and lightning storm with water spouts while out on the Bay.

Saw the rebuilt lighthouse on St George's Island

Tasted alligator for the first time and saw wonderful marsh views...

All in all it was a good trip, we did get a lot done but I was also glad to head back home too!