Vacation pics . . .

Hunter and I spent last week NOT relaxing at the Jersey Shore. Yes, we had fun, had great weather, and sure, we loved spending all the time with the kids and my parents, but it was hectic and exhausting.

We were in Ocean City, New Jersey, which is completely designed for families. I have 92 photos, but I won't bore you with them all. These are my favorites:

#3 rode the merry-go-round for the first time. She is smiling here, but that's before she started moving. Then the smile went away and she was terrified!

Our annual picture in front of the lifeguard stand. The beach bum crew - from back left - my niece "J", Daredevil, Diva, and (in front) #3. Missing from the photo is my nephew "G", who 2 months older than #3's.

Ah, #3's first bike ride. She did not like this helmet and kept taking it off and throwing it in the street. You can see her dislike for it here.


We rode to the bike shop and exchanged her helmet. Here she is much happier, and no longer throws it into either the street or the path of another boardwalk biker.


The boardwalk bikers. OCNJ lets folks ride bikes on the boardwalk (about 20 blocks long) until 12 noon each day. I've done it since I was a little kid. Fun for the whole family.

With another baby in the house and only 1 high chair, #3 got to sit in a booster seat like a big girl. She enjoyed it very much.

#3 thought she would sample some sand. She discovered it's not so tasty. I thought she would learn, but she kept doing it again.

Daredevil on his skimboard. Waves were perfect for skimming. He is getting better at it all the time.
My beach babies . . .

Daredevil watching some surfers. He begged us for surfing lessons, but there just wasn't time. Maybe next trip. I want to take some more lessons. Surfing is very hard, but so fun.

My wannabe lifeguard.

A rainy day trip to Atlantic City. We went to Caesar's and then the boardwalk. Here is the gang with ol' Caesar. Training the kids early, we showed them how a slot machine worked (they watched from afar, we did not break any laws!) All hail Caesar!

Lunch at the Rainforest Cafe on the boardwalk at Trump Plaza. There was a 40 minute wait, so we sat at the bar. As I said, we are training them early.


This is at the Pier At Caesar's. It's a 3 story shopping mall out over the ocean. It was beautiful.
The mall is nice but very high end. I strode around the Louis Vuitton store like I was going to buy something, and Hunter tried on a $3,500 Tag Heuer watch at Tourneau and then pretended he just didn't like it. I'm sure we fooled no one.

To sum up the week, here's a flag someone would put up on the beach every day: It's All Good!