New Jersey Shore, September 2009
| The adults go to the beach to relax, read and visit. The kids enjoy that too; but... Sebi and Robert got right to playing on the beach when we joined the rest of the clan on Long Beach Island for a week. And that night, Grandpa got right to his task. |
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| But really the boys wanted to play on the beach. And that they did. And did. And did some more. Sometimes the sand and water over there really needs to be moved over here. Really, it just does. Robert was happy to take that on. And if there were waves that needed a little help to get further up the beach or back out to the ocean, he was happy to help with that, too. And Sebi was ready and willing to help with all that work (as long as the waves were not too big). |
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| While the construction crew, led by Sarah, was hard at work, they didn't realize they were being spied on. I have no idea what that boat was up to. It didn't actually end up on the beach, but it sure came close. And yes, the weather really was that perfect and the beach really was that empty during the week. There were a couple cool days, a bit of rain and we did turn the AC on once, but really, the weather was fantastic. |
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| We took the canoe this year; while the beach construction was underway, I walked across the island (3 blocks) to make sure I could put the canoe in on the bay side, there was enough water so I took a trip around Flat Island, it's well named. But it could also be named starling island -- at least I think those are starlings. There was huge flock buzzing and zipping around. Robert and Sarah accompanied me later in the week and Robert dubbed it, dragon island because one part of the shoreline looked like a dragon, complete with long tail. |
| Not that all our time was spent on the sand. The boys had some serious space travel to attend to courtesy of our ice chest. (It's sad to realize they won't both fit next year...). And on Wednesday morning, while it was a little rainy, we headed back to the aquarium to check out the fish. |
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| After some more beach time, the boys started to wind down with a book before dinner. Then Sarah took a page from Susan's book and made pirate hats and swords. After dinner, the adults got their way and the kids got to hear a story or two before falling, exhausted, to sleep. (Well, at least in theory. There was some hard sleep, but there was also some bed swapping and late night movie watching.) |
| I was impressed that Robert was so out -- and out so quickly -- that his whale shark and bear were still piled up on top of him. That's Sebi's head on the couch. After a good night's sleep, it was time for the cork race (the adults did enjoy some nice meals with nice wine). We didn't have a river handy but the waves washing over the rocks worked quite well -- sometimes your cork would take two or three trips before disappearing into the waves. |
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| The wind that morning blew the clouds back out to sea and we headed to the playground to climb on the contraptions and run around a bit on the ... sand. |
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| When we got back from the playground, we saw the kite surfers (if that's the right term) looking like they were having lots of fun. I have no idea how you steer but I'm glad you can, it's a loooong way to Ireland. |
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| Eventually our happy crew had to split up and head back to the our various homes. We managed to drag out the car loading until 10:59 -- the check out time being 11:00. Sarah took Robert and I up to Old Barney, the light house for one last look at the island before heading back home. |
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Vacation notes:
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