jersey shore!

It’s quite opposite the winter doldrums, where we’ve been fighting a wash of gray and indoor activities for days on end, to suddenly have so much activity to capture here that I’m only now hopping on to share our beach trip last month. A good problem, but hey New England, would you mind spreading it out a bit? Letting the other months of the year share the load? Unlikely.We arrived in Stone Harbor, after doing our near-magic middle-of-the-night departure at about 8 am? Or was it 9 am? I can’t recall, but if you remember my stories at the time, we exit home like a thief in the night. Pitch black, kids in pajamas. They go to sleep (Steve would probably appreciate me saying we here as it really is all of us except him). And we (He’d also probably appreciate me saying he here as he drives the entire trip while I, as I previously mentioned, sleep) drive straight through. No one needs snacks or bathrooms, because it’s basically the middle of the night! Then we arrive for the beach, for Wawa hoagies, for sun and surf, feeling like we stole back some hours of our lives by cheating the system and driving through the night. It’s my favorite. Also my favorite? Matching suits with Anders. (Mine is this top and these bottoms!) It wasn’t totally intentional but it also wasn’t an accident.I love his profile. His hair has gotten so blonde the past few months, and his skin has gotten so tan, and he has just been living the life. I love watching my kids float around the summer, loving this amazing place we live in (or visit, anyway). The real highlight of the trip, though, is cousin time. Cousin time forever. Watching how much they love one another, and then the heartbreaking goodbye they have when their time is up is equal parts wonderful and awful. I wish we lived closer to them. Street corn from the Taco Shop by the Cape May airport. Yum. Cape May should be on your list of places to visit. It is completely full of places like this one. This is a really fantastic store, some of them are bed and breakfasts, restaurants, while others are still private residences. All of this, right on the water. It’s straight up eye candy. My cousin Colleen playing the violin for them! And cousins Maura and Nora helping hold her music. Put Stone Harbor on your list too. And make it during a time when the hydrangeas will be in bloom because they love the salt air, and you’ll love seeing them.My pretty sister. Days in the sun equal deep sleeps afterwards. He is most likely up at the entrance waiting for cousin arrival. Family time on the beach. More cousin love. They’re probably still harboring some sand stowaway a month later. One night Steve and I snuck out to Congress Hall. Congress Hall is SUCH a gem. Also put that on your list when you visit Cape May.This was our last activity before a sad, sad teary goodbye. I never took my good camera out this trip. I’m not sure why, and while I miss having some really killer shots with it, it was nice to just snap on the go. I also didn’t take many movie clips, so no New Jersey video. And like no pictures with my parents! All that to say, I guess I slacked big time. But, also, maybe relaxed a little more than usual?