the shore

Well, we're home from probably one of (if not THE) most relaxing getaways we've ever had. Drove down to Ocean City, NJ yesterday, found our vacation condo for Sept, got to spend some time on the beach and boardwalk, and stayed at a lovely, peaceful inn. Ahhh... I'm sad that it's over, I must say. I felt near giddy being on the beach, being able to snooze, read, and pretty much watch OTHER people have to chase kids around to get them sun-blocked, break up sibling spats, shake sand off of blankets and clothing, and coerce small children into the water. (We were sitting on a fairly open beach at 9:30 this morn, which by 11 was filled all around us with families with young children. We chuckled many times at having an 'outside' view of what we must look like!) We made some interesting observations - almost without exception, moms spent the entire time 'nurturing' - making sure everyone was sufficiently lotioned and drinking enough, taking lunch orders - ("Emily, do you want tuna or PB&J? What about you Maddie?...) while dads were digging in the sand, building castles, helping jump waves and playing whiffle ball. (From my perspective, I'll take the 'mom-jobs' any day!!) We also noticed there seems to be quite a large Italian population down in OC. The family next to us had kids named John, Nicky and Rocco. At Mack & Manco's 'Franco' was clearly THE man. Just a random observation.

Anyway, yesterday we got to spend the (chilly) afternoon on a very empty beach, take a stroll at water's edge and talk about nothing of importance. It was very romantic. I told Todd I felt like a teenager again...until we watched the real teenagers on the boardwalk last night, and then I said, "Well, maybe not exactly a teenager..." The "in love", carefree part, yes. The oblivious, obnoxious part, no. :) We decided we could do much better at being teenagers now than when we were actually teenagers. :) (Not to down teens, I really do love teenagers; just seeing the ones who are running wild on Senior Week at the shore is actually pretty sad - but that's possibly another post.)

So now I am exhausted, and will probably have more to post tomorrow, but I just wanted to get up here a few of the highlights and a pic or two for those of you waiting to hear... (Tomorrow I'll post a bit about where we stayed and how all that worked out. I guess I haven't even posted since I asked for suggestions about that. Can't wait to tell you...)

Goodnight my friends.