The Shore
Our family's summer tradition continued this year with our annual trip to Ocean City, NJ. Now that Kaden is four (almost five) it's difficult to tell who enjoys being there more - me for the memories or him for the sheer fun he has with the family. He determined that our two week stay is no where near long enough. This time, I had to agree!
A Visit From the Stern Girls
We are so lucky that Miriam and her girls, once again, made the trip in to see us from NYC. Kaden and Harrison seem to instinctively know that these are incredibly special friends - the endless conversations had between Kaden and Lila, and the giggles and hugs shared by Harrison and Paz were heartwarming. My boys love those two girls as much as I love their mommy. This may be their last visit to Ocean City for a while as Gabe just accepted a job with Facebook in San Francisco. We couldn't be more excited about having them in the same state (and time zone) and we hope that this means we will get to see them much more often than once a year!
O.C. Friends
Spending my childhood summers in Ocean City provided me with the opportunity to make some really good friends. We have stayed in touch over the years, mostly during our time catching up on the beach, and now our children are becoming friends. Kaden had the most fun playing with, Luke, the son of a woman who used to babysit me! He is a couple years older than Kaden, but was so nice to K I wanted to hug him!
Extended Family Fun - The Cousins
Kaden adores being surrounded by chaos! The more people, the better. That is just what he got when the entire extended family was there for a short period of time. Rick, Liz and their three children (including baby Lucy that we were all so excited to love on); Uncle D; Uncle Paul; Pop Rich and Grammy Vic; Grammi and Pop; and our family of four made for a crowded, loud, animated, and incredibly special group! We may be crazy, but I love all of it! Kaden really wanted Teddy and Sam to stay the entire time we were there, and was sad when they had to leave. He was thrilled, and I was so touched, when they came back in for Harrison's first birthday celebration. I join Kaden in hoping we get to spend more time with them next summer. We both wish they lived closer!
The Requisite Trip to the Fire Station
My little man still loves fire engines and this station has all of them. It was his first time sitting in a heavy duty rescue truck and you can tell from his grin that he was delighted! Our tour guide was our best yet too - he was very animated and humored all of Kaden's many questions.
The Rides
And so it begins...spending ridiculous amounts of money on ride tickets. I didn't appreciate this when I was growing up, I simply thought there was an endless supply of them in my dad's pocket. The past two years, when Kaden was only interested in the kiddie rides that cost a of couple tickets at most, I didn't think it was too bad either. But, this year, he wanted to brave more of the big rides - which cost between 4 and 6 tickets a ride - and wanted to ride them over and over and over again. Dad purchased them for us this year (thanks, Pop!), but I have a feeling the boardwalk is going to be one expensive place for us in year to come.
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