Week 2: The Weavers Do Brigantine

The second week of our beach vacation is...slower. Yep, that's the best way to describe it. Our kids are the first up, the first to the beach, the first to be done at the beach, the first to be hungry, the first to turn into horrible over-tired child monsters, the first to go to bed. As the week progresses, we find ourselves slowing down just a bit and adjusting to the Weaver Speed of Life. It just takes a while to settle in after having been with the Joneses (mainly my hyper warp speed - and extremely efficient - father) for the week before. :-) In Bethany, we were ALL on the beach by 8:45 or so. In Brigantine, the four of us were frequently the first ones there around 10-ish. And we were never all there at the same time. Seriously! We never got to see our littlest niece, Lily, on the beach at all!

The beach itself just gets more and more fun as the kids get older. Here, the four older cousins are digging for buried treasure. Apparently, Corey spun a tale (as she is renowned for doing...:-) about a pirate book that she had read in Kindergarten. The others bought it hook, line, and sinker, and away they went! This was a recurrent theme for the week...LOTS of digging for treasure!

The beach house time was dominated by something completely different than digging...the Wii! This was our first year in this house, and we were lucky enough to carve out a niche in the living space for constant Wii-playing by young and old, alike. Here's Jim helping Louden and Ben to get something set up...

And for every minute that the boys played Wii, the girls played Polly Pockets. Oh, and the story lines they would weave!!!!! Nothing can bring a 6 3/4 yr old girl and a 3 1/2 yr old girl together quite like little dolls with 1500 rubbery costume changes... And when they needed a break? Corey would simply take Ellie to a quiet corner of the house to teach her football cheers. And let me tell ya, Ellie still has the moves! Have you ever seen a 3 1/2 yr doing cheerleading moves?!? 'Tis a scary thing!

My Loves putting up with my posing yet again...

I'm sure every Weaver/Smith will recognize these toes! What do you think? Could I sell it as a postcard? I'll split the profits with you, Aunt Dottie! :-)

Ellie's version of boogie boarding is having someone pull her around in the surf. Now that's a strenuous job!

Ben's FAVORITE activity from this year's beach time...boogie boarding with his cousins! He and Corey, especially, are now brave enough to go out rather far. They get tossed all around out there, and thus require one on one supervision most of the time. Ben would get rolled, go under, and pop up with a shocked look on his face. He'd say something like "I'm good!" or "That doesn't count!" Then he'd wipe his face and keep going. The only thing that stopped him was blood, and even that would only keep him down for a few moments!

Growing up in MD, one of my favorite beach time activities was digging for sand crabs. My sister and I could find copious amounts of them easily. We would put a dozen or more in a bucket of sand and water, play with them, watch them swim around, etc. Now, some twenty (or more) years later, they seem much harder to come by...at least 3o minutes north in Delaware. I don't know if it depends on specific location or what. Anyway, after 12+ years of coming to Brigantine, Ben and Jim actually found the first sand crab I've ever seen there! And here's how momentous this was. All of the adults came rushing over to see it, since aside from Jim and me, none of them has ever seen one before! Ben was quite proud! Guess the little buggers are even more scarce in New Jersey...

I made the grave mistake of offering to make Ellie into a mermaid early in the week. Betcha can't guess what I did every day for the rest of the week...

Look at these tired cookies! All cleaned up and ready to leave for the OC, NJ boardwalk...

More to come...

Goodbye, Bethany!

Every year, after all of the vehicles are packed and just before anyone heads home, we find someone to take a group picture of us. Here's the Jones Family Farewell picture. Ben - almost 5 1/2, Ellie - 3 1/2, Caroline - almost 3, and Colin - almost 1.

Goodbye, Bethany! We'll see you next July!

Everyone else headed home, and we were the last ones out. We dilly-dallied while a load of laundry dried, and I took some pics of Ellie with a gargantuan purple hydrangea cut from the bush next the front porch. Ellie loves purple, and I had been wanting to do this all week. Nothing turned out really great, but I got a few cute ones. So typical!

I like the angle on this one...

Ben swinging on the back gate...

Once the laundry was dry, we headed a mile down the road to my godfather's condo in Sea Colony. We spent the day "alone" (just the four of us!). We went out for pizza at lunchtime, played mini golf, and ran some errands. We returned to Charlie and Denise's and had a relaxing dinner on the deck overlooking the lake. Well. Let's not forget that we still did have a 3 1/2 year-old and a 5 year-old for company. So, I suppose the term "relaxing" is relative...

Denise sat the kids at this little table next to the adults, and they were quite thrilled with the arrangement! Ellie announced in her cutesiest little princess voice, "Oh, I'm so excited to be sitting at a table with my husband!" Yeah...okay...

In the morning, we all headed for the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. Charlie and Denise were driving up the coast to Long Island for a wedding, and we were heading to Brigantine, NJ to meet up with the Weavers!

Tensions were running high, as the adults were all well aware of the necessity to arrive at the ferry on time. The last of our stuff was shoved back in the van. The tailgate was closed. Then came the bike rack and four bikes. (Jim's favorite part!) T minus 5 minutes until departure...

Jim wrestled the bikes onto the rack while I wrestled the children into their seats. Ben had already managed to sneak multiple large (and messy) pine cones into the van when I caught him attempting to board with a large stick.

"Ben, we're not taking that with us. Put it down so we can go, please."

"Noooooo! I want it! I wanna show Nana and Pop-Pop!" (tears welling up, literally!)

So, I did what any other photography-obsessed mom would do. I took a picture of it to send to Nana and Pop-Pop, we threw the stick out of the van, and buckled a happy boy into his booster. God bless the digital camera. :-)

I wanted a picture of the kids standing in front of this ferry "float?" thingy. As you can see, they had other ideas... This was parked outside of the visitors center where we waited to board.

While we waited for the "return to your vehicles" announcement, we wandered around enjoying the playground, arcade, gift shop, and of course the views. We also took note of just how chilly it was due to the stiff wind. 'Twas a good thing we packed sweatshirts!

We soon drove onto the ferry and were parked in an outside lane up against the side of the boat. We got out of the van, but before heading up to the sightseeing decks, I quickly grabbed our sweatshirts out of the back seat. I yelled to Jim, who was standing at the front of the van with Ellie. "Do you want your sweatshirt?" "Sure," he replied. And with that, I threw his sweatshirt (consciously aiming high, so it wouldn't get caught on the van's antenna) up and into the stiff wind that I mentioned earlier... Yeah...I did. Yep...It did. It sailed overboard, into the bay, and was never seen again. I'm not kidding. I threw Jim's favorite sweatshirt overboard! All we could do was laugh! Ben was a bit bent out of shape, but at least Jim was laughing. And did I mention that it was his favorite one?!? I suppose I'll be in the market for a new hoodie for him this fall...

Once we got over the Hoodie Tragedy, the trip was pleasant. Here are a few cute ferry shots...

It's hard to tell here whether Charlie is teaching Ben something or vice versa. They're quite a pair!

Ben and Jim soon headed to the front deck where they spotted "Land Ho!" :-)

After a much less eventful dis-embarking, we drove the final leg of the trip (less than an hour) to Brigantine, NJ to meet the Weavers...

Today's Edits

Sorry, boys. But you know I had to post this! Ben got "flower" swim trunks this year and was so excited to wear them at the same time Daddy wore his. Then we remembered that Uncle Mike has flower shorts too. Ben was beyond thrilled! What loving men we have in our family...

Notice the lack of clean skin surface from the waist down? And this was probably one of her cleanlier days! Don't you just feel my pain come shower time?!?

Stick a fork in her! Caroline's DONE. And this one is most definitely NOT a cuddler, so red flags went up when she actually put her head down on her daddy's shoulder.

Look at those cute little sandy piggies!

The house where we stay while in Bethany is on a little cul de sac with five other houses. Ben took to wandering from one house to another, weeding their gardens for them. I'm not kidding! Everyone's dream neighbor, right? He then began riding Caroline's tricycle from house to house and stashing all of the weeds in the "trunk." By the end of the week, he would yell in from the porch, "Mommy, I'm going on another Weed Walk!" And off he would pedal...yeah, it was more of a Weed Ride, but we didn't split hairs...

I wanted to take some more formal photos of the kids in one of the town's gardens that was very close to the house. The only problem was that I was determined to do it later in the evening. This turned out to be MUCH to close to Colin's bedtime. :-) Still, I think this one is sorta cute...

The girls...

See what I mean? Poor guy! The other three didn't seem to be too rattled by his crying, though. Perhaps it had something to do with the lollipops in their hands...

My sweet Caroline.

The serious way to eat a fun lollipop.

And my FAVORITE of the entire week...thus far. :-)

Some more from the beach...

Jim caught this cute shot after showers and lunch one day. Everyone looks a bit tired, don't they?!? Ben and Ellie don't nap regularly at home,but they did at the beach!!!

The only down side to naps was that it made bed time a little more challenging, since all three of the "older" kids were sharing a room. Some nights, they had a bit too much "leftover" energy. One evening, we listened through the monitor to a conversation amongst the three of them about how they had to go to bed right away - "hurry, hurry!" - because it was almost "zero o'clock!!!" :-) Too funny...now! Too frustrating then...

We made it all the way to Tuesday night before heading to the boardwalk for rides! (THAT was definitely a nap day!)

I LOVE this picture! I think Jim and I had the entire vacation covered from every possible angle. Perhaps next year, we'll save some money and just relive this year's trip through the pictures and video...

More than Jim video taping, I just adore the true smile on Ellie's face! She loves to ride the "carriages" on carousels. She pretends to be Cinderella and does her princess wave and blows kisses during the entire ride! She usually tells me that I'm Snow White or Ariel. I wonder who she made Daddy be this time.

B&E with cousin, Caroline. She and Ellie are only 8 months apart. They're gonna be quite the force to be reckoned with in a few years, I fear...

This is a picture of the Second Annual "Stuff Uncle Mike in the Teacup with all the Kids" Ceremony. Last year, we laughed ourselves silly watching him attempt to sit down. It has quickly become such a fond family memory/joke that Mike was more than happy to do it again...for the amusement of the rest of the family! :-) PLUS, you just have to enlarge this shot and take a look at Caroline's sweet little silhouette! Too adorable!!!!

After a quick and tumultuous (thanks to Ellie) dinner at the Dough Roller, Colin took his first long journey on his feet on the boardwalk! Mike and Jim say it was some 33 steps and that on-lookers were taking pictures. :-) Sarah and I didn't see it since we were cleaning up and stuck in the bathroom with a pooping child, respectively. I know. Too much information. But seriously! Doesn't that always happen at the worst times?!? Don't get me wrong; I'll take this over diapers, but it really will be nice when we "advance" a little further, shall we say.

Oh! I digress. Okay, so after dinner and Colin's walk on the boards, we headed to Dolle's Candy Store to let everyone pick out desserts. Amid the chaos of allowing everyone to choose their own candy, I got these cute shots of Colin walking. Doesn't he look like a little old man in this one?!?

Success! He was so proud of himself!

On Wednesday, Gram and Poppy took Ben (and me) crabbing on the Assawoman Bay. Don't you just love the Protective Gram Hand on Ben's back? :-)

For those of you who are not Marylanders, I'll attempt to give you a quick explanation of the good old fashioned crabbing process. You hook or tie practically anything, from chicken parts to week old deli meat, to the end of a string. You lower said string into the water and wait. Within a minute (literally...if you're in a good spot) you will feel a tugging on the string. Then you slowly pull the string in. When you begin to see the crab coming toward the surface, another person swoops under with a net to catch the crab before he catches on and lets go. If he does let go, have no fear. All you have to do is put the string back in and wait another 15-20 seconds. :-) Certainly not a complicated process.

Now. All that being said, our "situation" was complicated by Ben who couldn't grasp how slowly the string needed to be pulled in and the nervous grandmother who was sure her grandson was going to plummet headfirst into the water and the grandfather who was sure if he just moved more slowly with the net that he could sneak up on the crab and of course, the distracted photographer mother who was little help for most of the time!

Here's a picture of our first successful catch. He's no dumby! He's gettin' the heck outta dodge! He was up and out of that net and back in the water so fast...amazing!

In attempts to educate (go figure!), I posted this picture. I think if you enlarge it, you can actually see a HUGE crab chowing on our chicken neck just below the surface.

And here's our big guy with a new friend. We gave it to another lady who was actually seriously crabbing. I posted this picture so you can see the underside - why a blue crab is so-called.

And lastly, here is a re-post of my favorite shot from that morning. I can't decide which I like best - the color or b&w...



More tomorrow, hopefully!

I Promised...

I have finally begun an organized edit of my beach pictures! (In no way does that mean that our basement is back to normal, but it's well on it's way...)

Here are some of my favorites from Bethany Beach, DE with the Joneses...

Ellie "jumping" waves with Daddy. It's always best to put a good 5 or 6 feet between your toes and the surf; you can never be too safe!:-)

This is a favorite beach activity of both kids, although Benjamin has begun to outgrow it. He's more into scaring his grandmother to death by braving the surf on his own! He likes to venture out right to wear the waves break, as if he's tempting fate. Sometimes, fate wins...

He made us chuckle with his exaggerated "hip thrust." We told him that when a big wave comes, it can't knock you around as easily if you lean into it with your hip instead of taking it in the stomach. His version of this was much cuter!

After taking wave after wave, then laughing and jumping around between "hits," it's no wonder that he looked like this for the majority of our beach stay! (click on pic to enlarge and get a better feel for the...texture, shall we say...)

Once, when I asked him if he was ready to take a break and have a snack, he said, "Yeah...but my mouth as all 'chompy.'" :-) Mmm...wonder why...

When he wasn't getting beaten about by the waves, he was collecting rocks on the beach. Bethany doesn't have good sea shells, but they do have cool little beach rocks!

Jim and I both agreed the collecting process was quite calming, addictive, and also maddening! In typical fashion, when you micro-focus for a period of time, and then allow yourself to look up at the entire beach and how many little tiny pieces of rock there are around you, the "big picture" is enough to make your head spin! :-)

The video-taping daddies...a must on any family vacation, right? :-)


And my last shot to share on this post is of my nephew, Colin. He was 11 months old at the beach. During the one week we were there, he started walking, saying a few new words, and discovered eyelashes. :-) As babies at this age tend to do rather well, he fixated on Sarah's eyelashes one day while on the beach and apparently made it his Life Mission to remove them from her eyelids!!! He could not be distracted or "talked down." The whole scenario was hysterical! Just look at the concentration on his little face!!! Poor Sarah put up with this for a good five minutes or so. I don't remember what finally saved her from Colin's relentless picking. After this first episode, the "relapses" didn't last quite as long. :-)

More to come...