So we packed up the big brown wagon and went to NJ for the week. My goodness, vacations sure are different when you have kids!

Once there we discovered a Pizza-Rama, much like our own beloved Vinny's Pizza-Rama, so we stopped in for a bite.


Then it was time to change and hit the river! Put on your swim shoes!

Warm up your arm, there's a lot of rocks to throw!

The Mullica River is a beautiful and very natural spot in the Wharton State Forest. The whole area is full of great wildlife and the clean water is brown with cedar minerals, like a giant iced tea.



Sammy got tired of watching all the action,

so we let him have his own turn in the water.


It was fun just being together inside and outside.




I want to get this sign and put it up over Sammy's crib (it says "No Wake"):


Then, after a few days of rustic nature we decided to head off to the shore and see some ocean. First we stopped off at our Point Diner.

What you probably don't know is that people in South NJ have a name for Suburban people who daytrip it down to the shore -- they call us Shoebees. That's because in the old days people would bring their lunch down in shoeboxes when they were visiting the shore.


We found out that Belinda is still afraid of waves at the ocean,

and she had much more fun chasing sea gulls and playing with the sand.


Samuel, on the other hand, took to the water ("Like a little turtle returning to sea," Leigh said).
Fortunately there is no dress code for babies...






After that, we got dressed in our big-kid clothes and headed out for some boardwalk fun.
There was a lot of "live music" (loosely used term) on the boardwalk. Like the owner of ______ Pizza singing "I Did it My Way" in front of his shop to the delight of his employees. Or the guy who was sitting in the back of a pickup truck playing the piano with a dog dancing on top, trying to get 40,000 signatures so he could go on Oprah's show. Or the complete and utter butchering of the "Star Spangled Banner" that almost gave Leigh a nervous breakdown due to its unique, ear-grating tone.

We settled in for some outdoor pizza, and Belinda was able to play in the little house when she was done eating.


Then we arrived home late, late -- and the vacation ended as all vacations should: everyone was very, very tired!

We know, we know -- it's been a month since we last wrote anything new here. Well we have a holy terror of an excuse. Look at this mischief maker!

He's a booger. He won't let you get anything done.

However he would be delighted to come and smash your face in. He waits until you can't keep your eyes open any longer, then he runs over and pounces on you and starts to scratch you all the way up to your sinuses.

Which is all cool, of course. It means that he's big enough to enjoy the park with his sister.

Now they can both fly as high as the sky at the centennial or bicentennial park.

We bring them home and rehydrate them so they don't shrivel up like prunes. Especially the baby. Your grandmother was right, "A fat baby is a healthy baby."



Of course there are plenty of things to play inside the apartment dwelling. Like "Pink-plastic-basket-catch-the-ball."

Another one is "Iron-on the Ragedy Ann onto the white T-shirt. Oops we broke the glass table top." Oh well, the shirt turned out great even if the table didn't.

It's also a good idea to let a parakeet sit on your head several times a week. We aren't sure why yet.

Cleaning up after yourself is also a good idea.

Leigh is still busy selling shoes online. It is pretty cool, even though we are starting to accumulate more and more samples. At least they're nice looking. She's doing a good job buying, photographing, and selling them (very cheap).

Oops. That was stock footage of the Taj Mahal. It slipped in there -- has nuthin to do with nuthin.

Tomorrow we are going to pack up the big, big, brown station wagon and head off to an undisclosed location in NJ. Seriously, no one is allowed to know where. We're going to hide in the forest, somewhere near the ocean, and eat our organic fruit snacks and watch the rain from a screened in porch. Of course the kids will be eating Rollos and Gummy Weirdos and trampling all over snakes and waterbugs. OK, maybe reality will be somewhere in between those two scenarios. We plan on having so much fun! Here's a picture of our destination.



This page should finish loading about the time we are returning from vacation. Then we can post a new page!