Back for Real!! Summer Week One

Hi everyone!
I know it's been a loooooooong time since I've blogged with any regularity, but I was a little bored with it and facebook is so much easier. But I still want to have a more thorough record of what goes on in this crazy family of mine, so I'm back to blogging. I'm going to be doing the Week in Review for the summer and probably through in some Way Back Wednesdays since I like to have those photos preserved, too.
So.... away we go!

So our first week of summer was spent at the Shore with Grandma Connie. Connie has had a long, slow, up and down recovery from cancer, so it's always so great to see her up and around. My favorite part of this week was the several hours I got to spent gabbing with her while the rest of the family went out for crabs (blech).

Here's some of the other things we did:

Well even I, hater of sun and sand, can't go to the shore without ACTUALLY going to the shore (although when I lived there I managed to not go quite frequently!) It is extra impossible when you've got a couple of 12-year-old water lovers. Here's a few shots from our favorite Stone Harbor Beach.

Oh, and we broke the cardinal rule (no pun intended) of the beach and DID feed the seagulls.
Here, they prove that seagulls share about as easily as twin tweens:

We also spent time at Diamond Beach. Here the girls spent some time looking for Cape May Diamonds with Uncle Dude. They aren't real diamonds, but are pretty little quartz stones that can be buffed into a diamond shine -- which they do at a little gift shop next to the beach where they are a million times more expensive.

And speaking of Uncle Dude, I like to call the following series of photos, WHO exactly is the kid here? :)

We also went to Reed's Beach where we usually save horseshoe crabs. This year we saved horseshoe crabs at Diamond Beach, so instead I just took pictures of the girls and Rob on the rocks and (of course) looking at the sunset!

We also had a birthday party for Uncle Dude and Grandma Connie's dear friend Marion, made a soda fountain with Mentos, got out for ice cream and had a bunch of barbecues!

All in all it was a great week and a great way to kick off summer vacation!! And or course I took some time for some "arty nature shots!"

Annnd... a couple bonus shot of the happy beach goers:

See you blog readers soon ... it's great to be back!!

More Summer Fun!

We had a crazy, busy fun summer but still managed to do some of the things we do EVERY summer.
Here's some photos of the shore (where we begin our summer) and next post will be the Poconos (where we end it!)

Standard shot of the girls jumping in the ocean with their clothes on. It started as they disobeying me, but has become a joke. Some years I get better shots than other ... 

Lizzie leaping for joy at the thought of spending a few days at the ocean!

 Rob and his brother Sholto (Uncle Dude, to the girls):

We always celebrate a few birthdays at the shore. Grandma Connie's still recovering from her cancer treatment, so we missed celebrating Rob's big 5-0 so he and Dud partied the night away (which for Rob means 5 p.m.) and here's their cake:

 We always go to the same beach and THIS year they had built an ice cream stand right by our spot, so of course we had to try it out:

 Fish barbecue! Living at the shore for several years ruined me for regular fish from the markets around here, so we always make sure to BBQ some fresh fish.

Our spot at the beach. One day I WILL rent one of those houses (or not) just so I don't have to lug everything to the sand for 14 blocks away!

 Trolly Stop Ice Cream place is a regular stop ... although the name seems to change a lot so I'm not really sure if it's still the Trolley Stop.

 Here's a picture of some of the nature at Reed's Beach:

Sunset at Reed's Beach. The area really cleaned up a lot after the storms last year, but it's still worn and tacky and so I still love it!

 Sunset at Reed's Beach without Hannah and Lizzie:

We rescued this horseshoe crab and a couple of its friends. They come up on shore to lay their eggs and then get knocked on their backs by the waves and then can't get back to the water and become dinner for the seagulls. :( I don't know who saved them back in the day because they are as old as the dinosaurs. But in 2014, it was Hannah and Liz.

Sunset Beach ... home to Cape May Diamonds, a decaying concrete ship and lots of rats. I try to ignore the rats swimming around the ship.

Lizzie found lots of different rocks, including a couple of diamonds:

I cannot tell you how many trips to Lowe's and/or Home Depot and/or Walmart and how many DAYS it took to fix this door, but let's just say it was a theme for the entire trip...

Much to Lizzie's chagrin, there's always time for sports:

 And (more happily for Liz!) bike riding:

Near Vegas

Yes, I'm back to blogging! In fact, there's another post just below this one that is all pageant related. This one is about some of the scenery around Vegas. We arrived really late Saturday night (for us -- in Vegas it was only around 10 p.m.) I didn't have my camera out to take a photo of the strip in the dark, but it was really cool (except that it was NOT cool, being in the 90s when we arrived...)

Anyway, we got up on Sunday and I had my one day of touring. Here is the photographic evidence of the fact that I actually DID leave the hotel to see some of the sights!!

I have to start with this one. This is Lizzie and Rob and some crazy guy getting his picture taken at Lake Meade. If that guy had swayed even a little back he'd have fallen and it was a sheer drop to the rocks below. Luckily I did not have to perform any sort of rescue because it was kind of hot and I didn't want to have to go running down to the water:

This is a train tunnel cut into the side of the mountain overlooking Lake Meade.

 Hoover Dam bridge. I assure you this picture doesn't do it justice. You kind of drive around a curve and there it is way above you. You can walk across it if you're brave. I am not that kind of brave:

 Hoover Dam. It's a lot cooler (although not temperature wise) than I thought it would be:

 Tourists at Hoover Dam:

We spent a few minutes in Arizona while driving around the dam:

 I think this was in Red Rock Canyon. And I think it's some sort of southwestern tree/bush. I know it's Lizzie:

The next few photos are the scenic views at Red Rock Canyon. If you click on the picture you'll get a larger view. It's a really pretty place, although not the kind of pretty I'd want to look at every day -- I like a lot more green:

 It was always windy in Nevada. In this picture the girls are wearing these water things that really did keep you cool until the water evaporated out of them. Which unfortunately was about 15 minutes.

 Back to the pretty pictures:

Hannah relaxing in the hotel room between competitions:

 More relaxation. Rob went to look at some cars so the girls decided to make up some magic. David Copperfield has nothing to worry about:

 It was pretty funny though:

 This is the view from our hotel window including some rare Vegas clouds:

Here we are leaving Arizona and getting back into Nevada. Hannah was SO DONE with the touring by this time! Okay, the rest of the summer will be coming in subsequent blogs. Don't forget to check below: