Bucket List: The beach!

Another one of the things on our bucket list was to take the boys to the beach for the first time. After a little facebook survey and a little more web-searching, I decided to make Cape May, NJ our beach destination. We booked the rooms and waited for what seemed like forever (according to the boys). They started counting down the days until they could play in the sand and water, and I started the seemingly endless preparations. 🙂

By Friday afternoon, everything was purchased and almost everything was packed. Wanting to support the Salem Christian School’s auction and flea market before we left, we ventured over to Macungie to deliver cookies and buy some treasures and treats. On the way there, we heard something brake in the van and then smelled something hot. No warning lights flashed, so we weren’t too concerned. We enjoyed our time at the fundraiser and then drove back home. On the way, it was obvious that we couldn’t drive the van to Cape May in its broken condition. So, as soon as we got home, I called Firestone to see if they could look at the van first thing in the morning. Praise God! They could. I called a wonderful friend -April Bispeck- to meet me there. She drove me back home in the pouring rain so that the van would be there waiting for the mechanics in the morning.

By 9a.m. on Saturday, the man from Firestone called to inform us that the repair was serious but that it was covered by a recall. We had to arrange to have the van towed from Firestone to Krause Toyota, find a rental and still leave for vacation, all without loosing our minds and managing 4 kids! Praise God again! Enterprise met me at Firestone with a Chevy Suburan. AAA picked up the van to take it to the dealership. And I was home before noon. We threw the carseats and all of our luggage into the truck and we set off for vacation only two hours behind schedule.

 

Once we arrived at the Beach Shack, we finally were able to relax. The next couple of days had their moments of stress and frustration, but those times were way outnumbered by all the smiles, laughter and fun. We ate lots of yummy food. We played miniature golf, splashed in the pool, played in the sand on the beach and went shopping. Our favorite restaurant was the Blue Pig Tavern in Congress Hall. They have the best mac and cheese! My favorite part was SITTING on the beach. I even commented, “I don’t think I have sat this long in 6 years!” The best part of our hotel was that they provided chairs, towels and umbrellas for free. And the Rusty Nail (the hotel’s restaurant) delivered lunch to the beach! Awesomeness!!! 🙂 Thank you to my family for joining us and helping to entertain/manage my kiddos. We had so much fun!

Here are some pictures. (There are a lot more on facebook.)