The beach.

The first thing that we want to cover is, of course, the beach. Our motel was only a block away from the beach and boardwalk, which made it very convenient for us to make trips back and forth when we needed to take a break.



Lauren was crazy about the beach. Our morning ritual was to get up and head straight to the beach so that we could collect shells. As we would walk the boardwalk throughout the day, she would ask "When are we going down to the beach?" I have to hand it to her - she knows what she likes.



Besides gathering shells, her second favorite activity was playing in the sand with her daddy. I had bought her a bunch of sand toys to use for sand castle making, but she preferred just to use her hands.



Here's one of the sole photos of our day of sun and fun that was taken right before the camera was consumed by sand. As expected, the ocean temperature was pretty cold. When we did go in, Lauren and I stayed close to the edge of the water while Mark ventured out. Lauren and I kept laughing because no matter how far he walked, the water only came up to his knees. Luckily, our motel's pool was heated, so it was quite easy to convince Lauren that better swimming was to be had there.

Horseshoe (crabs) and (hand) grenades, but no landmines.

In case it isn't too obvious, the title is a Jersey Shore reference, which although I've never watched the show, having spent several days at the Jersey shore I feel that I am intimately familiar with it.

The one thing Lauren wanted to do most of all this summer was to go to the beach. We chose Ocean City, NJ because it was the closest (A little under seven hours away, or about six if you drive 88 on the Turnpike like Mark does), plus that's where my family (both sides, in fact) used to go when I was growing up.



See - here I am, about Lauren's age, posing beside the OCNJ boardwalk.



And here's Lauren posing beside the OCNJ boardwalk. Not the same location (That's the Music Pier in the background), and certainly not the same expression, but that's our Lauren.



So this was a huge nostalgia trip for me. With the exception of new light posts and murals, the place had pretty much remained unchanged over the last thirty years. They also added dedication plaques to the benches. I love how this one is dedicated to Mom and Pop Shriver. Shiver's is one of the major salt water taffy companies on the boardwalk and has been in business since the late 1800's. More about Shriver's later. I did look into getting a plaque for our family, but unfortunately the bench project doesn't exist any longer.



A few notes about the photos. Before the trip, I struggled a little with the decision as to what camera equipment I wanted to take. Although it could take a great photo under just about any lighting condition, I decided to leave the new D7000 at home, both because it's heavy and I didn't want to have to be constantly worrying about taking care of an expensive camera. So instead I brought the old D50 with 35mm and 85mm lenses as well as my point and shoot. I debated lens choice too. Earlier this year, I bought a 18-200mm zoom lens that is supposed to be a great, all purpose walking around lens. That is, unless you're me. It's too heavy for me, and I can't seem to take great photos with it. And anyway, I'm finding that I much rather prefer using fixed focal length lenses over zooms. I also discovered via this trip that I'm not much of a telephoto shooter, and I only switched to the 85mm once (And that was to take close-ups of water lilies!).

Lastly, I had heard the warnings about how salt water and sand are the mortal enemies of cameras, so I was extra careful with the D50. However, for some reason that care did not carry over to the point and shoot, and it succumbed to the sand during one of our early trips to the beach and therefore ceased to function. As a result, I don't have many photos of us at the beach. In fact, many of the photos that I did take were shot in a single evening because I was trying to get everything I wanted at once so I didn't have to lug the camera with me everywhere. Which also means that I don't have photos of our wacky surrey ride or of the two times we played minature golf.



But that doesn't mean I don't have a lot of other photos to share. So many, that it will probably take me the rest of the year to cover everything, but if I break it into manageable chunks, maybe it'll only take just until the end of June. :)

Nursey rhyme / Fairy Tale

With all our vacation preparations, I wasn't planning on participating in today's photo challenge. When I went to Wal-mart to pick up a few things for our trip, I remembered that we needed dog biscuits. As soon as I saw these, I had to get them. The Airedale on the packaging was just too cute, and of course reminded me of a certain someone. When I got home, I thought that this would make a great picture. It took several tries, but after about fifteen minutes, I finally got Marcus to do exactly what I wanted. Then it dawned on me: Old Mother Hubbard!

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone;
But when she came there
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

39 bottles of beer on the wall.

Just taking a moment from packing to enjoy my birthday presents from Mark. Tomorrow, we're headed to the beach - Ocean City, New Jersey to be exact. Unlike with British soccer camp, I hope Lauren does not bring home the accent. ;)

But before we go, I want to take another moment to give a big thanks to my far away friends that go out of their way to make me feel special on my birthday. Since I can't show you my gratitude in person, I hope this blog tribute lets you know how much I appreciate your thoughfulness!



First up, my awesome cousin Noreen sent me a gift wrapped in the most amazing mod-printed wrapping paper. I almost didn't want to tear into it, but of course, I did anyway.



Inside was this oh-so pretty recipe book. Noreen makes the best thumbprints you've ever tasted, and it will be the first recipe that I add to it.



Then there was this - the best notepad EVER. I will let it speak for itself.



Next, I received this from my dear friend, Dolores. She knows that I love collecting Eiffel Towers and always keeps an eye out for me. This one I refer to as "Big Mama Eiffel" (Or maybe that should be Grand Maman Eiffel?), because she also sent me a little baby Eiffel that serves as a photo clip. Dolores is known for her famous biscotti, so maybe a biscotti recipe should be the next one I add to my new book!



Yep, with birthdays are like this, I almost don't mind getting old!

Last day of K.

Hard to believe, but today was Lauren's last day of kindergarten. Here she is: same kid, same backpack (Quite a bit heavier, but more on that in a moment), yet if you look a little closer, you'll notice how much she's changed since September.



This kid can read, write sentences, count past 100, tell time, add and subtract.



This kid made so many friends that we can't even keep track of them all. When she brought home her yearbook, I had to ask her who some of names were because I didn't recognize them from her class, the bus, soccer or Girl Scouts.



She's still not crazy about getting her photo taken though.

And what about that back pack? I'm sure you've heard of the game, "What's in my purse?" Well, what's inside a kindergardener's backpack?



A sticker book, a Moxie girl, an iPod, a MINI Cooper brochure, a puppy, two stuffed bunnies, a photo of Beavis, a can of Playdoh, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. You know - all the essentials of learning.



Today also marked the end of my 38th year, but more on that tomorrow.

On edge.

I haven't been participating in the daily photo challenges, but an idea popped into my head today, so I went with it. I'm not entirely pleased with the way this one turned out, and I think I can do a lot better. Maybe I'll try a re-shoot if Lauren gets in the right frame of mind to participate.

I should explain that this is our new old piano. Mark obtained it from someone on Craigslist. The movers were scheduled to deliver it at 7:30 p.m. last Wednesday, but they didn't show up until almost 10 p.m. Who'd thought that piano movers work 24-7? Next step is to get it tuned and learn how to play. I taught myself some piano when I was a teenager, but it's been so long that I can barely tap out Chopsticks.



This little bud was sticking out on the edge of our trellis. The trellis is at its best this time of year, as it's completely covered with sweet smelling flowers. It's a nice way to be welcomed home at the end of the day.

Get your kicks.

This week completely got away from me. We've been really busy with end of the school year activities, then next week we're going on vacation. I was thinking that once Lauren was on summer break that things would begin to calm down a bit, but we're pretty much booked through mid-July at this point.

This weekend, Lauren finished U6 soccer. After two seasons of being orange, her team was finally assigned a different color. Not only that, but this was the first time the club solicited sponsors for their teams. "J&B Tire Company" isn't quite as cool as Chico's Bail Bonds, but it's a good start.

Oh man, now I want one of those shirts.

Back to soccer.



Here she is queuing up with her teammates for cone drills.



Uh oh - I think she spotted me.



Yeah, she spotted me.



Huddle up!



Go Blue Jays! (At least that's what I think we were called. We usually just refer to ourselves as "The Blue Team.")




We're already signed up for U7 in the fall, and in August, Lauren's going to participate in British soccer camp, where real live British people come and teach the kids how to play "football." If she doesn't have a Cockney accent by the end of the week, I'm requesting a refund.

Memorial day observance.

I wanted to post these yesterday, but we spent the majority of the day outdoors enjoying the unseasonably hot weather. And wouldn't it figure that of the two parades that I've participated in during my lifetime, the one occurs on a day when temperatures are in the mid-nineties?



Nonetheless, my Girl Scout Troop marched like champs through the heat as both veteran and non-veteran onlookers clapped in appreciation (Credit goes to Mark for taking these great photos of the parade. As you can see, I was too busy waving to the crowds.).







These photos make me sweat just looking at them: heavy uniforms and NO SHADE.



I felt for those bus riders who had to wait for the cheerleaders to finish their routine. On second thought, no I didn't. They were sitting in air conditioned luxury.



Although they were unable to march, these veterans were still honored with the best seats on the parade route.



As we marched by, the American Legion gave us big cheers.

When the girls reached the end of the parade route, where Freez-pops and shade awaited, there was only one word to describe how they were feeling.

Five minutes from home.

I had a lot of great things to choose from for this challenge, what with the nearby Victorian houses, waterfall and roller rink. This is Glenshaw Presbyterian Church. It also serves as our school bus stop.



Speaking of the roller rink...here it is! I had difficulty with this one because I really needed a higher vantage point in order to get the whole sign in the shot. Mark suggested that I try to take it by sticking my head out of the sunroof of the MINI, but since everyone was impatient to get home and eat donuts, I didn't bother.



So in the end, I just made due with what I got.

In the pink.

I'm still trying to take part in daily photo challenges, but due to time constraints/lack of ideas and or energy/inclement weather and so on, more often than not I end up participating on a weekly basis. If I only shoot one subject for the challenge, I've only been uploading the photo to Flickr. However, I've decided that in an effort to make good on my promise to dedicate myself more to blogging, I'm going to post them here as well. I even back filled the last couple, so to the handful of people who still follow our adventures, please go check them out.

These chinese lanterns were decorations from Lauren's fourth birthday party. Sometimes I wonder why I save things like this because chances are, I'm not going to reuse them as party decorations. Nonetheless, they did come in handy today!