Yippee! I’m at the beach, finally. My husband forgot that this particular beach rental rents from Sunday to Sunday, not Saturday to Saturday. He called me Saturday evening as I was just about to pull up to the rental. He was about 20 minutes behind me in his car and had just realized his mistake. Thank God I did not go barging in on the renters! We ended up having to retreat a half hour north to my sister’s house, for the night.

Sunday afternoon, take two: back south down the Parkway to Wildwood. We settled in and I took the kids for a quick jaunt on the boardwalk and on a few rides before going back to get ready for a pre-planned ladies’ night with my sister and BFF. Back north to Stone Harbor for that, and we settled into our table just ahead of a big nasty storm. Fun night with those two, though I could hardly keep my eyes open, not having slept well the night before. As I drove back along the pitch dark causeway, the storm was still flashing out over the ocean, and I had the windows down to let the rain-cooled air and the cicada buzz in. I climbed the rickety bridge, passed the toll booth, and it was all ocean, marsh and bay spreading out around me.

The storm blew all the heat and humidity away and it has been absolutely, positively gorgeous here since. We beached it Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, hubs had to run home for something and the boys went with, so it was just Gemma and I. We did a little shopping on the boardwalk and then went to the beach. Today we were all back there again. I’ve been getting a workout just towing Gemma back when the current pulls her down the beach.

It’s funny staying in this condo again (it belongs to a friend of my husband). Last time we stayed here, it was 2010 and Sebastian was only 3 months old. I think it was the last week of my maternity leave. Weird to be here without diapers and bottles. Our friends stayed here that time too and their daughter was only 18 months or so.

I think this might be the first vacation ever where we didn’t bring any booze with us. Now that is just sad. In Maine, we bought a lot (giddy over being able to buy it in the supermarket) and then hardly drank.

From my seat on the deck here I can practically see where we stayed last year, and one block away on this same street is the condo we stayed in in 2007, with a bunch of friends. That time, Aidan was the only baby, the only kid, 8 or 9 months old, and everybody oohed and ahhed over him and played with him, until it was time to get ready to go out. Everybody was at Goodnight Irene’s til the wee hours, except me, since I would get up with Aidan at 6 am and take him in his stroller to the boardwalk for his breakfast, to keep him from waking everybody up. 🙂

Yep, that was a long time ago… I have different concerns these days. I feel ill over the stuffed cat I bought Gemma on the boardwalk. One, because it’s cheap crap made in China; two, because she doesn’t need it in the least, but I feel obligated to get her one toy on vacation; three, because it was only Wednesday and she’s going to keep wanting stuff. (On the plus side, she hasn’t put it down since we got back. It’s a stuffed cat in a plush purse. Cute.)

At the supermarket Monday afternoon, I dithered myself into a tizzy over buying shrimp. I want to make shrimp with pasta one night, but I don’t feel like doing the peeling. Finally, I found this. Ethical, yet already peeled.

Probably expensive, but my receipt is messed up so I don’t know how much they were.

We are trying to eat in and generally not spend as much as we usually do on Shore vacations. We’ve done pretty well so far. It is tempting with the boardwalk right there, like twenty steps away. On the beach, the smells just come wafting down. So far, there’ve been three meals out and six in. I really don’t need much while I’m here. The beach is enough. No ants or other bugs is enough. Same-floor laundry is enough. I haven’t even had any ice cream, people! That’s how content I am.

I gave myself a pedicure and have been doing stretches in the morning. I need to start taking care of myself again. That includes some new clothes (new to me) when I get home.

I have to end this post now because something is wrong with either Word Press or my computer and I’m having a hell of a time with the cursor. Very frustrating. Sorry for a disjointed post!