Vacation- Beach Fun

NJ Beach 2007

Click on the picture to see more pics of the vacation. You might notice all the rocks we are sitting in- most yards in this area are rocks not grass. Saves on mowing and I don't think the grass grows well. The rocks do look pretty nice and not a lot of upkeep!

We went to New Jersey to the beach again for vacation this year. My parents, David, Melisa, Emily, Hannah, and Heather all went with us. We rented a 15 passenger van so we could all ride together and save some gas. Actually it turns out that it was good because everytime we got lost, or went the wrong way, we would have had a hard time with 2 vehicles trying to follow each other.
So we started out in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, and went to the Jersey Shore! David started out driving and Wilmer took over about halfway. Now, if you have never been in New Jersey- their roads are strange. I mean, they have these goofy turnarounds instead of left hand turning lanes- it is all very confusing and we always miss the turns. So it was about 11pm and we stopped at a gas station for a potty break. (Yes we had a pregnant woman with us who needed to stop! Melisa is pregnant with their 3rd child!) The kids were all sleeping. Wilmer was driving and when we were trying to get back on the road- we found we couldn't get back on the road going in the same direction we were. There was a road right next to the gas station that went to a light where you could turn in the direction we wanted to go. However, there was no way to get on that road from the gas station. The only exit from the gas station was to go the opposite direction for who knows how long before we could turn around. So my creative (crazy) husband decided to make his own exit to the road we needed by taking this huge 15 passenger van over the curb thru the trees onto the road. And yes there were some people around! But at 11 pm after a long drive, that was the funniest thing we had ever done and all of us were laughing so hard. That was our funny story of the trip.
We reached the house we were staying at around midnight. The parents of a friend of ours were letting us stay in their house by the water. It was really nice and fun to be all together in a house instead of a couple rooms in a hotel. So that just started our vacation of craziness and little sleep. Aaron loved the sand and playing and digging but didn't want to go near the water the whole time we were there. Tyler loved everything, esp the waves. He just wanted to go running into them so we had to watch him close. If he wasn't doing that, he was trying to eat all the sand off the beach! I'm glad both boys seemed to have fun though. Of course, Wilmer boogie boarded with David and Heather most of the time. He loves riding the waves and it is so fun to watch him enjoying himself and relaxing. Every day coming back from the beach, (it was about a 20 minute drive back to the house) all 4 kids would fall asleep. It was so nice- we didn't have to fight them to take naps.
The last day we didn't go swimming because we didn't want to be all sandy on the way home. So we decided to go paddleboating. The big boys wanted to go jetskiing but it is way too expensive. Anyway we went in 2 boats and yeah, it didn't work. Between the waves (even in the bay where we were) and the wind, we were useless in controlling our boat much. Paddling did absolutely nothing- well except give me a good workout on my legs. So we just drifted back and over to the shore and got out. they came and towed the boats back up to where we started. Then the kids played on a playground for a while then we decided to leave. We stopped at the Cracker Barrel before we got out of NJ. Wilmer and I hadn't been there before so it was nice to try something new. Then we were about 1 1/2 hrs from my parents and Tyler got really sick and threw up all over. So we had a nice little story about going home. Poor guy was so sick and we still had 3 more hours to get home to NY. We left the next morning for NY so he had a little time to recover but not much. We had a good time but it was nice to come home! My sister, Heather, came home with us for a week so it was nice to have some help while Wilmer was at work and at night, so I caught up on some of my sleep.

Family Update

Kids Pics Aug/Sept 2007

We have had a great summer and now comes the cold weather again!
Aaron is growing up so fast. He talks a mile a minute. I taught him the ABC song on our way to PA one time and since then he has not stopped singing it. So now he knows his ABCs and we are working on recognizing them by sight now. He can count to 20 but has a hard time saying 13 and 15. He pronounces words better and better. He also picks up so many words every day (especially ones you don't want him to!) He went to VBS this year and he also goes to Pioneer Club on Wednesday nights at church. He loves it and even participated in singing a song up front in front of parents. That's something his Daddy won't even do! He did a really good job.
Tyler is almost 10 months now! He was walking before 9 months and now he is running. And so am I, trying to keep up with him. He climbs everything and puts everything in his mouth. He is so active but does not want to talk. He grunts, screams, and giggles but won't utter a speaking sound. He just laughs at me when I say mama or dada. He wants to copy Aaron in everything but that. He does manage to keep up with his brother and Dad pretty good now. He also gets into their wrestling matches and laughs the whole time. He still will not give me good nights of sleep every night but once in a while I get about 6-8 hours of sleep.
Overall they are both doing great and growing well. They are so much fun!