A Day at the Beach 2

We were able to squeeze a second visit to the beach in before my cousins and Claire went back to school. It was a gorgeous and fun day!!! My aunt, cousins and cousin's children always make us feel so welcome. We arrived around 11 am and stayed the entire day. After having pizza for dinner, Claire and I left for home around 9 pm.

Claire and Scott building a sand castle.

Claire and Tiffany
(Claire picked Tiffany's bathing suit out so they would match!)

Buried in the sand

10:53 pm -- Almost home!

A Busy Summer

So far, our relaxing summer is turning out to be quite scheduled. And to think I was worried about not having enough to fill the days to avoid summer boredom!

We have been so busy with swimming lessons, gymnastics and spending time at the lake with great friends (and some new friends too!). Claire has been super-friendly and will go up to any similarly-aged child (mostly girls), introduce herself and start playing in the lake. She is definitely more inclined to approach the children with strong swimming skills as she wants to be out swimming in the lake, jumping off the dock and float and sliding down the large slide.

I must say, I have been pretty friendly too! I've met a few other mommies of soon-to-be kindergartners and a few other people at the beach/lake. It is refreshing to meet new (nice!) people and I'm just thrilled that we joined this club!

Our Beach Club

When I was a little girl we spent our summer days (and some evenings) at the town pool which was right around the corner from our house. We'd pack up our stuff and walk to the pool or my mom would drive us in her sweet Volvo station wagon. Spending our summers at the pool was our thing. I have so many memories of hanging out at the pool with my friends and our family friends. Wing dings. Swim lessons. Mr. McKeown. Penny candy. Fun Dip. Swim Team. "The next 10 minutes will be an adult swim." I could go on and on...

I want Claire to have similar happy outdoor summer experiences. It took me a while, but I finally found a club to join (Our town out in the country does not have a town pool.). We ended up joining a little beach club on the largest lake in New Jersey. The club has a nice beach area with three kiddie slides and some playground equipment. Sadly, we only ended up going a handful of times, but we had a lot of fun each of those times, especially when we met friends there or brought friends with us!

Horseshoe Lake

Our friends Antonella, Zach and Alex invited us to go to their beach club today. Aunt Celina, Ryan and Peter came too. Horseshoe Lake has a nice, sandy beach and a beautiful, clear, picturesque lake. A few small slides sit in the sand in the shallow part of the lake and they're perfect for our kiddies to navigate independently. We will definitely consider joining it next year.

The kids had a great time swimming, sliding, splashing, pouring water on each other and playing together. The mommies enjoyed talking and laughing. I even told Antonella the story about the time we went to lunch with Ron Jeremy (Ok, I'm totally kidding about that. Seriously. It's an inside joke!).

Hanging out on the beach.

Frog Falls

We've been having a fun summer! Lots of playgrounds and afternoons at the lake.

Today we went to an awesome little water park to celebrate Claire's friend Dylan's third birthday. Claire had a blast riding around the lazy river and swimming in the pool. She wanted to go down the water slides, but she didn't meet the height requirement (Maybe next year!). Claire wanted to stay in the water all day, but we were able to convince her to get out briefly for pizza and then cake a little while later. All in all, it was a fantastic day!!!

Frog Falls Water Park

Claire riding around the lazy river with Zach.



Claire waiting patiently for cake. Dylan's parents hired my cousin, Jaci, to make
Dylan's birthday cake. It was not only adorable, but it was delicious as well!