Pictures linked to each vacation entry

Steve was so nice that he uploaded all our pictures to photobucket, organized them into folders by the day they were taken, and then linked them to each of my previous vacation entries! I guess he got tired of waiting for me to do it....:)

So, there is a blue link just underneath each title for pictures. Also, I'll be away from the computer until at least Sunday. No reason to even look for new entries during that time. I'm taking the 3 older kids up to NY for a huge family reunion combined with an 80th birthday party for my gramma (my dad's mom). Steve is going to stay home and take care of AJ. We decided it would be better this way since it's mostly a camping trip. I just don't know how AJ would do sleeping in such close quarters.

So, I better get off this computer now and get to packing!

It's good to be home!

We just got home tonight and didn't even bother to unload the car--we are going to be busy tomorrow! Wouldn't you know today AJ chose to wake up early! I think it was around 6:30-that's actually about normal for him but I was getting used to waking up after 7. I guess I got spoiled.

But, waking up early was a good thing. We got the house cleaned up and the cars packed and were out of there by 11. We went to Mommom and Poppop's house first because we were doing a late birthday party for Uncle Jimmy who turned the big THREE-O on July 4. It worked out great because Mommom had lots of food. We were able to eat dinner there and then headed home around 6:30ish. So, it was nice to not have to worry about dinner once we got home.

Now, here's the very sad (weird?) news! I knew our little above ground pool would be a mess after no upkeep for a week so I headed straight out to add chemicals and start up the pump. Would you believe the pump/filter was GONE?!! Someone took the pump-hoses and all. At least they were kind enough to put the little plugs into the holes left behind. I had left the plugs on the ground because you have to have them when you change the filter. Also, there were little metal clamps holding the hose in place. Someone came here with a screwdreiver, took the clamps off, took the hose and pump, and put the little plugs in place so all the water wouldn't escape from the pool. It's still baffling to me because someone really planned this out. If they had done it in the middle of the night, they never would have found the little plugs because they are black. Very, very strange! Kaeli's reaction was pretty funny. She was telling me to call 911....I still laugh when I think about it. I guess in her mind the loss of a swimming pool pump WAS an emergency. She was so mad that I wasn't doing something to get our pump back. I did call the police station's non-emergency number just to ask them if they had heard of a lot of pumps being stolen, but nope. At least Kaeli felt better when the police officer came over and verified what I had already told her--there's nothing the police can do about it. Oh, by the way, we live in a tiny town so the police aren't exactly really busy. I only called to ask a question and they sent an officer over. I guess they needed something to do. Fortunately, I can order a new pump from ebay that comes with all the parts. It's just frustrating since we have to spend more money and the pool desperately needs to be cleaned NOW. I just can't imagine why someone took our pump--we don't exactly live in a private yard. Very, very weird!

Day 8, Friday

I'm writing this on Saturday, but postdating it since I just didn't have the energy last night!

We spent another full day on the beach today. Actually, I tried a different approach. Steve took Kaeli, Paige, and Ryan over around 10:30. I stayed home and put AJ down for an early nap at around 11. Steve bought the other kids home for lunch at about 12:30-leaving all the stuff on the beach. After lunch we all went back together and stayed until 5.

It was an absolutely beautiful day for the beach!! It couldn't have been a more perfect last day! Even the water temp was up a bit. Today was the first day we could actually venture out into the water without freezing to death. It's interesting that in a matter of a day the water temps rose from around 55 degrees to around 65 degrees. I know it must have something to do with water currents and such, but it's just amazing.

Kaeli and Paige spent the entire day playing with their new friends. Ryan and AJ were pretty easy. The tide was coming in most of the day and the beach has a very, very shallow slope to it. So shallow, in fact, that it almost appears flat and makes for a PERFECT place for kids to play. I dug holes for them in the sand and used the sand from the hole to make a big "mountain". Ryan and AJ had so much fun jumping into the hole full of water from the pile of sand and splashing in the water. I don't have much to report from Kaeli and Paige because we honestly only saw them sporadically from time to time. Every day they had a standing date to meet their friends at the lifeguard stand at 12:00. Before we left Kaeli got her friend's email address and phone number. It was really neat to see her make a new friend over summer vacation.

Now this part I didn't actually see, but Steve has told me all about it. While I was sitting in a chair holding Ryan (trying to get him to take a nap) AJ was behind me where I couldn't see. But, I obviously missed out on seeing AJ flirt with 2 approx 13 yr old girls. For about 30 minutes AJ was quite intrigued by them. He would look at these girls with his little "side-eye" look and grin at them. I never saw him do it, but I've seen that look many times and can just picture it. Then he "fell" right next to them and as he was getting up he kind of did a a downward dog stance (for those that know yoga) and grinned at them through his legs for a several minutes. Steve said he also laid in the sand for a while just looking over at them grinning. The girls and their mom were getting quite a chuckle out of him and were amazed to see how well he flirted already. :) We are in trouble with this one! He gets so much attention for being so adorable! And, you can just see the twinkle of mischeif in his eyes.

Needless to say, we were all pretty exhausted Friday night!

Day 7, Thursday

The weather was much more conducive to beach-going today! The wind was just about perfect, few clouds in the sky, and the air temperature was warm. The only thing that could have made it better would be warmer ocean water. But, the kids still had a great time playing in the surf.

We had to trash our poor canopy today. It's been slowly falling apart all week, but today it required the help of duct tape to keep it up. We've used it for 4 summers now, so we got plenty of use from it. I guess tomorrow we will have to depend on a regular umbrella. That's going to be hard since we've kind of spoiled ourselves with a nice, big tent-like shaded area on the beach.

We left the beach around 3 in order to get cleaned up and allow the boys to have a late nap. After naps we went out to dinner and then played around on the beach to watch the sunset. We have to watch the sunset over the bay since we only get a sunRISE on the ocean here on the east coast. But, our annual sunset trip is always alot fun. I think we got some good pictures and I can't wait to see them all!

Again, the kids went to bed without a moment's hesitation! I'm guessing they'll sleep great and I'm HOPING they sleep late again--8:00 would be nice.

Tomorrow is our last full day here and we plan to spend it on the beach again. Saturday will just be for packing up, cleaning, and driving home.

Day 6, Wednesday

We thought we were going to spend another full day on the beach, but the weather had other plans for us. We got all set up on the beach around 10:30 AM....after packing up enough for a full day on the beach. At first, it was a little chilly, but not terrible. About an hour after we got all set up the cloud coverage got pretty heavy and the wind became much cooler. The kids were all sitting down with towels wrapped around them. Soon after lunch we felt some light rain and decided to just call it a day. But, as we were packing up the kids started having a great time in the really loose sand near the dunes. The sand in that area is always nice and warm from the sun so the kids were running around and then jumping into the sand. They were playing so well together and having so much fun we decided to stay a little longer. Steve took the bulk of our stuff home and we only kept the neccesities.

For a cold, miserable weather day our time on the beach turned out to be alot of fun. The kids and Steve made up a cute game. They lined everyone's shoes up and then tried tossing a small ball into the shoe. Each shoe was worth points (Steve's shoes only worth one point, then AJ's shoes were worth 5 points). It kept them busy for a little while, at least.

Kaeli eventually started saying she was ready to go home. Jokingly, Steve said "you know where it is--go ahead". She looked really surprised and said "really?" Steve and I looked at each other and seemed to know what the other was thinking-sure, why not, let her do it. Now, I should say the house is right across the road from the beach and it is not a busy road AT ALL. There are a few cars here and there, but the biggest obstacle is usually bikes. So, we let her go home to get a headstart on showering. We were only about 10 minutes behind her, but that little bit of freedom seemed to mean the world to her!! She was so proud of herself. I can't believe how grown-up she's becoming!

So, she handled that little bit of freedom and responsibility so well that we took it a step further a little later. Kaeli has become incredibly attached to Bailey (our dog) lately and has been wanting more responsibility for his care. She's been asking and asking to take him for walks and we've always said no because he can be very hard to control when he sees another dog. So, today we gave her the end of the leash and let her give it a try. I watched anxiously from the deck. There wasn't a single problem and she definitely seemed to know how to handle him. So, I gave her the go-ahead to take him for a quick walk around the block.

We didn't do much the rest of the afternoon. We cooked a big dinner and just played around and watched a movie.

Day 5, Tuesday

On Tuesday we spent the entire day on the beach! The weather was pretty nice....a little windy and slightly chilly, but not bad enough to keep the kids out of the water. Of course, it would take a lot to keep them out of the water!

Around 1:00 I took the boys back to the house for naps. Steve stayed at the beach with the girls. I had about 2 hours to relax. I was feeling a little bad for Steve until I called to check on him. He said the girls had found some friends soon after I left and had been off playing with them the whole time. So, Steve was able to sit and relax on the beach for 2 hours just reading a book!! Around 3:30 the boys and I headed back to the beach. We finally called it a day and headed for the house around 5:30. We had a quick dinner and took a walk to the ice cream store.

Perfect day! The kids went to bed without a single moment's hesitation.

Monday, day 4 of vacay

It's 3 o'clock-middle of naptime for half the Kirk kids (and Steve, too). This morning we slept until almost 8 o'clock!! That could be a new record for us since having kids!! I'm guessing the time spent running around on the beach until almost 8 last night tired everyone out. We'll be doing that again tonight for sure!

Since the house is quiet I thought I'd take a few minutes to write about our morning. We headed to Ocean City's boardwalk around 10:30 this morning. We knew that we had to make at least one trip to Wonderland's Pier (small kid-friendly amusement park) this week and decided to do that this morning since it was still pretty overcast. The rest of the week is supposed to be mostly clear and we intend to spend most of the days on the beach. We had pizza on the boardwalk and then headed over to the rides.

It's always interesting to see how much our family has "aged" when we do something that happens only once a year. Last year only Kaeli was ready for the "big kid" rides. This year Paige was about an inch too short, but fortunately none of the ride attendants cared. So, we had K and P riding all the big kid rides together and Ryan and AJ were able to ride the little kid rides together. As hard as it is sometimes to get through the day with these 4, it's times like this that make me so grateful. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect situation. The girls buddy up and do things together and then the boys still have each other.

Paige rode all the same rides as Kaeli except for the pirate ship. She just couldn't bring herself to get on it. She wanted me to ride with her, but I made that mistake last year. I just can't handle that ride-it does terrible things to my stomach. Kaeli loves it and has to sit right at the very end of the boat! It still amazes me that she is such a thrill-seeker considering that she is such a nervous-nelly. It's fun to watch, though!

At the end, we had just enough tickets left over to all get on the carousel--all except for Steve who was manning the cameras the whole time. I think he got some great pics overall and of us on the carousel. This may be the very last year we'll get Kaeli on the carousel. She's evidently getting too old to be seen on such a ride. As we were leaving we got another group picture of all 4 of them sitting on the bench with the ocean behind them.

The girls brought their own money and were allowed to spend some of it at the boardwalk. We are now the proud owners of 2 hermit crabs named "beachking" (Kaeli's) and "sharkie" (Paige's). We did a little research about hermit crabs when we got home and realize we have to go buy more stuff. The little cage they bought at the store isn't acceptable for a long-term habitat. But, the really neat thing is that these little critters can eat just about anything. The girls are just loving that! They're having popcorn for a snack and have shared a couple of pieces with their hermit crabs. They are just so excited. For the past couple of summers they've been asking for one and we always said no.

Well, AJ is now awake from his nap and we are just waiting for the other two boys (Steve and Ryan). When they wake up we'll head over to the beach for a couple of hours before dinner.

Sunday, day 3 of vacation

Link to picture album for 7/5 and 7/6

Today we all woke up late (after 7AM) and feeling very refreshed! It was raining for most of the morning, but the clouds broke around 10 and we had to get out of the house. It didn't seem like much of a beach day, so we decided to just get in the car and make it up as we went.

We headed south toward Cape May. We took the scenic route and drove along the stretch of private beaches where multimillion dollar mansions sit. It's always amazing to see those giant houses and just imagine what it would be like to live on your own private beach. Kaeli was just amazed....the other kids didn't seem too impressed. :)

Once we got to Cape May we started seeing signs for the lighthouse. So, the lighthouse ended up being our first stop. We first took a walk on the bird observatory deck. It's a good thing not many people were trying to observe birds because we certainly scared them all away. A set of ramps led up to the main deck and Ryan and AJ had a lot of fun running up and down the ramps. Why wouldn't they? How many 3 and almost-2 year-olds do you know that would want to sit and stare out over a swam watching birds?

After looking for birds we walked over to the beach area for a snack. After our snack we took a walk over to check out the WWII bunker sitting on the beach. It was very interesting to see and just imagine what it all looked like when it was in use. It was also amazing to see how much beach erosion has occurred over the years. At one point the bunker was completely on land. Now it's halfway under water during high tide. During our walk AJ and I were on the back side of the bunker. An rather old gentleman walked past us and only said "looks like you have an engineer in the making". He was referring to AJ and I still wonder what it was that made him say that. I'm guessing it was that AJ always has such a serious look on his face-especially when he's looking at something interesting. It probably looked like he was very much studying the construction of the bunker.

We stopped by the visitor's center before heading off again. For our next stop, we went to Cape May Point--the very end of NJ. We played in the surf for a while and then had lunch.

Finally, we headed to the Cape May zoo. We make at least one trip to the zoo every year. This time our trip was rather short because we were all so exhausted by now. AJ was pretty grumpy because he only had about a 30 min nap in the car. Inside the zoo he had a tremendous tantrum over the fact that I would not put him inside the fence at the flamingo exhibit. For some reason he really, really wanted to get up close and personal with the flamingos. He was making quite a spectacle of himself--but I've become pretty accustomed to getting all these looks when he throws his tantrums. I try my best to avoid eye contact with people and just smile when I can't. We finally got AJ settled down and then it was Kaeli's turn. She wore her flip flops-even though I always tell her flip flops shouldn't be worn when we're doing lots of walking. She did have a blister between her toes, but as usual with her, it turned into a HUGE drama. Again, me feeling like the whole park was starting at us. We put Kaeli in the stroller and started heading for the exit as quickly as we could. We only stayed about an hour, but I should say this is a small zoo and is free. So, it's not like we lost out on alot of money by staying just a short time.

After recuperating at the house for an hour or so we had dinner and then headed over to the beach. It was very late in the afternoon (probably around 5:30), but it turned out to be a perfect time to just play at the beach. There was a huge tide pool and the kids just had a great time playing in it! We will definitely be spending more time on the beach in the late afternoons. It's a great way to waste those last couple of hours before bedtime.

It's now 10:00....the kids are all sound asleep and I'm very much ready for bed myself. I think tomorrow we will spend most of the day playing on the beach.

Vacation at the Beach

We're in the middle of our yearly beach vacation this week. We got here on Thursday night and will be staying until July 12. Unfortunately, we won't be able to upload any pics until we get home. But, I'm going to try to do a little blogging every couple of days so that I won't have too much to catch up on when we get home. Besides, time ALWAYS fades the memories--especially now that there are more kids to warp my brain and more gray hairs showing my age-- and I'd rather write before that happens.

Thursday night was uneventful. We got here around 7PM and had just enough time to unpack and then put the kids to bed.

MomMom, Poppop and Kristen came down on Friday. We all spent the afternoon on the beach. It was a beautiful day for the beach. The water was pretty cold, though! My feet were actually becoming numb from standing in the surf. I couldn't believe the cold water did not slow Paige down one bit! She jumped right into the water and played on her boogie board for a really long time. Kaeli tried getting in a few times, but she couldn't take the cold water for that long-and I can't say I blame her. Once AJ got accustomed to the beach atmosphere he had a great time, too. He kept pulling Mommom further and further into the water. Of course, he knew his limits, but he really went in further than I would have expected. I love seeing how much he enjoys the ocean now! Ryan also seemed to have fun. He went in at times, but he also couldn't deal with the freezing water for long. Overall, we had a great afternoon on the beach.

After the beach on Friday we got everyone cleaned up. I put AJ down for a late nap so that he could stay up for the 4th of July celebrations later in the night. Fortunately, he actually slept. Around 9pm we all walked over to the beach to watch the fireworks. The kids did pretty well when we first got there. Kaeli really didn't want to be afraid this time and put up a really good front for a while. I think everyone would have been great if not for the fireworks going off RIGHT over our heads. I'm serious--I mean literally over our heads. I was getting pretty nervous myself because it was a group of teenagers, who were obviously drinking, that were putting on this fireworks display. Not exactly a comforting feeling having drunk teens setting off fireworks right next to you. It is illegal to have fireworks on the beach, but that didn't seem to stop anyone. There were lots and lots of individual fireworks being set off. With all the fireworks going off all around us all 3 of the older kids were becoming pretty scared. So, we decided we'd be better off watching the fireworks from our deck at the house. When we left it was starting to sprinkle, by the time we got back to the house it was actually raining. So, it was good timing anyway. I just wish for once we could watch the town's fireworks without having people setting off their own right next to us. Oh well, it was definitely an exciting night.

The boys went straight to bed without complaint. I told Kaeli and Paige they could stay up as late as they wanted with their Aunt Kristen. I think they finally fell asleep sometime around midnight.

Saturday morning was just a long, lazy morning because everyone was still pretty tired from the day before. MomMom, PopPop, and Kristen had to leave around 2. At about 3, the boys woke from their naps. To waste the rest of the afternoon, we took a walk to the playground. After the playground we came home and ordered pizza and had an early bedtime.

I'll write today's activities in a new post. This one is getting long and today was a very busy day!

I guess this is what it takes sometimes

This morning I asked Kaeli and Paige to clean their room. As usual, before too long I heard arguing and screaming. It's always the same argument. Kaeli complains and makes Paige's life miserable because she blames the mess on Paige. Paige picks up stuff at a snail's pace in hopes that Kaeli will get most of it done before she "has time" to do much. Well, today I decided I'd had enough. I walked up to their room with 2 big garbage bags in my hand and a scowl on my face. No doubt I was mad!! I told them not to worry about cleaning the room because I was going to do it for them. I proceeded to walk through the room filling my garbage bags as quickly as I could. The girls were hysterical because I have thrown their toys away before--so they knew I would follow through. They begged and pleaded and I just kept right on working and ignoring. By the time I was done they had settled down and were making their beds. I told them to make their beds while I was "cleaning" or I'd take their blankets and sheets, too. So, once we were done Kaeli calmly asked if I could just put the bags away and let them earn their stuff back instead of throwing it away. I agreed (which was my plan all along, anyway). I didn't touch underneath their beds and I didn't "clean" anything that was already in boxes or toy boxes. So, I put the 2 big bags full of stuff in the hallway and told them I'd give them one bag if they organized the toys that were left and thoroughly clean out from under their beds. Of course, the rule was that if I heard any arguing or complaining then the deal was off and I'd put the stuff in the basement for a month. After about 20 min I checked on them and they were doing a wonderful job!! Working together and everything! I helped with the last few things and then brought the first bag in. They were so unbelievably excited that it was actually kind of funny. I dumped the bag and told them they would earn bag 2 back if they put away and organized all the stuff from bag 1 (with no arguing or complaining, of course). By the end of it, they had all their stuff back and the room was completely clean and organized.

In the end, I decided I kind of like this method. Their room was such a mess that it was overwhelming anyway. So, by gathering up all the junk littering the floor it made the mess a little less intimidating. Then, by giving the bags back one at a time it kept them motivated and kept the mess manageable. Maybe next time I won't even have to get mad since I know I'll have a plan of action if the arguing and complaining starts. Of course, it would be nice if the room never got that bad in the first place--but I think that's just a dream.