Ocean Grove... In October (!?)

 

Yes. So. 

Weather this past weekend was insane. Eighty degrees? For two days? Whaa?

It was clear that this was God's gift to early fall... and we could NOT stay away from the beach.

So you are now subjected to looking at all of these pictures. 

I know! The horror, right? ;)

 Trenton could play in the sand by himself all night long.

 Jim took some beautiful pictures of me and the boys.

 If you look carefully, you can see the moon to the left of Oliver in the picture above. He is absolutely delighted when he can see the moon in the daytime. Lots and lots of photographers were on the beach taking pics of this moon.

This is what I do when I don't have to watch the boys the entire time on the beach... I did actually finish that article!

 Jumping over a hole in the sand.

 

 

Time to pack up and head out for dinner. Capping off the night at Surf Taco was a treat. 

 This was definitely a wacky summer... too much rain, too many hot days. But I'll take another taste of it in October for sure... ;)

Pumpkin Picking

 Yay! A beautiful day in October to go and pick pumpkins!
Grandma and Grandpack came down for the day to watch T play soccer and join with us for lunch at Fins. Afterwards, we headed out to Atlantic Farms to find some excellent pumpkins.

 I had read that all the rains this summer made for a poor pumpkin crop. Although they did grow pumpkins here (at one time), it was clear that these pumpkins were simply trucked-in. No matter. Still made for some nice pictures.

 Just a kid in a pumpkin patch.

 Below, you can see the hayride in the background. I went on it with Ollie and he had such a good time... kept looking up at me and saying, "Momma! This is fun! Momma! We're sitting on hay!"

You'd think these animals didn't get fed... They must have eaten tons and tons of carrots and corn (the only two foods for sale at the farm). We got a great video of the cow above. Check it out!

Halloween Rap- 2011, Feat. Katy Perry

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

On the Way to Cape May...

 Mom and her girlfriends headed down to Cape May last weekend in the camper. I left on Friday afternoon, stopped in Ship Bottom (it was in the mid-70s!), read and fell asleep on the beach... Woke up, visited Ron Jon & got new sunglasses... The next day, we all did a little shopping in downtown Cape May. It was warm in the morning, but clouded over as the day went on, as evidenced in these photos...




 
I had a nagging thought about stopping by Atlantic City on the way home. So I did. 

 

I paid for one hour's worth of parking at a meter and took to the boardwalk. I blew $20 on the slot machines at the Trump casino, totally forgetting that you can still smoke in these places. The beach, off in the distance, looked really nice. I thought of my grandmother a lot. She used to love to come down here for the day.

I'm glad I went. Although I was only gone for 24 hours, I felt like I had a lot of 'alone' time. It was nice to be able to think-- just about me. And to get new sunglasses!!! (Similar to these, but brown and on sale!)

I'm soooo excited about THIS weekend's weather-- supposed to be in the 80s! Maybe we can squeeze one more beach day out?!

Weeeekend

 Jim has been working like a dog since the semester started, and training for another big race. He finished the 50K in Michigan in about 6 hrs. This weekend, I kept the kids busy doing various things. Above, finger painting.

 I had wanted to get into the city, but opted not to when the weather looked like rain. (I hate the idea of pushing around a double stroller in the city in the RAIN.) So we stayed in. And then there was our community fall festival day...
Ollie was so, so, SO excited to be able to go INSIDE a school bus. Up until this point, he'd just seen T getting on or off of it. But we needed to take this bus-shuttle to the park where the event was held. T was so cute, buckling his seat belt and all...
We made it to the fields just in time to watch as four sky-divers appeared.

 Met up with Rachael and her mom. Jumped around in various blown-up bouncy things.
Oliver took his first horsey ride. Look at that proud grin!!! (He wouldn't go near the horse at Massanutten this spring.)

Oliver's First Horse Ride from Sheryl K. on Vimeo.

 

And then there was the bubble bath... The first video I took was the initial reaction to the jets being turned on. But some people had some choice words during the taping that could not be repeated on this page... So you get take #2.

Mr. Bubble + Jacuzzi = "Steppin' In Snow" from Sheryl K. on Vimeo.

Rain. And Music.

First day of autumn. Lots of rain in store for us for the next few days.
***
The other day, Jim said, "Isn't it funny how we grew up listening to Classic Rock and our kids are growing up listening to Dance and Pop music?"

I had to admit, I didn't think it was funny. A bit of a sad note, actually. Between his parents' reverence of CSN & James Taylor, and my folk's love of Springsteen and anything from WNEW, we both heard a LOT of great, classic rock music as kids. It was Mom and Dad's music, but somehow, it was also ours.

When we moved out to Illinois, everyone there was on a popular Country kick. I was interested for a bit, but it has since faded. Now we pretty much listen to one of two things on the radio: NPR or Pop/Dance/HipHop. Blame Zumba for the dance music. And the Pop station is local and plays catchy stuff.

How is it that our kids are someday going to look back on this time and note the 'classics' they remember were from Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, and Kesha? Brittany Spears, your last album actually had some memorable stuff and a punchy refrain! Enrique Inglesias, Oliver LOVES your songs' choruses. Far East Movement, did you realize that a two-year-old has been singing "Feeling so fly, like a CHEESE STICK"??? Katy Perry, you are SO articulate in your songs. Thanks for introducing menage-a-trois, skinny dipping, and alien references to my five year old. (Don't worry-- the only part he actually sings is "It's a black-top blur, but I'm pretty sure it ruled! DANG!") When this song was only two weeks old, Ollie already knew the best part ("Moo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Jagger") but, sadly, did not know who Jagger was. (We fixed that by showing him the Maroon 5 video.) Trenton claims that every 'fast' song he hears on the radio is something he's also heard "at the gym". By this he means in the foyer of the gym... the entry-way and hallway that he spends all of five minutes in on his way to the daycare center.

The icing on the cake has got to be this one, though. I myself had no idea what they were saying until my pilates instructor told us that HER kids were the ones that explained the lyrics to her!  So now I just make sure to sing "Faster than my mother!... Out-run my brother!"

Do I worry about these lyrics? Up to this point, I think I've done a pretty good job screening songs, turning them off when necessary, and mumbling over the lyrics that are of bad taste. But this week, I heard Ollie singing "S-S-S-S, M-M-M" in Target. As loud as he could. Doh, Rhianna! (Note: the link is just to the lyrics and song. The video is actually part of RESTRICTED CONTENT. Jesus!)

The worst I can remember singing was "I really love your peaches, wanna shake your trees" (Steve Miller Band).

I think we'll keep sticking with mumbling over the suggestive material. I'm not quite ready to switch to playing 'clean' classic rock just yet.

P.S. Did you read that after 31 years, REM is calling it quits? Loved those guys back in the '90s-- even saw them perform at MSG. And so all good things must end...

P.P.S. FORGOT: PITBULL!!!! Anything Pitbull, they love.

Fall Soccer

 "Oh yeah, baby!"
Guess who's loving life as goalie?
"Made a bunch of blocks. Just missed one."

 Not that one. That one he got.

He's on the teal team this season. Same coach as last fall; we loved him, so we're happy.
And Harrison's on his team this year!

 Here's to spending Saturday mornings watching soccer!