Please excuse my detailed description of our vacation. It was one I’d like to remember. I had been a little down on the idea of a family vacation, but this one proved me wrong. Everyone got along, I slept well, and everyone did a decent job of cleaning up after themselves. I think it helped that it was only four nights and that T stayed home and looked after Rocco.
Monday, we left in the afternoon and drove through a super intense rainstorm on the way down, girls in one car, boys in another. (N and F each brought a friend.) I was a bit terrified that we were going to get washed off the road. We emerged from it and sped on to Atlantic City.
Once settled into the house, we took a walk to check out the bay and the neighborhood. For dinner, we drove over to Richman’s in nearby Brigantine for burgers and fries. Later, we went to the AC boardwalk. The kids weren’t crazy about it and neither were we. We had a quick drink in Margaritaville before they were ready to leave. Just… a lot of pot smoke, no interesting shops. They could have done the rides at Steel Pier, but they opted instead to go the next afternoon, when they were cheaper. It was kind of a bummer, and we immediately promised we’d take them to Ocean City the next night.
Tuesday was wonderful. Lots of time at the beach, morning and afternoon. Perfect beach weather and water temperature.
At night, as promised, we went to Ocean City for dinner and the boardwalk.
Wednesday, the weather was a little iffy, so the girls and I went to the outlets downtown first. That was a bit torturous for me, who had no interest in anything there. After we got back, the sun came out, so we hit the beach from 4 to 6. F and her friend M and a little girl who made friends with them were the only ones in the water. Later, Tom and I went out to eat at the Quarter at the Tropicana. Unfortunately it was a pretty ho hum meal. Tom made the reservation because they had something on the menu he has been wanting to have. If I had looked at the restaurant ahead of time I would have steered us away from it. It was basically a fake Italian place. But I didn’t, so… blah.
Thursday my friend T came down. The two of us plus all the kids went on the beach in the morning, then walked over to get pizza from Tony Baloney’s. I had the pizza version of French onion soup. Very unique!
After that just T and I went back to the beach for a while. Three awesome beach days in a row.
That evening after T left, we all had a semi-homemade dinner together at the house and the four kids played board games together.
In between, Tom got in plenty of fishing (the inlet was right there) and the boys may or may not have jumped off the fishing pier into the inlet, after the lifeguard left the inlet beach each night. I spent time lounging in the little side yard reading my new (to me) book. That was also my spot for morning coffee and toast. We tried out Hot Bagels and More and also Hayday Coffee, both very good. I was proud of myself for navigating around the city (getting food, taking N’s second friend back to the train station, the outlets) and not getting lost or accidentally getting onto the expressway and exiting the city (not kidding, real fear of mine).
I so badly needed a change of scene and this scene delivered. I loved the clean, spacious, thoughtfully decorated, centrally air-conditioned house. The master bedroom, with glossy, golden wide plank floors and many windows, was a treat all by itself. I loved going to bed! The bed was comfy and I fell asleep to the TV (no TV in my room at home, so this is a luxury to me).
I feel like when I sit in front of the ocean, the white noise of the wind and the waves scours my brain clean and I come home with a clean slate. Reset, and somewhat recharged.
Some other positives: the Inlet neighborhood is very cute. I love the styles of the houses and the little alleyways. The beach at the end of our street was very clean, not too big or small, and never very crowded. I would definitely go to this beach for a random beach day, especially considering that you can be there in one hour flat. And the price was right on this AirBnb rental since it was AC and because we waited til nearly the last minute.
The negatives: It’s Atlantic City. People panhandle. The blocks leading up to our beach were run down. Trash, vacant lots, busted-up sidewalks. We couldn’t let the kids just do whatever they wanted at night, like we could in Ocean City. F got hit up for $5 by a lady while she and M were alone at the outlets (the second time they went).
But sometimes you need to be in a place with a little edge. We had some good conversations with the kids about the history of AC and how to handle yourself in certain situations.
It would have been nice to be able to walk to more places from the house. We had to drive just about everywhere.
Back to reality (and another heat wave) on Friday. Didn’t do much on Friday besides unpack. On Saturday, F and I made it to the farmers’ market for the first time in forever; we got corn, blueberries, and vanilla yogurt. Plus some cookies from a bakery on the avenue. Later, we had a family birthday party and then Tom and I met friends at Holy City Publick House.
Today’s highlight was attending a rally in support of a local restaurant owner who was detained by ICE and is currently in Delaney Hall. We wrote letters in support of his character and had them notarized there. We didn’t stay long but I was glad we made it there (me, Tom and T all wrote letters). I also had to take F to urgent care in the morning (she’s fine) and got some weed whacking done.
It was exciting to see what the garden had ready to pick on Friday: tomatoes, peppers and beans. And my lettuce and brassicas sprouted.
Last Sunday, I drove around to six little free libraries in town. I disposed of books and got two new ones for the trip. We did a good job eating up food in the house Sunday and Monday, and took some food down with us. I also moved all the onions to the front porch because squirrels were knocking them down off the playset.
Random note: I have only seen one monarch this year, and no other butterflies besides the cabbage whites.
Meals this week:
Sunday: rotisserie chicken and sauteed green beans from the garden
Monday: Burgers, hot dogs, etc. at Richman’s
Tuesday: pizza at Mack and Manco’s
Wednesday: crappy Italian for us, DoorDashed fast food for the kids
Thursday: ziti with grilled chicken and Alfredo sauce (I told Tom to buy broccoli but he claimed to forget it).
Friday: pulled pork and mac and cheese
Saturday: pasta and more at the party
Sunday: sauteed green beans from the garden, corn on the cob, leftover meatballs and little chicken shawarma wraps from Zena’s Restaurant (where the rally was)
Spending: Oh God. Vacation spending. Tom covered most of it, but I spent $70 at Tony Baloney’s, $15 on parking and who knows what else. Can’t deal with that just yet.
For the rest of August, we have F’s birthday coming up, driving lessons for N, and various sports stuff for F. T needs some items for his room at the frat house. Meanwhile I can’t help thinking about squeezing in another little getaway, somehow…
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