Thursday, July 25

Jere and Kristen rented half of a beach house (right side) for their family – for a week – and when they knew they would have an empty bedroom some of the time, they invited us to come for a night or two. We chose two nights – Thursday and Friday.

It has been many years since we went to an ocean, just to hang out on the beach. We think the children were small the last time we did this. When our children were growing up, we went camping, so they swam in lakes, bays, and pools.

After taking our things to the empty upstairs bedroom, we walked to the beach with Jere – who met us at the house. It took only a few minutes as they were just a few blocks away.

They set up a large canopy each morning so they could be in the shade when necessary.

We were at a quiet part of the beach where it was not over-crowded. We could see Atlantic City in the distance.

Ian was in the process of burying his feet in the sand when we arrived.

Kristen walking on the ocean’s edge.

Jere

We were there about an hour when it was time to go back to the house, so Kristen rescued Jesse from the ocean where he had spent most of his day jumping waves.

Ian went to rinse the sand from his legs and hands.

Seagulls were everywhere and could be quite pesky.

A sand tower next to us.

Heading back to the house.

Ian was a bit ahead of us and turned onto our street first.

Following showers and a change of clothes, we went to Randazzo’s for supper.

Left to Right: Me, Jesse, Ian, Jana, Austin, Kristen, and Jere. (Josh, Emily, and Tucker had been there earlier in the week, but had jobs to do, and Jared was on a mission trip to Juniata County, PA, with a group of youth and leaders from their church.)

Garlic rolls

We were amused at seeing the “fish” dinner roll that came with Kristen’s meal.

Jesse likes cheeseburgers without very much on it. I think this one had bacon on it.

Jere and Cerwin ordered the same meal – a kind of lasagna dish.

My mussels were delicious…

…as was my lobster bisque.

After supper we walked to the beach to watch the lifeguard competition.

Rowing competition

Swimming competition. Each competitor started in the area of their color flag and swam to the same color flag in the ocean.

More rowing

Bringing their boat to shore.

This swimming competition moved up the beach a bit.

We stayed where we were, but most of the spectators followed them.

As far as we could tell there were sixteen different beaches represented. We did not hear who won, but it was fun to watch.

We went back to the house and enjoyed a relaxing evening before going to bed early – to be prepared for a full day at the beach on Friday.