Thursday, August 27, 2009

What a Blast!

I want to thank a few friends who took the time to head down to the Jersey shore to come and visit me! Tina, Mary #1, Mary #2 and Miss Melissa! I don't talk much about the friends I have made through BabyCenter over the years but I should. It turns out they are truly some of the greatest friends I have ever had.

So about a week and a half ago they planned a meet up in Connecticut at Nat's house and took the time to swing by my place on their journeys home. How cool is that! They stayed one night and I was so happy to show them the shore. Obviously, I had to take them up to the boardwalk. I forgot how fun it is to go up there and eat clams on the half and fried oreos myself :) A few of us rode the sky coaster and just had a genuinely good time. There is nothing better than going out for a kid free night with some good friends.

The next day proved to be just as fun. Of course Big Boy was all set to go to my parents house for the day but somehow (insert sarcasm) he sobbed and weaseled his way into spending the day with me. Luckily, for the most part) he was on his best behavior. We all went out to breakfast and had some great laughs but sadly Melissa and Mary #1 had to leave so Mary could catch her plane back to Georgia. I thought it would be fun to take Tina and Mary #2 to the beach, It was a beautiful day and even though I'm always a bit leery of driving on the beach (Hubby always does the driving) I think the girls had a blast and will hopefully always remember it!

I was so sad to see them go and I'm hoping we can make this an annual tradition. I just keep thinking how cool it was to have Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusettes and Georgia all come together for an awesome night out!

Thanks girls and I miss you guys already!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Hello Old Friend

It feels good to be back. It's been a long summer and my poor blog has certainly taken the backseat to just about everything. I noticed my one year blogging anniversary came and went and I never even realized it. So here it after eleven on a work night and I've decided I will make time to do what I love. Ironically, I make time to do things I can't stand so why should The Beach Life be neglected.

Well, my blog title certainly held true to it's name the past few months. For what I like to call the "summer that never was," I did spend a good amount of time on the beach. Big Boy (remember him) is an absolute beach bum at heart and he would have lived there if he could. He has certainly kept me on my toes the past few months. His six week summer program ended a few weeks ago and he is all set to head back just after labor day. Truth be told, I was not happy with the summer program. His teachers were different and I don't think they commanded the same respect and attention as his normal school year teachers had. He changed during the summer program and not for the good. I'm looking forward to him going back to his normal routine come September, we all are.

Other interesting tidbits. We needed to overhaul the pool a few weeks ago. Both the liner and the pump needed to be replaced and even though it really wasn't in the budget there was no way we could let it go much longer. Thank heavens for good friends though. One of the greatest things about hubby and his crew is they are all always helping each other out. It's really pretty cool. So when the pool needed the work, one of the boys is actually a pool guy in the summer and was able to get us an incredible deal on the overhaul and it was done so quick I nearly fell over. Seriously, I can't believe it's done!

Work is work. I finally got my NJ tech license and if I can ever find the time to study (which I should be doing now) I'll take the test to get my national license. It's kind of expensive and my employer will only pay for it once so I can't screw up but since being a screw up is in my blood I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Other that that we are just wrapping up summer and I'm eagerly waiting for my favorite time of year! Sadly, this is one of the first years I'm sad to see summer go. As busy as we are all the time, we still made plenty of time for fun and I'm not ready to close the pool and say good bye to the warm weather. I guess we need to make these last few weeks count. I'm thinking we are long overdue for an Indian summer. Wouldn't that be so sweet!