Beach Blanket Bingo (Day 3) [a.k.a. Let's Go To The Mall]

Monday was a fairly uneventful and apparently unphotogenic day. We spent the morning at the beach with everyone, much as we had on Sunday. Uncle Ray deserted us to go to the beach at Ocean City, and got stung by a jellyfish. That's what he gets for not wanting to hang out with all of us!

He felt better once he came back and had some fruit punch (or red wine, as he called it).

That afternoon, we set out to visit the outlets in Rehoboth. For those of you who have never been there, it's quite a place. There are three separate malls, and quite a selection of stores.

The problem with them being at the beach, though, is that the selection of stores does not translate to a selection of merchandise. By the end of the season, there's hardly anything left in the clearance sections, and there is very little regularly priced summer merchandise. They're great for back to school shopping, but not so great for last minute summer shopping. I did have luck at the Banana Republic and Gap outlets, where I got a pair of jeans for $25 and capri pants for $11, and at Old Navy, where I got some very cute pajama pants. And the Kate Spade outlet, the happiest place on earth, was the best one of all. I got a new tote bag that was on ridiculous sale, and then I had an additional coupon so I got it for $39. I think it will be my new wine festival bag.

Monday evening, we returned to Bethany amidst much traffic, and spent the evening eating dinner and playing Scrabble. An exciting bunch are we.

Beach Blanket Bingo (Day 1 - Addendum) [a.k.a. I Wear My Sunglasses At Night]

David has some interesting sunglasses.

He's rather protective of them, so of course this made it my goal to photograph as many people as possible wearing them. Like me,

Maura,
David 2,
my dad,
Joseph,
and Uncle Ray.
Stay tuned in case I find anyone else willing to risk their lives by touching David's stuff!

Beach Blanket Bingo (Day 2) [a.k.a. And Then There's Maude.]

Day 2 started pretty simply - we went to the beach.My cousin Maura turned herself into a sand beast, And I put on my mother's hat. David 2 told me I looked like Elaine in The Hamptons, when they're all sitting on the porch and Kramer tells them he saw George's girlfriend topless.

It was a strenuous morning, and David decided he needed a nap to recharge himself.

He sleeps very soundly. So soundly, in fact, that he didn't notice this happening.David 2 must've worn himself out, too, though, because soon he was doing the same thing.

After David 2 woke up, we had what will hopefully be the first of many matches of Seinfeld Scene It. I beat him both times, but he was a formidable opponent - I was worried during the last game!

After an early dinner, David 2 had to leave to go home to work on Monday, and the rest of us set out for the Bethany Boardwalk.They had replenished the beach last summer, and you could see the pattern in which they'd planted the beach grass on the dunes.The boardwalk of any beach is quite an adventure, and this one was no different. I found a place that sold sunglasses just like David's, and a very pushy salesman who tried to get me to buy three pairs. Two was plenty for me, though - I got a black and pink pair, and the pictured white pair. Aren't they pretty? David loved them. They also had stores with far less exciting merchandise, including the ugliest Crocs I've ever seen (and that's saying something!).
I also found these beauties for sale in a store that usually has better taste than this:

After so much excitement, we headed back to the house, where my family once again displayed their complete lack of taste by choosing to watch Happy Feet instead of the season premiere of Mad Men. Luckily, they reran the episode at 11, so I was able to watch it. Pure awesome - I forgot how much I missed that show. You should all watch it, it's well worth it. Come visit me if you want to borrow the first season!

And only I would turn a blog about the beach into one about TV...

Beach Blanket Bingo (Day 1) [a.k.a. And You Want To Be My Latex Salesman!]

This week, my family and I are at Bethany Beach on vacation. We rented a house about a block from the beach, and have been thoroughly enjoying it. Since we rented a house instead of staying at a hotel, we ended up having to bring a lot more stuff - towels, food, toilet paper, etc.
Holly could sense that something was going on, and she was NOT pleased.

After an uneventful and surprisingly not trafficky trip, we arrived at the house. My uncle Ray had left earlier and already spent a good bit of time on the beach, so he came up to help us unpack. He had left his shoes on the beach, though, and instead decided to make some sandals to wear. Unfortunately, they didn't last through the de-sandification process.
Once we got everything into the house, we discovered that the freezer door wouldn't stay shut when the fridge was being closed. (Disclaimer - I take no responsibility for the bathing suit Uncle Ray chose to wear.)

After much discussion,

we called the realtor to see if they could come fix it, but while they were coming over, David 2 and his infinite genius rectified the problem.

That crisis having been addressed, we headed down to the beach and staked out an area,
got an umbrella,
and commenced our beach enjoyment.

After a few hours, we were ready for dinner. David, David 2 and I went to the grocery store and a roadside produce stand to pick up a few missing items,while the others stayed behind and started grilling.

Running errands was hard work, and it took its toll on David.

After dinner, Uncle Fred, Aunt Mary Lou, and Maureen and her family came over to visit. David taught us all to play Polish Horseshoes, which we decided we should market.

We had cake for Uncle Ray's birthday,

and he got some super cool presents too.
David and David decided to start a game of War to kill time, which entertained most of the group for awhile.

War apparently took its toll on David too, so despite planning to go out in Bethany, he fell asleep on the couch at 11 pm.

Stay tuned for dispatches from the rest of the week!

Take A Holiday From the Neighborhood

This past weekend Tricia and I went to visit Sara, Josh, and Penny in New Jersey. After an eventful drive through Delaware and up the Jersey Turnpike, we arrived, and were greeted by the welcoming committee.

Much to Penny's dismay, we immediately set out on our first quest. We had tried to order tickets on the internet to see the revival of Hair, but had no such luck, so we decided to try the TKTS line.

I had only ever been to the TKTS place in Times Square, which is an absolute mob scene. The one at the South Street Seaport was like a dream come true - the line was short, it didn't smell like tourist, and best of all, they had what we wanted:

We made it to the window fairly quickly, and easily got our tickets for the next day, which were better seats than the ones we had looked at on the internet.

We were very excited!Next, we wandered over to an outdoor restaurant to get drinks,

and then we went shopping.

We also saw one of the most horrifying things I have seen in awhile - the return of the Grow-A-Frog kit, on sale for an exorbitant sum of money at Brookstone.

Apparently they dress them up in fancy tanks and sell them without appropriate warnings, such as "These little bastards won't die," or "Don't put two in the same tank or they will eat each other."

We went back to Jersey City for dinner at a really good Mexican restaurant Sara and Josh liked, and then retired to their house for an evening of playing with Penny. She was very excited to have visitors.

Sara also told us that it was our job to drink the last leftover bottle of wine from their wedding. We were happy to oblige.

Eventually, though, everyone got tired and was ready for bed.

Saturday morning, we set out bright and early into the city.They post very useful information in the New York transit system.

After a short walk, we reached NBC Studios, one of the happiest places on earth.

We waited in line for the tour to start,

taking the last few pictures we were allowed to before going in.

The tour was super cool - we got to see Jimmy Fallon's studio, the SNL studio, and where they film Nightly News with Brian Williams, among other things. There was also a rather annoying group of moms on the tour who had dragged their pre-teen daughters with them, and felt the need to point out every single thing to them, no matter how obvious, or how little the kids cared. However, there were no super cute but inadvertenly offensive NBC pages on this tour like the last one - our tour group had two pages, Matt and Kristin, and there were no elderly people with eyepatches or middle aged couples with bad taste in Tonight Show hosts for them to accidentally insult. Sadly, there were no celebrity-sightings, so we had to settle for a giant wall of NBC stars instead.

After the tour, we went to the basement of the building for lunch.

and then back up to the NBC Experience Store. This store was full of awesome stuff - I got a Dunder Mifflin badge holder, a Dunder Mifflin tote bag, a coffee mug, a Friday Night Lights shirt, and a couple of birthday/Christmas presents for later this year. Sara got the most awesome onesie for the baby, too, among other things. And I saw a Seinfeld shirt that I really wanted, but they didn't have it in my size, sadly.

I also saw my favorite kind of bird - an NBC peacock.Next, we walked over to Times Square and Broadway to see Hair. This was one of the few Times Square pictures that turned out well - there were many, many people in my way for most of them.We also saw Michael Scott's favorite New York pizza joint.

While we were standing in the monstrous line to get into the theater, Sara posed with the Statue of Liberty (not the real one).

Finally, we reached the theater door:The show was fantastic - I've wanted to see Hair since I saw the episode of Head of the Class where they wanted that to be their class play, but the school wouldn't let them because of the nudity and subject matter. Fictitious 80s high schools can be so picky. And it was great - very well done, even though most of the understudies were on for this performance. And the best part was, our tickets were in the hippie-free zone. The actors spent a fair amount of time running through the audience, but we were far enough from any aisles that we were untouchable, and we liked it that way.

After the play, we stopped at a hotel gift shop so Tricia could get band-aids for her shoe bites, and I could buy inappropriate postcards to send to Kathy to hang on her classroom wall.

We also saw what may very well be my mother's dream come true. Don't tell her that they probably don't just play Law and Order reruns all day.

We also passed a restaurant that is owned by some Food Network person I wasn't familiar with,

and we took a detour to the Ann Taylor Loft by the subway on a hunt for pretty dresses.

When we got back to Jersey City, Sara changed into her super cool new shirt, and we set out for dinner.

We went to a very good Italian place in Hoboken (of which there were many...it was pretty much the first one we came across), near where Josh rightfully earned himself the title of Parallel Parking King. Even I was impressed, and I can parallel park anywhere.

After dinner, we wandered over to a park by the river to see the city at night.

By then, it was getting late, so we headed home so we could get up early the next day and Tricia and I could beat the beach traffic. Which we did (yay for the Pennsylvania Turnpike instead of 95 through Delaware!), but not until after Sara and Josh cooked us bacon. I love bacon. And I love Sara and Josh and Penny for entertaining us all weekend!

**Gold star to whoever gets the title quote first...it's not that difficult, someone must know it!***