We're back from our vacation at my parents house and at the Jersey shore and I thought I would try something a little different. I could use an entire blog entry to post about the joys of traveling with an infant and the worried looks from fellow airline passengers (for the record, just because you avoid eye contact with a person with a baby, doesn't mean they are not in your row). I could post pages on the new light in which you see your own parents when you visit them with your eight-month-old and the sudden appreciation you feel as you realize that someday you too will have a 13-year-old who will probably resemble you at that age. Or I could go on and on about the duel emotions you feel the first time you leave your child over night; sweet freedom and slightly heart-wrenching guilt. But instead I'd thought I'd do a Letterman-like top 10 list of our time in the Garden State.
10. My father really does have a textbook-like knowledge of New Jersey. Some might call it a little spooky but it really is fascinating. When asked about getting to Atlantic City, he talked about the blueberry farms. When we went to a festival a few towns over, he knew its history.
9. Zoe learned to crawl. She was close when we left but maybe she too was feeling power of a vacation and decided to throw caution to the wind. We spent hours child-proofing our house in Savannah for this moment so of course her first crawls were in a house that is about as childproofed as Tiffanys.
8. Zoe likes to be in the pool. . . a lot. We have two houses, neither of which have a pool so we're pretty certain her first words will be "I want to go back to Mimi and Poppi's."
7. Under the heading "New Jersey is a magical place" (and please, no jokes about which exit one would find that magic), good news item number one: Mike and I won about a grand in Atlantic City.
6. Same heading, good news item number two: We have contract on our "city house." This news came as we sat on the veranda (OK, roof) of our Wildwood, NJ retreat (OK, motel).
5. Wildwood, NJ is not for the weak of heart. If you have never been there it is difficult to describe without dedicating an entire post to it, but to summarize: try the pizza, avoid the t-shirts.
4. Mike can beat me in Skeeball, blowing up a balloon with a water gun, and miniature golf, but not pinochle.
3. There is nothing like free babysitting. My parents did amazingly well considering they probably have not been alone with an infant for any length of time in about 33 years. Too well perhaps; see number eight.
2. If you are in Atlantic City and want to stop at Red Square for a drink, first take out a second mortgage. In a moment of crazy frivolity and post some sweet winning, we spent a cool $30 on two drinks. Yeah, the house always wins.
1. There is nothing like taking a breather from the stress of everyday life, surrounding yourself with people you love and having some good, clean summertime fun in the Garden State. Now, dad, just when did they start calling it that?
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