Vacation

by Amy

My idea of a vacation has definitely changed over the last few years.  I'm not sure if the change is due to having kids or living overseas (or some of both.)  I used to think of vacation as relaxing, sleeping late, reading a great book, doing a little shopping (Brad used to always let me pick something special to buy to remember our vacations by), and maybe getting in a little sightseeing.  Now when I plan a vacation I have two top priorities: 1. Fun things to do with kids.  2. Good Food!  (not necessarily in that order!)  Relaxing isn't on the radar screen anymore!

So, after having a good, but super busy summer, we decided it was time for a mini-vacation.  We packed up the kids and headed to the beach.  Our dear friends Kevin and Becky decided to come along for the fun!  We were on the train by 7:30 am one Tuesday morning earlier this month and were checking into our hotel by 11am.  We were there for two nights and almost 3 full days.  Four out of six of our lunch/dinner meals were Subway Sandwiches (Becky ate Subway 5/6 meals!).  It was lovely!  I miss lunch meat!  (Sometimes I can find Hormel ham here, but NEVER any Turkey!)  The other two meals we ate were at Papa John's Pizza with lovely bread sticks, and a pricey, but authentic Italian restaurant.  We also hit Starbucks a few times in between meals!

After eating Subway for lunch on Tuesday, we were off to the beach.  Keep in mind, I live in one of the most populated countries in the whole world!  On a Tuesday afternoon, this is what it looked like....

Imagine how crazy it is on the weekends!  I was thankful that my kids were not super tan and don't have black hair.  They weren't too hard to find!  Although you can't tell from this picture, the waves were pretty big.  There were several times that even Brad was knocked down by the crashing water.  It was fun watching my kids try to out-run the incoming waves.  Sometimes they were successful; sometimes they weren't!  They also had a great time digging in the sand.

Tuesday night our kids were wiped!  So after dinner, we put them down and headed to Kevin and Becky's room next door to watch a movie.  On Wednesday morning, I took the kids to Starbucks for breakfast while Brad watched a real, live baseball game on the TV.  Granted, it was a Yankees game, but he was still happy to watch!  Then, we hit the hotel pool for a couple of hours.  That afternoon, our family went back to the beach while Kevin and Becky took a nap and hung out at Starbucks (Vacation still equals relaxing in their world!).  After dinner (Subway again) we walked down to the boardwalk.  It's such a fun place to walk around at night.  Since it's dark, lot's of people can't tell we're foreigners, so we don't get stopped to take 1000 pictures!  We did snap a few shots of our own, though....

 Becky's recently been trying to overcome a drinking problem.  Just ignore the stains on her shirt!

Now, it's summer time, so obviously, summer = hot.  How do typical men here deal with the heat?  They hike up their shirts....

Thankfully, local women battle the heat by seeking shade under an umbrella.

After eating a late breakfast at McDs on Thursday morning, Brad took the boys swimming while I took Savannah to a local zoo.  The weather on Thursday was hot, overcast, and muggy, but since Savannah was dying to go to the zoo, we went!  It ended up being a sweet mother-daughter date!  She got to pet bunnies, ride a horse, and eat cotton candy.  We laughed a lot and had a great time together!  Then, we met up with everyone else just in time to enjoy one last frappuccino before heading to the train station to catch the 5:30 train home.  (Of course, we ate Subways on the train on our way home!)

It was a fun trip!  We were so thankful that Kevin and Becky came with us!  They love on our kids so much and just make everything more fun.