Another Day in Ocean City 8-23-11

Or so we thought it would just be another beach day in Ocean City. This time we went with some friends and while we were on the beach we felt something funny. I at first thought it was another dizzy spell but when I asked my friend she thought she was dizzy. When we started talking with the other people at the beach someone grabbed his smart phone and come to find out it was really the earth shaking. A 5.8 earthquake in Virginia that we could feel here in NJ. We pulled the kids out of the water for a while in case there were any monster waves as a result (we didn't notice any major changes but the tide was high so maybe it was what we blamed the higher waves on). It didn't last that long but having experienced it once I think that's enough for this lifetime. It was strange while it was shaking but then to find out it was an earthquake made it surreal.

Despite the earthquake, I was still out taking pictures. Here are a bunch from our day. After the day on the beach we got cleaned up and went up to the Boardwalk to ride some rides, do some shopping and grab some dinner. Then it was back to the beach to catch some pictures of the kids on the deserted beach. Less than two weeks and we'll be back to school. We are going to try to squeeze in another trip or two to the beach before Labor Day weekend but a lot of it will depend on Hurricane Irene. It is expected to be here the beginning of next week. What a way to end the summer.....earthquake and hurricane!!!!

Tony, Tammy & Nathan's Visit to New Jersey

Tony, Tammy and Nathan came for a visit the first week of August. We love having visitors and as usual we tried to fit a lot into a few days. Here are the pictures we took from our back to back day trips to the Jersey Shore. The first day we were off to Ocean City, NJ to walk on the Boardwalk, ride some rides and enjoy shore treats like fresh carmel corn and cotton candy. Of course the day wouldn't be complete without dipping our toes in the water....even if we didn't get to swim. The kids had fun and would have loved the green light to jump in. The following day we went to Island Beach State Park and were able to swim and splash around. Nathan loved the waves and Kelsey and Nick were so excited to actually be able to swim all day since our Chicago beach trip ended with the water being closed because of rip current possibilities. The rest of the trip was a bit more low key with cinnamon twists, a birthday cake for Tito (Kelsey and Nick) and enjoying time with our family. What a great week it was!

July was very busy for the Andrews family. We made our annual trip to Chicago and also traveled to Northern Wisconsin to visit Uncle Den & Aunt MaryJo. Here is a jumble of all of our pictures. I am not sure why but when I uploaded them they seemed to get all scrambled up. It didn't help that there were 3 people taking pictures so they really got out of order.

Anyway while we were on our trip we did manage to relax amidst the many travels which included a trip to the zoo, a driving tour of downtown Chicago, a trip to the LEGO store, several trips out to see Riley & Payton, a touch a truck day, visiting with Caryn, spending time with Bika and Grammy & Papa and Nana & Papa T, several trips to Culver's and a day at the beach. Whew I am tired just listing all the things we did. For those of you we were not able to spend time with this trip, we apologize. There are always so many people to visit and places we'd like to see. Maybe next year we'll catch up with more people. As always, there is an open invitation if anyone ever wants to come visit us and see the Philadelphia area.