Family Reunion 2009

Another wonderful trip to the Jersey Shore has come and gone. We had such a great time seeing relatives and introducing Claire to them for the first time. Where to start...? Let's see, I threw up before we left for the airport on Sat. morning. It was storming so our flight was delayed, then we had to sit on the runway for an hour to wait our turn to take off. Claire was an angel on the plane. She fell asleep as soon as we took off and watched her DVD player most of the rest of the time. We didn't buy her a seat so she sat on our laps...and my arm fell asleep at one point, but we made it! Then we picked up our rental car and headed to Sea Isle City! We shared a beautiful 3 story beach house with my parents, brother and sister. Claire loved waking up every morning and seeing everyone. On Sunday we walked one block up to the beach and showed Claire the ocean for the first time. She LOVES the beach and that makes me so happy. She liked the sand so much that she would lay in it and make sand angels. The water was freezing but she didn't care. She loved jumping the waves with Daddy. On Monday we went to the boardwalk to eat pizza and take her on some rides. Again, she had a blast. Tuesday was more beach, family and fun. On Wed. some of the family went crabbing (I opted out of that one) and that night my parents watched Claire while Brad and I went to dinner! Thursday was a little rainy, but we still went putt-putt golfing and then headed to Atlantic City! here is my Atlantic City story: We went to the Borgata hotel/casino and my sister and I went straight to the slot machines. We sat down at the 50 cent Wheel of Fortune machine. I inserted a $20, hit the button and instantly made $168!!!! It was so much fun!!! I did lose some other money but I ended up leaving ahead! Friday we rented bikes and rode on the boardwalk and Friday night was awards (yes we give out awards at our family reunion! On Sat we drove back to Philly to spend the day with my Dad's side of the family. I got to meet my cousin's baby Cale! Let me just say how generous and loving all of my family is...they love Claire so much and showered her with gifts (thanks Aunt Judy!) Claire also turned 1 1/2 on vacation. She is so smart and talked the whole trip! My batteries are recharged from this vacation and i can't wait until the next one!