Vacation 2012 - Farm Life

While we were on vacation up north (the Mama portion), we made sure to hit up as many outdoorsy locales as possible.  We really wanted Nash to experience nature and animals and fresh food and all the other things that go hand-in-hand with life in the Northeast (at least when you are comparing it to sweltering hot Florida where outside = death).

One of our must-sees was this sweet little farm where you can meet all the animals, take a trip through the corn field maze (who knew they had corn in NH), and then finish it up with some fresh ice cream right off the farm.

They even had this awesome sandbox area filled with trucks and shovels and all kinds of stuff for the kiddos.  Nash was in heaven and threw a complete fit when we had to pull him away to go get ice cream.  Too bad he doesn't really know that the words "ice cream" mean yummy, sugary goodness or else it might have gone better for us.

We also took a ride up the road a few minutes to the stable where my Dad's girlfriend, Natalie, keeps her horse.  He was really beautiful...and really big.  I'm not the most comfortable around horses and Nash seemed a bit nervous around him too, but it was awesome to get up close and let him pet the horse.  There were a bunch of other horses there too just clamoring to come out of their stalls and say hi.
 

You can totally see his nerves in the photo below...and that was the pony we so wanted to get a picture of him riding!  Not a chance, Mama...

Vacation Part Two - Home in New Hampshire

No, I'm not really from New Hampshire, but it sure does feel nice to visit.  My whole family on my dad's side lives there, so it makes it a nice one-stop shop to see everyone.    It's incredibly beautiful there, and I always begin to question my love of suburban/urban life after spending a few days there in the summer.  We went once in the winter...never again.

My dad's house is surrounded by this amazing nature.  Woods, lakes, paths, animals, berries.  So much to see and experience, and we were super excited for Nash to take it all in now that he's finally old enough to really appreciate it.  We took walks, picked berries from my dad's bushes and made it a habit to spend as much time outside as possible.

Fresh Blueberry Milk!

My dad is renovating this old house in the next town over from where he and his family lives right now. Let me tell you, when we saw the house for the first time last year, I was like, whoa. I couldn't really understand why my dad had bought a house that needed so much work. Like it needed everything...

And after one year, he says he still has quite a bit of work left to do. But things are coming along...and I can tell he's really enjoying the process of redoing this place. And I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Vacation - Going Back to Daddy's Roots

As part of the Philly/NJ portion of our vacation, we HAD to hit up some of Daddy's childhood hangouts.  His parents suggested we take Nash to the boardwalk at Ocean City.  Sure, Atlantic City has its own boardwalk, but the one at OC is way better, they said.  It. Has. Rides.  It was Nash's first time on these kinds of rides (although he did ride a carousel once at Legoland), so he was a whole big bag of emotions.

A little bit nervous. A whole ton of excited. And bursting at the seams with impatience. There were only a few he could go on (we felt like he might jump off some of the ones where he had to ride by himself), but we made the most of it and he had a blast. So much so that we had to drag him away kicking and screaming. 

The second part of our Daddy-led adventure was a trip into Philly.   This is Joe's hometown...where he spent many a (wild) night with friends and days cruising the streets in between classes at Temple and home in Cherry Hill. (editor's note: this is totally my perspective and Joe would probably laugh at me if he actually read my blog).

We were to meet his best friend Dave and his family downtown on South Street before heading to the Philly's game so that I could do what any normal person visiting Philly for the first time would do.

Get a REAL cheesesteak.

Jim's is the place.  Apparently there are a few places, but Jim's is one of the best that was close enough to be a reasonable pit stop on the way to the game.  The line was nearly out the door, so I took that as a sign we were in the right place.

After being schooled by the locals on how to properly order my meal ("wit" not "with", and that meant onions.  And REAL cheesesteaks are made with cheese whiz.  So I got a "cheese witout"), I was finally able to taste the official tourist food of Philly.

 And it was pretty damn tasty...although I would have liked more cheese whiz.

Afterwards, we rolled right on over to the stadium for the game.  Our section sung Happy Birthday to Dave's son Michael.  We ate ice cream out of little Phillies hat cups.  And our kid was miserable the entire time.  This photo was one of the only ones I took because I spent the rest of the game fighting with him, explaining to him why we don't hit other kids in the faces and then pushing him in circles around the stadium praying he'd fall asleep.

Needless to say, we left early.  But hey, at least I got a cheesesteak and this little man got a certificate for attending his first Phillies game.   What more can you ask for?
 

Vacation - The New Jersey Adventures

Yep, that pretty much sums up the travel portion of our vacation.  No, seriously, the trip there was pretty damn flawless.  No delays, no major issues...although we did almost miss our flight thanks to ZERO boarding calls.  We finally asked the desk 30 minutes before the departure when they were going to board and they said, we already have...we're getting ready to leave.  We were like, WHAT?!?!

But the kiddo slept the whole flight AND we had an extra seat, so I was able to lay him down for the second half.  That freed me up to get a drink, let some blood flow to my tush and relax.

Our first stop after the drive to the shore was to take little man to the beach.  It's New Jersey beach so the sand is soft (no crunched up shells here) and the water was a tid bit nipply for our Florida blood.   I'll let you go ahead and guess if that stopped a certain toddler with an affinity for all things involving water.

Joe's nephew Damian is an incredible piano player and he's 7!  So, the grandparents have this old keyboard at their house for whenever he comes over, and Nash noticed it right away.  After we disabled the volume slider (how does he find the worst buttons to push??), we let him bang away to his hearts content.  I think he's got good form...

The majority of our time in Brigantine was spent hanging in the yard, playing with Grandmom and Grandpop (Joe's parents) and, of course, more beach time.

Many evenings were spent in the yard burning off toddler energy.

On Saturday, all the family came down to the shore to visit.  We needed to celebrate Damian and Nico's birthdays, which are both right around the same time.  Cupcakes were eaten, margaritas were chugged sipped and lots of good times were had.

Stayed tuned for more vacation posts, including Nash's first rides, a Phillies game complete with REAL cheesesteaks and getting back to nature in New Hampshire!