Chasing the summer

I don't know if it was the long winter, the long spring, the fact that I need more sunlight, or maybe the fact that we did not have a long vacation anywhere, but this year in particular I am not ready to let the summer go. As hot and humid as it gets, I don't care, I don't want the summer to end. I am not defrosted yet, I still need heat and sunshine.

Here in US the Labor Day weekend is just that. A celebration of the end of summer, the end of summer vacation and I guess a celebration of...labor. I chose to think of it as a very nice opportunity to prolong the summer, so we went on another camping trip, this time on the New Jersey shore.

Here we are, Friday night around the grill.

A lot of smoke, not that much fire...

We started with grilled meat and s'mores. The fire did not really pick up fast, so the meat took a long time to cook. But boy, the s'mores were fast and yummy!! :)

We took our time to relax this time. We were never in a hurry, and that was great. Second morning we had hot coffee, hot tea and enjoyed ourselves around the tent.

Then, we went to the beach! A small beach town with clean sand is all Catalina needs to be happy. It worked for us too, especially since we found some salt water taffy. A first for Catalina!

Truthfully chasing the summer...

Attention!! Diva on the beach :D

Once we had enough sand and waves we went back to the "resort". The first night there Catalina saw a mini golf course and told us we NEED to go. So, at 6pm when the course opened we were there! This little girl LOVES mini golf. It's cheap, keeps her entertained without much effort on mommy's part, so why not?

After each hole was played at least 3 times (rules were very flexible on this golf course), we hopped on a mini train and took a tour of the campground. It was getting just a tiny bit chilly, so mommy and Catalina bundled up :)

We were tired after being in the sun the whole day. We still had s'mores and a fire, but we went to sleep early. Next day, once again hot coffee and hot tea in the morning! Then we decided to try the lake beach at our resort, and I have to be honest I did not expect much. Oh my goodness!! It was the best part of our trip!! The lake was absolutely sparkling clean, the sand amazing, water blue, transparent and virtually no waves. The water was bathtub warm. Perfect spot for Catalina to play in the water!

Friendship tunnel: Catalina and daddy shake hands :)

Yeap! Catalina was able to play on her own, bring water on her own, no more scary waves!

Yummy sand soup

 After we roasted ourselves once again, we took a trip on a paddle boat. Mommy and daddy were very excited, but Catalina scratched her knee a little and was very crossed that she needs to be in boat.

Once again, the sun got to us so we spent the rest of the day around the tent. The fire this time rose proudly to the sky and made for a very nice grilling session. The hot dogs were awesome!

Mommy and Catalina burnt some of the calories by jumping on a hop scotch. Good, soft fun :)

Last night in the tent, happy and calm.

Daddy slept on the first floor, which was actually "the" floor :)

Next day we decided to take a trip to Atlantic City. Catalina has never been there, we were imagining a nice stroll on the boardwalk, buying some useless things from shinny stores that sell useless things. Well, AC as mommy remembers it, is not there anymore. Lots of stores are closed, the boardwalk resembled a deserted town.

The trip started poorly from the beginning, mommy's shoe broke and we had to start with flip flop shopping...

Bye bye, AC! 

We headed home early, which was very much to Catalina's liking. She was happy to see her toys again, and mommy and daddy had time to put things in order for the first day of kindergarten.
Where did the summer go? I have no idea? When did my baby girl grow to be of school age? That, I really have no idea.