Summertime…And the Livin’ Was Easy

Two weeks of family vacation in our new house on the Jersey shore was pure bliss.  I told my husband that this was the best vacation of my life, and I meant it.

I don’t know if it was because this is the first year that this house was ours, or if our kids are just at the magic ages where they all like each other and get along.  But whatever the reason, all five of us had the time of our lives.

Sure, the kids bickered and had their share of whining and timeouts.  But they were minimal and of short duration.

We managed to spend just over two weeks without television or internet and simply enjoyed being a family unit.  Yes, you read that right, we spent 16 solid days, TV and computer-free.  We did have a link to the outside world via my smartphone, and the kids each had an iPod, tablet, or DS for an alotted amount of “screen time,” so we weren’t entirely in the dark ages.  But our days were spent outside at the beach and our evenings were filled with board games and family fun.

We experienced the beach at every time of day, every tide, and did every beach activity imaginable.

We jumped waves.

We learned to fish.

We collected seashells.
We went boogie boarding.

We built sand castles.

We even built our own Skee-Ball ramp and played for hours on end.
With two weeks, there was sure to be at least one rainy day, but even that had its own brand of fun.

Whether we walked in the morning, still in our jammies,

Sat out all afternoon under the full sun,

Or enjoyed the evening sunsets,

all brought amazing views and unique experiences.

It was a magical two weeks.  In a house without living room furniture, with primer on some walls and wet paint on others, disconnected and unplugged from technology, we were happier there and more plugged in to each other than anywhere else we’d been on earth.