Camping at the Shore

Chloe on the beach at Long Beach Island in NJ. It was cold this day at the beach and we didn't get to enjoy it like we had hoped.

Celebrating the start of summer, Chloe and I spent a week camping just north of Atlan*tic City near the Jersey *shore. Since we began the adoption for Oliver, we canceled plans to attend our annual Outer Ba*nks trip with friends. Chloe wasn't happy about this so we decided that I would take her nearby for a week at the shore.

Matt came down with us on Saturday, June 20 and returned home by train through Philadelp*hia on Sunday. Chloe and I stayed on until today. We had a great time and we only got two days in at the beach thanks to the monsoon summer we are having on the east Coast.

On Tuesday, I took Chloe to Storybook* Land in a nearby city. It is an amusement park geared for kids ages 2-7 years old. I thought it would be a good introduction to amusement park rides for Chloe. Little did I know that all children's rides for that age require some sort of spinning. Chloe loved the rides and insisted on riding them all 3-4 times each. I thought I was going to spew! After our day at the amusement park we went into Atl*antic City and walked the boardwalk and ate at the Rain*forest Cafe. Chloe loved the tropical rainforest storms.

Chloe's absolute favorite, the Old Tymers cars. She wanted to drive them herself and didn't want me to come along. Of course, this would be the only ride that didn't spin and that she didn't want me on with her!

Later in the week, on a rainy day, I took Chloe through the drive-through safari at Six Fla*gs. I had a great time. Chloe seemed to become bored towards the end of the drive and had a "seen one seen them all" mentality. I let her take photos with the camera so she wouldn't keep asking when it was going to be over. I, on the other hand, thought it was awesome how close you could get to all the animals.

At the end of the week, Matt came down on Friday and the sun came out! Yea! We headed back to Long Bea*ch Island to enjoy the sand and surf. It was a great way to end our week at the shore.

Some trip side notes: While we were gone, the first Son*ic in northern NJ opened. I've said for the past 3 years that a Son*ic should open in northern NJ, I've even blogged about it. While we were at the shore camping, the traffic report on the south Jersey radio station discussed how there were 2-3 mile long back ups on the highways intersecting the opening of the Son*ic in northern NJ because people were lined up in their cars to try it. If I had only bought the franchise!

During most of the week, our campground was deserted. There were only 3-4 other campers in the middle of the week. On Thursday, the campground began to fill again and we had some "seasonal" campers next door to us with their 5 and 3 year olds. They looked sweet enough. Little did I know that the parents just let them run wild over the campground with no supervision. Chloe made friends with them and wanted to play with them every waking moment. The kids had no supervision and would just walk into our RV and start opening the cabinets. They were unbelievable and Matt and I couldn't wait to escape them on Saturday even though Chloe wasn't too happy about it.