You know it's vacation when...

You don't even bother to bring a computer.

I've been fairly inactive online this week. I have an iPod touch with me, but I can only use it for Internet when there is wifi. And currently, being at my father-in-law's house, there is.

Vacation has continued to be enjoyable, relaxing, and fairly low stress. Considering that travelling with two little children is a giant pain, and you start off the operation firmly in the loss column when doing so, we still managed to come out ahead so far.

Tuesday night, while Musical Daddy spent the evening with his old chorus, we visited one of my friends from when I was very young, in Mendham, NJ (those who know me well are aware that I have moved from Northern New Jersey to Pittsburgh, PA not once but twice). We haven't been great about staying in touch, but Facebook has been a helpful tool in friendship maintenance. Her children are very cute and very nice, and they're just a great family.

Wednesday was breakfast at The Original Pancake House followed by leisurely preparations for shorebound departure. We got a room in Seaside Heights last night. Apparently there was a shark there, but we missed him. We spent about an hour on the beach and then they "closed" early as they do on Wednesdays. Dinner at a restaurant with a much better quality of name than quality of service. Food was good but not that good. My chicken was clearly reheated and not cooked fresh. We spent the evening at Casino Pier, and The Boy rode on two kiddie rides--trucks, and a train.

Last night was great in the sleep department. Meatball went to sleep soon after we got back, in the Pack n Play in the coat-hanging alcove. He was able to sleep even with The Boy watching Lyle Lyle Crocodile. He woke once at 4:30 for milk and mercifully let me sleep until 8:30. The only down part was that I fell asleep in one bed and ended up by myself, as The Boy kept Daddy in the other bed and they crashed there. But we felt great after adequate rest.

This morning we went back to the Boardwalk. It was HOT this morning! We played some Skee Ball and Skee Toss (Skee Ball board at point blank range, for little kids like The Boy). We spent some time at Big Lots and headed to visit some friends who used to be neighbors of ours. They left Scotch Plains not long after we did, but basically to improve their quality of life. We did too, but they weren't fleeing catastrophe. They now have a great house on a big piece of property with a pool and easy access to the beach. The home is just right for them (and even allows their daughters to have their own bathrooms, useful particularly as they get into the preteen and teen years).

We then visited another couple. We have been friends with the guy since coming to NJ, basically, and we will hopefully continue to see them during most visits back here. They're great people, recently married. The guy worked with Musical Daddy for a year, then got involved with writing marching band show music, and then worked with me in my district.

On the way back up north to turn in for the night, we actually had to pull over to clip The Boy's nails. Really. One had broken a little bit and he was really bothered by it, so I took care of all of them.

Upon our arrival at the house, we tried putting both boys to bed. Guess who is STILL awake.

I'm not so sad about the reduced level of Internet and phone usage on my part. It means we've been having lots of fun and staying focused on having fun.