Back from the beach!
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp
It is hard to get back into the grind when you've been gone for 11 days, soaking up the sun and sand at the south Jersey shore.

We had a nice vacation; spent with my entire family; 2 brothers, sister in law, niece and nephew, parents, my husband and children. The weather was perfect; sunny every single day except one, the water was in the 70's, and an off shore breeze which kept the bay flies away. What could be better?

We were vacationing on a barrier island halfway between Atlantic City and Cape May. This is the view of the bay from the deck of our house.



And this is a view of the ocean to the east from our deck.



While we couldn't see much of the ocean, it's a mental state for me to be able to at least SEE it, which I could. I was born under the sign of Cancer the Crab, so I'm very water orientated. :)

Vacation is as much of a mental state as it is a physical state. So I was thinking that since I was physically on vacation, my stomach would agree to that, and I started to eat all kinds of things I've been avoiding for months now; chocolate, coffee, tomatoes, and the like. My stomach gave me exactly 2 days until it rebelled, and reminded me that I am NOT supposed to eat those things, no matter how much I like them. The only thing it did agree to allow me to have which is on the forbidden list is the Icewine I brought down from Canada. So I was able to partake in that, and found that the Legends Estates Cabernet Franc wine was the best of the bottles I bought.

One of the things we do during vacation is take turns cooking. My brothers and I each cook 2 nights during the week. It started out very innocent 16 years ago, but has developed into a competition on who makes the best meals. One night we do a complicated meal, and the other night is a slightly easier meal. My two meals were spaghetti and meatballs (the easy meal) and grilled tuna, the hard one. I think my brothers will agree that the spaghetti and meatballs was one of the best meals that we ate (although Luke will say that his grilled lamb surpassed that meal, but I don't like lamb, so I'm not agreeing). All of this is done in good fun, and provides us with wonderful meals throughout the week.

I'm now tanned, rested and ready to return to work. Who says family vacations can't be fun?