throwback summer vacation thursday

We are now in our first full week of summer vacation, which has me thinking about summers of the past ...

No castle this, the kid helps make a sand fortress

Three generations on the beach

Loving cousins

At the Avon Inn

throwback thursday: mom's pastels

So why do I take so many beach photos? Maybe because I remember spending evenings at the beach watching my mom draw with pastels ...

throwback thursday: what exit?

This week as we continue to enjoy our Jersey Shore vacation, here's a look back at an earlier trip to the beach.






By the way, we took exit 7A on the Turnpike.

throwback thursday: jer-sey!

We are off for a Jersey Shore vacation today. Yes, we may live by the beach year-round, but there's something about Jersey and going home. Plus, the kid and I haven't had a long break in a really long time. Really looking forward ...

spring lake panorama

Still on vacation ... at least mentally ...

seagulls on the beach

so where're we goin' for dinner?

In total vacation mode, deciding where to eat is the big decison(s) of the day.

The best mussels I've ever had, made with artichokes, mushrooms and hazelnut (!) sauce

A Jersey version of Insalata Caprese (mozzarella and tomato salad)

Hot chocolate on the hotel porch every evening

it's hard to believe ...

... that the old man has been gone twenty years. Yikes. I really miss him, his laugh.

Dad, my brother, and me, on the boat to Mystic, CT.

On the beach, Spring Lake, NJ — a pastel by my mom — of my dad, my brother, and me.

Photo of the moon taken by my dad, with a telescope he built himself — including mirrors he polished.