We've had a lovely week at the Jersey Shore, complete with beautiful weather. We spent our days playing on the beach, building sand castles, creating tidal pools, boogie boarding, jumping waves and surfing. Our nights were relaxing, filled with games of UNO, Italian Antepasto and Chinese food, with lots of Cartoon Network sprinkled in for seasoning!

The first weekend we were up visiting my inlaws, we attended the annual family reunion. The kids had a chance to reconnect with much of their extended family on my mother-in-law's side, playing with the next generation of cousins. The kids were also lucky enough to spend much of the weekend visiting their great aunts, one in from Florida and the other from California. They drew pictures, read stories and took long walks--time which Emily, Julia and Sam really enjoyed.

The best part of my week by far was boogie boarding in the big waves with Em, who has become quite the water rat this year. We've totally unschooled swimming--in a world intent upon signing just about every child up for their annual swimming lessons, I think. *g* This year we bought one of those big blow-up pools for our backyard, and Emily learned to swim just by playing in it so often. Sam's pretty close as well, though with all the rain, the level kept getting too high for him. I'm betting both he and Julia will be swimming next season.