Long Beach Island, N.J. Vacation

After Jamie and Christian's family spent 10 full days with us in Boston, they cara-vaned (sp?) with us down to Long Beach Island, N.J. where we had rented a beach house for a week!  Conan's brother (Gavin), his wife (Cheryl) and their two children drove up from D.C. to vacation with us as well!  It was a big family reunion--minus Mom and Dad Parke who are teaching law and English college courses in China for the next 9 months:(   All eight cousins on the Parke side were together for a week!  It was such a great time!

 

Gavin and Cheryl decided to bless their newest addition to the family (my adorable niece, Adeline Anne Parke) while we stayed at the beach house.  Gavin gave her a special father's blessing that was so beautiful.  And Cheryl made Adeline's dress! 

We spent nearly every day of the trip at the beach! After all, that is why we rented a beach house...to spend lots of time in the sand and water (a.k.a. 'the shore' as they like to refer to it on the East Coast).  It was incredibly relaxing!

That's Edie-Girl behind those strawberrry shades!

L to R: Conan, Jillian, Eden, Tennyson, Carter, Jamie

Since both my nephew, Quinn, and Asher have birthdays coming up in September, Cheryl and I planned a combined Pirate themed birthday party for the boys! We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday than with all your cousins!  We kicked off the festivities by making our own mini pizzas.  While those baked, we gobbled up blue jello cups with swedish fish candies inside.  After lunch we played some games--one being 'pin the treasure chest on the X'.

The Birthday Boys
 Quinn (turning 3) and Asher (turning 4)

Cousins!
L to R: Adeline, Tennyson, Quinn, Jillian, Carter, Bennett, Asher and Eden

Asher pinning the treasure chest to the map.

Uncle Christian was feeling a little left out, so we let him play a few games too;)

Time for presents!!!

Gma and Gpa Parke sent this nifty Lightning McQueen racing toy to Asher!  He loves it!

Cousins Jillian, Carter and Bennett gave Asher Elefun! Such a cute game to play.

Last but not least, cousins Quinn and Adeline gave these fun crocodile slippers to Ashy.  The mouths open and close as Asher walks around in them...super cute and silly!

 

Cheryl made the treasure chest birthday cake.  It turned out GREAT and the kids thought it was pretty cool too:)

 

We even squeezed in some miniature golfing

 

and bike riding while on our vacation!

We ended our vacation by visiting the Barnegat Lighthouse on Long Beach Island, N.J.  The last two times we have visited a lighthouse, it has been closed and Ash has been disappointed that he hasn't been able to climb to the top.  So when we found out there was a lighthouse nearby, Ash was once again excited to see it and of course, to climb it.  As it turned out, the lighthouse closed just 10 minutes before we arrived to it.  Asher was pretty sad about it.  That sad little face just melted my heart, so the next morning we drove back to the lighthouse during operating hours and Ashy at last, was able to climb to the very top!! 

All the cousins!

Just the boys!

My wonderful family!

xo

Asher and Tennyson at the top of the lighthouse...AT LAST!

Thanks for organizing such a wonderful vacation Cheryl!

We had a blast!