September 24, 2015
by Nate
Tuesday, August 4, we finished our trip through Skyline Drive in Virginia and we parked back at Nicole and Karl’s in Maryland. Sully was excited to see his cousins and again.
Elena and Sully playing cars, bikes and sidewalk chalk on the porch at Nicole and Karl’s
The next day we got ready to go on a road trip to the beach. We stayed at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware.
Walking to the beach with Uncle Karl
The beach is right on the Atlantic Ocean north of Rehoboth Beach. We dug a tiny pool for the kids to splash in because the waves were too big and intimidating for the little ones.
Baby Vera hung out on a blanket in the beach tent
Karl, Nicole and Natalie swimming as a big ship sails up into the Delaware Bay
Heading back from the beach. The kiddos were very tired and needed to hitch a ride.
Kids love popcorn snacks
Sully and Elena loved playing inside the tent
Elena playing outside her tent
Elena, Natalie and Sully having snack time
Nicole, Vera and Natalie
Walking to explore the World War II observation tower.
Cousins leading the way
The observation tower
Looking out towards the ocean.
The towers were used for spotting enemy ships and subs that approached the coast. Using the relative bearings from two (or more) towers guns could be directed to fire on the target.
Natalie has baby and can travel
It was cool to get away from the vineyard at Nicole and Karl’s so we could all just kick back, relax and have fun. It was Nicole and Karl’s first time camping with kids, and they probably wouldn’t have been able to do it without our help and the fully stocked camper. The worst part of the trip was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes after dark while we were playing Rummy Cube after the kids went to bed.
We drove through Annapolis after the camp out and we stopped to visit our friends from San Diego, Rob and Fran (and Jade their dog) from S/V Oasis. We knew them we lived at Chula Vista Marina for a few months last year. We had a great night just hanging out on their Catalina Morgan 440, and enjoying a tour of their new marina. The next day we took a dinghy ride to downtown Annapolis and went to the Naval Academy.
We visited the crypt of John Paul Jones, father of the American Navy
When we were leaving the Naval Academy Museum, Sully ran across the entrance to see Fran and tripped and banged his head on the hard marble floor. I scooped him up and we went outside because his crying was very loud. We pushed back his hair and saw a great big goose egg lump start to grow on his forehead. Ouch, he hit his head really hard! We started looking for somewhere that might have ice and asked a gate guard if they had any ice nearby. He said “Don’t worry, I’ll call the fire department, they have some ice packs.” We insisted that we didn’t need a firetruck for Sully, but he called and after a few minutes the academy’s base police (a Navy Master at Arms) showed up. She didn’t have an ice pack, but soon the fire truck arrived. They didn’t have an ice pack either. Finally an ambulance arrived (we really didn’t need all the attention!). The EMTs checked Sully out, gave him an ice pack for his forehead (which he refused to use!) and offered him a ride to the ER for further assessment. Fran is a nurse and we checked him for a concussion and he was fine so we politely declined. They took our information and the emergency team departed. We think Sully’s forehead swelled up so quickly because it was the same spot he hit and cut open when we were back in Ensenada, Mexico. We gave him some children’s ibuprofen, ate some lunch and he fell asleep at lunch. After his nap he was back to normal.
Dockside saying “Bye” with Fran, Jade and Rob from S/V Oasis
After our visit with Fran and Rob we drove back to Nicole and Karl’s for the weekend. The next week Natalie and I had our first kid free trip ever planned. Sully was going to stay a few nights with my parents in Loganville, PA and Natalie I would go back to the beach with our friends Anna and Matt!
Anna’s parents have a cute beach house in Sea Isle City, New Jersey. We got to meet up for lunch with Chuck and Val before they left to go back to work in Philadelphia. It was great to hear that someone other than my Mom reads our blog!
Climbing on an abandoned gun turret on the beach near Cape May, NJ
On the beach with Matt and Anna with the Cape May Lighthouse in the background
Our first night we were treated to a spectacular sunset
And later a double rainbow
We brought shade and got to relax
Hurricane Sandy washed away lots of sand so the beach was small and nearly disappears at high tide
24 crabs for dinner!
Beach cruising on bikes
Biking through town towards the beach
Natalie, Matt and Anna on our bike ride
We were serious beach cruising cyclists
The beautiful view from lunch out at Mike’s Seafood
Anna and Natalie
Fresh seafood for lunch
It was an awesome vacation hanging out with our friends at the beach kid free for a few days, but we were excited to get back to our little bear. While we were at the beach we didn’t have to worry about Sully because my parents sent picture texts to us showing him having tons of fun painting, playing and eating lots of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and ice cream!
