Official Post: Summer Vacation

How do I even begin to sum up June 29th - July 8th?? We spent our summer vacation down in Hampton Bays, NY with Jason's family and it was perfect. Just the right amount of beach time, pool time, down time and cocktail time :) Looking through my pictures, 90% of them are Ashton playing in the water or in the sand and the only thing that makes them different is the bathing suit he's in. Sigh. I'll do my best to create an interesting post out of said pictures.

First, a quick guide to Summer Vacation 2012.

Main cast of characters: Grandma, Grandpa, Jason's brother Chris and his sister Melissa (Liz) and her husband (also Jason but called Stone due to last name) and their 2 month old Owen. (Fun fact: We are not only Owen's aunt and uncle but officially his godparents as well!) Dog Tate and Dog Saki (Liz and Stone's Yorkie)

On location at: Tiana Beach (on the ocean), Meschutt Beach (on the bay - more kid friendly as there were no waves), the backyard pool and the deck (site of many dinners and even more cocktails)

Celebratory occasions: 4th of July, Jason's 35th birthday (July 6th)

Off we go, in no particular order with the exception of the first photo.

On the ferry! Strong, spicy Bloody Mary for me and very non-alcoholic cheese puffs for Ashton

Although I worried that the Bloody Mary might have looked good to him because he ended up trying to eat the lime out of Jason's margarita...

 And his Corona bottle.

Luckily, he soon gave up drinking for more physical pursuits. 

Like bocce.

And trying to ride the Pooh car. (Or Pooh bus? Pooh truck? Oh who knows with these baby toys.)

And plotting his escape from the beach playpen.

Now, no beach trip is complete without a hole. I don't know about you, but we used to aim for China and came close once or twice. What is it with boys and their buckets and shovels? Berg came to visit the last couple days and honestly, these three spent at least 45 minutes down by the water digging around. 

What's funny is they worked so hard on Ashton's first hole, and then I kindly pointed out that it was too far from the waves and would never fill up with water. Poor baby was just sitting there waiting in a hot sandy pit. Um, fail. So they ended up digging a proper one, which is pictured above.

I also got to spend a lot of time with our new nephew (and godson) Owen!

We woke up on July 4th to an overcast morning - Ashton took a late nap so we bagged the Southampton parade and knew we probably wouldn't see the fireworks because they happened after Ashton's bedtime. This is about as patriotic as we got:

Although actually the boys did wear matching outfits :)

What about our four-legged friend Tate? Grandma and Grandpa's backyard is heaven for him: it's fenced, has lots of things to smell and he romps around without a leash. He had a ball. He really did. It was orange.

Ahhh, pool time.

Apparently you can't go to the beach without a pool so Ashton went in one there as well.

Next up, Jason's 35th birthday. Another year, another Fudgy the Whale from Carvel ;)

[Trivia: How many birthdays has Jason spent on the back deck at his parents' house and eaten this very cake?]

There are still about 483 pictures that I haven't posted yet but this post is approaching monster status. A very, very special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for taking such wonderful care of us during our visit (cooking, cleaning, everything!!). I can't imagine having a more perfect summer vacation, we love you so much.

I think this about sums it up, taken on our car ride home. The End :)