We got on our way Wednesday about 11 am to stop off in Ocean City, NJ and maybe a nearby mall. The luggage situation was driving me nuts as I tried to rearrange things this way and that. Mom and I ended up being squeezed in like sardines in the backseat. While we were waiting for the guys to get the car, I gave her a lecture about taking too many clothes and when you go with someone to honor their wishes. I also said later that she needed to think ahead about the consequences to her actions. She got in a huff, oh poor me. When the guys pulled up, my son the new driver was behind the wheel in the crazy driving city that AC is. He did ok in the general AC area, but screwed up bad on the AC Expressway-like almost stopping dead in the middle of 65 mph traffic because he almost missed the exit. He had trouble getting on a bypass too and had cars honking at him from behind. I felt bad for him as he doesn’t know the rules of driving in those kinds of situations, but I don’t want to see my life passing before my eyes again.
Ocean City is a nice beach town, a little boring and the same old thing. It cost $10 to park-the parking cost us an arm and a leg everywhere. We hit a bookstore that I usually love, but this one was small and didn’t have much. I mainly sat on a bench the whole big hour we were there. Mom wanted to stroll up and down the boards with Sean. What a change! The best part was going in a candy store and picking out goodies to enjoy later.

I haven’t ventured out today as it’s warm and humid. We sure have been spoiled here with the cooler than usual summer. A few years ago we were praying for rain and I think we’ve had about 16 inches this year. I know a lot about the weather because of my son Sean. He is a weather fanatic. In fact, next year at this time, I bet he starts his freshman year in college majoring in meterology!
We went to Atlantic City from Monday to Wednesday. We take really short trips because we have no one to watch the cat. Plus it gets too expensive. We had my almost 74 yr old mom with us. She’s been suffering with sciatica for about 10 months and has lost about 25 pounds. It started after she had a weird virus last October and went from bad to worse. Too bad she had to get it in the wintertime. My sister-in-law and I took turns taking her to doctor appts and chiropractors. I am glad to say she did pretty well with the walking down in AC! But she is a bit eccentric (I guess we all are). I asked her to only bring about 6 outfits as we were squeezing in our Taurus instead of using the Windstar (has an anti-freeze leak that no one wants to repair). So going against my wishes she brought 4 bags, 3 jammed with clothes! We didn’t use a bellhop at the casino, so dragged the stuff through all these walkways and up two elevators. The room was nice, but we were cramped in the double beds. The beach was really windy and mom and I couldn’t stand it for more than an hour on the first day.
That night we were so bushed, we took a cab like 3 blocks to Caesars to eat dinner at their buffet. Usually it is really good and varied. They had a coupon special that my f-in-law got in the mail. I wanted steak so bad and it was half cooked. You could tell they didn’t take their time with it on the grill. The only good thing about dinner was the dessert.
The next day we went shopping at the new places behind Caesars called ‘The Walk’. It is basically outlet shopping. This time we had gift certificates for the different stores. We divided them up and mom and I went one way and the guys went the other way. I ended up buying only a hooded burgundy sweater from The Gap (I was cold) and a silk lighter color burgundy top from Van Huesen. I couldn’t believe my husband Brian used his to buy yet another watch from Fossil (he has at least a dozen watches). Sean bought some shirts and a watch. Sean’s watch is cool though. The face changes to different colors. Can you tell we like to shop? Mom bought herself a red rain coat. I bought her a little sand castle candle holder with a ‘Seaside Memories’ candle for the Yankee candle store.
That night we went to the Rainforest Cafe. It was so crowded there. Sean really wanted to go. They have cool tropical fish tanks-more like tubes. When you are seated, it’s like you are in the middle of a jungle. Every 15 minutes or so, there is a simulated tropical storm-the lights flash, there is thunder, etc.-but no rain, thank goodness! LOL There was a fake gorilla who pounded his chest once in a while. I told Brian that he was that way in the morning. It was hard to chose what to eat. We all basically had shrimp or catfish.
More later.