Jersey Shore Vacay 2013

Once a year, we head cross country to visit my family. My parents hosted a 4th of July picnic, and  both my mom's family and my dad's family came together. It was a full week this year, longer than we've stayed in the past. This meant we got to head into New York City, which was really fun!

We arrived into New Jersey late Saturday, my sister and brother picked us up at the airport and we headed to our parents' house. We relaxed Sunday, and spent lots of time in the pool. On Monday, the hubby, my sister, my brother and I headed into NYC. My siblings both live there, and we got to visit both of their apartments and experience a little bit of New York. It was pouring raining, so we didn't exactly get to tour much. But we did get to walk the HighLine. I loved it!

www.highline.org The HighLine was wonderful.
So much history, and an amazing reuse with great views!

Tuesday we went to the American Museum of Natural History. Apparently, so did everyone else in NYC. It was raining, so people were flocking to indoor locations. We enjoyed the short time we were there, checking out the dinosaur exhibits in particular. Then we headed back to the Jersey Shore.

www.amnh.org Little J had so much fun looking at the dinosaurs!

We had our fair share of rain while we were there, and when it wasn't raining- it was humid! Californians aren't used to that... but we managed.

Sea Girt, NJ in the rain... 

We saw fireworks for the 4th, on my parents front lawn. Pretty convenient!

Watching fireworks with Daddy!

We also made it to the Point Pleasant boardwalk, which I was very curious to see after Hurricane Sandy. It looked fantastic! You could see patches of new boardwalk, and old. I was happy that they were able to get it back in business so quickly. Little J wanted a minion from Despicable Me, so we spent lots of money and effort to get him one!

Jacob and his minion

Mayhem also won big! Uncle John helped...

I won!

All in all, we had a great trip. Mayhem tried to sabotage our return to California. I think that story deserves its own post! More on that tomorrow...