My 5 girls in front of the painting of cranberry bogs

Our first trip to the ocean this summer. I thought that since we weren’t hosting a wedding, this summer would be very easy and slow. Wrong.

(Baby hates restraints) and after barely staying sane on the drive down we had such a good time. Levi brought a group of young men out tuna fishing and I brought 8 of our children to town to stroll the sidewalks.  We bought souveniers, rode bumper cars and go-carts, ate ice cream and rode the “ring-a-round”, as Hazel called it.  She was so excited to ride the old carousel that she could hardly sleep the night before. She woke up many times and mumbled, “are we still going to ride on the ring-a-round?”.  Jessie Pearl danced for the delighted, elderly bluegrass band as they cheered her on and sang and fiddled just for her.  I think the kids’ favorite thing was swimming at the hotel pool.  We made some good memories.

A few must do’s for Long Beach:

Scooper’s Ice Cream (Huckeberry Cheescake in a homemade waffle cone, YUM)

Chico’s Pizza for family friendly atmosphere and good food (Lost Roo, Castaways, Doogers also good)

Lori’s Homestead Restaurant for BEST breakfast

Go on the free horse and buggy ride

Rent a bicycle buggy

Cottage Bakery (makes me miss my grandparents–memories there)

Visit Marsh’s Free Musuem

Ride the ring-a-round (I rode this when I was a child!)

Sit in the sand

Go Junkin’!

{How is your summer going, my friends?}