The end of summer edition of Chit Chat. Here’s a peek at what’s going on with me, my family, and our life since my last Chit Chat.
I was vacant from the blog and its social media for much of the summer. I didn’t mean to be, but between working at our business, chauffeuring 2 tweeners to swim practice and other various activities, and spending time with family and friends, I decided to cut myself some slack and take a bit of an online break.
Camping Trip #1!
We spent the first week in July camping at our favorite campground, Avalon Campground — I wrote a complete review last summer. The campground is 4 miles from the ocean, but we spent time in 4 different surrounding beach towns: Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, and Cape May.
Our pop up camper set up at Avalon Campground.
This was our 4th summer camping in Avalon and we try to do something different every year. This year, we tried stand up paddle boarding for the first time. It’s a bit pricey at $35/hour. We could have paid $55 for 4 hours and I thought about it, but since it was our first time, we only did 1 hour. We were all exhausted after 1 hour so that was a good call!
It took a lot for me to balance and I consider myself to be in decent shape, but once I figured it out, it went more smoothly.
I headed south!
I spent a long weekend visiting with college friends in Dandridge, Tennessee, home of Bush’s Beans. RIP Jake!
Camping Trip #2:
I really wanted to try a new camp ground for our August camping trip, but my family LOVED our trip last year to Watkins Glen KOA, so back to New York we went. Once again, we had an incredible time. This year, we ventured to the Robert H. Treman State Park near Ithaca, NY. The park has numerous trails and waterfalls. One of the falls is open for swimming. The water this particular day was 62 degrees! That didn’t deter my family from jumping in. It was quite refreshing!
My kids declared it the best day of the summer and since our trip was the week before school started, it was a great way to end the summer.
Hiking the trails with waterfalls along the way.
I think my kids jumped off the diving board 30 times each!
The natural swimming pool at the park.
I even joined in the fun and jumped off the diving board. Once and done for me though–62 degrees literally took my breath away. I’m glad I did it. I’m sure I would have regretted it if I didn’t try it at least one time. And I like to show my daughters that I can have fun too. 😉
Your truly even dared to jump in! BRRRRR!
Back to Life, Back to Reality…
Our summer of 2018 is winding down and my kids started 7th and 5th grades this week. No more camping trips for the year, so hopefully, I should be more present here on my corner of the web.
Hope your summer was fab too! Tell us about your summer adventures in the comments.