Monday/Tuesday - More Jersey Shore Fun

We all slept in Monday morning and Sandy  made us a big breakfast -- which included fresh squeezed juice.  The best part was eating outside on the water. I could get used to that!  :)

While we waited, we had to draw our placemats.  What a fun idea!  Well, except for the fact that I'm a terrible drawer.  I got a snowman...so that was pretty easy.  Shannon had a bridge and Ryan had a monkey. (His was totally the best!)

Sandy went out for a morning SUP with the dog, but she (the dog, not Sandy) jumped off and Dee had to go rescue her!  Crazy dog!

The rest of us decided to take the kayaks out for awhile once she got back.

Aaaaand that's all the pics I have from the day, haha.  What was supposed to be a short little morning kayak trip turned in to kayaking...I don't know, 6 hours??  I mean, the sun was setting when we finally made it back to the house.  

I don't even know where to start with it.  We just kept going...and going...and going.    It was always, "Oh, it's just right up here."  And then, "Yea, just like one more turn."  Siigghh.  We ran out of food and water very early on, which I was not happy about, but I refused to be quitter, so we made it all the way to the end of the island, to Corson's Inlet.  I tried to keep going after that, but the tide was changing, the wind was picking up, and I just couldn't handle the ocean waves in my little kayak and weakened state, haha.  So we ditched the kayaks on the beach and walked (barefoot, covered in sand, and in nothing but our swimsuits) in to town and borrowed a cell phone to call for a ride. What a day...

Sunset back at the house. 

We barely had time for a quick shower before heading down to the boardwalk for dinner at a Hawaiian place.  I don't think I've ever had Hawaiian food before, and it was delicious (salmon and rice)!

Dessert was another "you have to try this."  I don't even remember what it was called.  Water ice or something like that maybe?  Kind of like a snow cone or slushy with custard in it.  I had watermelon, and it was pretty legit.

I ran in to a little Christmas shop on the boardwalk to find a Christmas tree ornament for my travel tree.  I didn't get a picture (phone was dead), but it's a Santa on a kayak.  Pretty perfect considering the days activities, right?

We played some boardwalk games, rode a couple of rides, and Shannon won a giant banana - who I named Gilbert.  (He now lives in Carson's house because none of us had room to take him on the plane with us!)

Needless to say, I was beyond exhausted from being out all day, so we called it an early night.  Well, if you count 11pm early I guess.  

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Tuesday morning, I woke up before everyone else and sat outside on the deck with the family dog.  I could sit there all day long.  (Sandy snuck up behind me and took this picture without me knowing it!)

Once everyone got up and moving, we decided on a day of biking before heading back to Philly for my flight home.

Biking on the Jersey Shore boardwalk

But of course there was one more "you have to try this before you leave" item on the list:  donuts from Brown's restaurant.  I knew the place had to be good when we pulled up (on our bikes) and the line was out the door.

We lucked out and found a spot right away...and got a little aggressive with the ordering.  6 donuts for 4 people?  Yea, those didn't all get eaten.  But I'm not going to lie, they were ridiculously good.  (Also, ridiculously unhealthy and made me sick.)

We took off for a long bike ride...but it was a surprise where we were going.  I hate not knowing things, but I went along anyways.  

After crossing a couple of bridges and ending up on another island...Lucy the giant elephant was the "surprise."  I about died laughing.  For real?   What is the purpose of this elephant!?

It was a scorcher of a day, and we were hot and sweaty.  No big deal, because the beach was about 30 seconds away!

We didn't have a towel or anything like that (why would we actually be prepared for anything?) but we got in anyways.  The waves were giant and they quickly consumed my favorite sunglasses and almost got my swimsuit top, too.  But other than that, it was nice to cool off in the water before biking back!

Side note:  I got separated / lost in a matter of one block.  I was looking for a gas station to air up my tire and ended up alone...with no idea where I was.  Thankfully it didn't take long to find the girl in her swimsuit standing in the middle of the street, haha!

See that bridge way off in the distance?  Yea, we rode over that.

As if that wasn't enough for the day, we had a few hours left before I needed to leave, so we hit the local beach this time.  We only ended up being down there for an hour or so, but it was nice to lay in the hot sand an listen to the ocean waves!

It was a mad dash to rinse off and throw my stuff in the car to make it to Philly for my flight, but we got there right on time!

Downtown Philly in the distance

I kind of started to crash in the car - so worn out from the full days and short nights.  I made it through security in no time, thanks to my TSA Pre-check status...but somehow I managed to lay down at the wrong gate and literally was within about 30 seconds of missing my flight by the time I realized it.  Ugh.  What a rude awakening.  Thankfully they were waiting on me, and I made it back to KC  in one piece.  A little tired and sunburnt...but still in one piece. :)