Wildwood

You may have noticed that I slightly slacked off on my blog last week. I have a good excuse though -- I was spending quality family time in Wildwood, New Jersey.

As a child, my family would go down to Wildwood, New Jersey seemingly every summer. A few years ago -- for my Dad's 60th birthday -- we took our first trip back there after probably a decade. We had such a good time that we decided to do it again this year.

My brother found an amazing condo for rent and we booked it from Sunday to Sunday. It was great spending so much time with my family especially since I'm leaving for Asia again in a couple of weeks. I've seen my niece Lilah a bunch of times since I've been home but the two of us didn't really bond until this weekend. After a week of playing with her she definitely recognizes me now and smiles when she sees me. In fact, one morning I went for a bike ride with Hannah and happened to bump into my parents, Zev, Kathy and Lilah on the boardwalk. When I was about ten feet away Lilah saw me and started to smile and wave. It made me feel pretty good...I just hope she recognizes me next year!

Some highlights from the week included:
1. Destroying my father in backgammon! The student has become the master.
2. Getting my first ever Bingo (using all seven letters) in Scrabble. My mother won 2 games and my sister and I each won one (although I think my sister cheated when she won).
3. Giving Lilah "victory laps" whenever I would win in any game. Basically I would lift her up and run her around the apartment. She loved it!
4. Tons of beach time with Hannah.
5. Lots of R&R. After running around this country for nearly two months it felt good to do nothing. In fact, I read 4 1/2 books in 7 days. I can't remember the last time I was able to read so much.
6. Great meals every night. The majority were grilled by my mom.
7. Eating more ice cream than I have in a year and a half. If you go to Wildwood get a Duffers small ice cream. It's gigantic.
8. Seeing my family for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day...