On our first anniversary Patrick and I decided that since our anniversary is in the summer and around a 3 day weekend, we wanted to make that the time of year that we always tried to take a trip. For our 1st anniversary we went to Vegas. For our 2nd we went camping. So for our 3rd we went to the Jersey shore.

We made our minds up kind of late on what we wanted to do and with it being Memorial day weekend, we got lucky to find a place. We found a website that lets you pick a price range and a date and see what properties are available to rent on any of the Jersey beaches. We eventually found what I thought was a little cottage from the pictures, but was a actually a condo when we got there.

We left Friday evening for Brigintine Beach, about 8 miles from Atlantic City. We loaded up the car and the dogs, who we decided to take and hit the road. Two hours later we found our rental. It was so cute! The inside was all painted a pale sunny yellow, the living room had a blue and white striped sofa, and the bedroom had white shabby chic furniture with ivy hanging on a little mirror above the dresser. It was very cozy. Which turned out to be good for Saturday.

Saturday was cold and there weren’t many people on the beach. We took the dogs for a long walk on the beach anyway. As we were walking we heard a mother cry out to her children that there were dolphins in the water and sure enough, there were about 3 groups playing. They jumped a little out of the water every once in awhile while playing fairly close to the shore so we stood fascinated and watched them for a while.

Then we headed indoors to read. On a side note I read the whole “Angels and Demons” book (the precurser to the “The DaVinci Code”) this weekend. Patrick read it first and has been waiting for me to catch up forever. I’ve been reading the first 90 pages for about a month and just haven’t been able to make any progress, but boy when it picked up, it picked up. So now I’m on to “The DaVinci Code” which hopefully will be just as good!

Ok, back to Saturday—In the evening we went to Atlantic City and gambeled a little. I turned my $50 into a $140 on My Rich Uncle where I have never had any luck before. It was great! Patrick and I never have good luck at the same time, but for a brief moment we both actually left a machine having tripled our money….but then his luck ran out.

Sunday was a much warmer day and the beach was packed. We almost couldn’t find a space to put our towels down. But we did finally find one and had a picnic lunch before settling down to read for a bit. Patrick went to play in the ocean and I went in to get the dogs. They loved playing in the water and on the sand but in general did not like the idea of vacation. I think they were afraid we were going to leave them. Like we’d endure a 2 hour car ride with Sam and his stubborn head pushing on my arm trying to get into the front seat just to leave them!

I’ll spare you the pictures of us in our swimsuits on the beach with the dogs. Just know that they will be a nice memory for us:)

It’s amazing to look back on the last year and think about how at this time last year I had just found out about my diabetes and we had just had the first call from Jones about them wanting to interview Patrick. Crazy how much things have changed!