It’s worth a nickel

it’s been a very relaxing start to our week in stone harbor. we arrived on saturday morning around 11 and met up with most of the family at the cape may county park zoo. after a quick bite to eat — i had the yummiest italian sub — we got into the house.

all i can say is wow. mom and dad did a great job in selecting the house this year. it’s further south than we’ve ever stayed before (214 122nd street), but this end of the island is very quiet and it’s only about one block to the beach. the fact that we avoid crossing a busy street is a big benefit in my mind.

i’ve been out riding my bike … many of you may know that i’ve only learned to ride in the past two years, and as a result i’m still very nervous and inexperienced! yesterday was spent doing lots of figure-8s to practice my turning, which continues to be a source of anxiety while i’m riding. thankfully here at the shore, everything is very flat and so i don’t worry too much about hills! unfortunately, i did manage to get a bit of sunburn on day 1 since i didn’t put sunscreen on my arms before going out. bad chris!

we’ve also made it to springer’s two nights in a row for the best ice cream anywhere. my first night i had hoped for tim’s mint madness, which is mint ice cream with andes candies chopped up in it. yum! sadly, they were out. i made do with almond amaretto, which is so incredibly good that i didn’t mind too much. last night i had coconut, and i’m hoping tim’s mint madness will be back tonight. we typically have ice cream five or six nights of our week here; this year is on schedule to continue that tradition.

i’ve also managed to read hundreds of pages of the roosevelt women. it’s a fascinating story about the other side of the roosevelt family, profiling how the women impacted the men and may have made even bigger contributions to society at large, had the rules and morals of their time not interfered. the author has definitely done her homework, and yet i shy away from giving a wholehearted endorsement of the book because i find her style cumbersome and difficult to follow. the roosevelts didn’t help her quest by insisting upon using about six names for all their children, resulting in scores of eleanors, ethels, ediths, and corinnes … not to mention jameses, elliotts, and theodores.

next on tap is ellen degeneres’ the funny thing is and jon stewart’s naked pictures of famous people. can’t wait to do some more beachy reading!