Our Murphy siblings decided that OC would be the 2009 venue for our family vacation. OC is Grammom and Pop’s childhood vacation spot for as long as we can remember, plus it is almost equidistant for our far-flung children’s homes. Grammom and Pop had a duplex at 18th & Haven in OC for many years and consequently, Mike, Kristin and Eric spent good times there as children, as well.
Once we decided on the venue, Pop visited his ‘old haunt’ in January and decided to rent a nice side by side home on the beach and ‘the boards’ at 21st and Wesley. Five bedrooms, five baths, with an elevator, would be our home away from home for a week in August 2009….it turned out to be a great spot! Pop and everyone were pleasantly surprised that OC was not only as good as we remembered, but it was even better – newer construction, manicured gardens, bigger beaches with dunes and loads of college flags flying proudly from homes!
Day 1, Saturday, August 1, 2009 was travel and arrival day. Despite a longer travel day than expected for some, all arrived safely and eager to have fun in a beautiful setting. Grammom & Pop picked up Great Grammom K en route and stopped by a Jersey produce stand for corn, peaches, squash and everything else they were selling! Mike and Dana had the longest commute from ‘Beantown’ and arrived a little later than most, but in plenty of time to enjoy a Mack and Manco pizza dinner. The biggest thrill for all our grandchildren initially, was not the beach or the boardwalk….but the elevator, which Kambrie called the ‘alligator’! The Murphy siblings decided on room accommodations and relegated Grammom & Pop to the ‘adult suite’ with single beds and a great view of Wesley Ave.!!
Day 2, Sunday, August 2, 2009 began with everyone anxious to hit the beach and boards. Lynne and the girls joined us for the day. Pop took Kambrie for a customary ride to pick up his Philadelphia Inquirer and sticky buns. We also stopped at a nearby little pier overlooking the ‘other ocean’ as Lauren calls it, aka the bay. We watch the people catch crabs and small fish. We proceeded to the bait store where Kambrie was delighted to see the live minnow and eels along with the blood worms and squid which we bought, so we could ‘catch the big one’!
Body surfing at 22nd St. beach was very good – big Nick had Nicky on his shoulders while body surfing – big Nick was under water while Nicky was riding above the wave & had a smile as broad as the ocean! Maddy, Lauren, Kyle, Arianna & Marina found sand crabs and baby jelly fish on the beach to their delight.
Rain did interrupt our beach day so we all scurried off the beach, some earlier than others – Mike and Nick decided to go to the house early, relegating Eric, Pop and the girls to lugging our 300+ beach items back to the house in our two buggies! Nick made up for his gaffe by single-handedly carrying both dune buggies on his shoulders for the balance of the week! J
Grammom’s Italian roast beef and ‘Joosey’ corn were the center pieces of our evening feast.
Uno was the ‘Olympic game of choice’ for the evening and none other than Maddy emerged as the official Uno Queen for the Day….followed closely by Dana who espoused to be a ‘newbie’ to Uno. Dana efficiently thrashed nearby Pop, constantly making him ‘pick 4’ more cards.
Krista, Darryl & girls cruised by our rental house at 10:30 PM, only to find every light off and snoring emanating from the ‘adult suite’.
Brayden, by far, is the most rambunctious child…you almost forgot he was even there! The ‘cousins’ were thoroughly enjoying each other, going 24/7. Lauren had a little bit of the flu, but bounced back after some meds and had her effervescent smile on most of the time. The Ethan-man loves to be outside…on the deck, on the beach as long as it’s outside, taking in the rays and the girls! Greyson and Kyle are the ‘charmers’ on our team. Kambrie, without question, had the time of her life with all her buddies and activities. Nicky wanted to stay close to the ‘men’, especially his Dad, who is his idol – I think Nicky wants to skip his next couple years and go right to age 10 so he can do ‘everything’ his dad does! Maddy wore her oldest grandchild responsibility very well, as usual; was as ‘sweet as pie’ and is growing up way too fast.
E and Q took their team for a boardwalk stroll later that morning. Pop and Kambrie did an ‘instant replay’ with our morning stops at Marron’s for sticky buns and newspapers, followed by a visit to the pier to see folks catching crabs.
Pop organized a team fishing expedition which was hugely successful with Kambrie catching her first fish ever….to her, and her Mom’s delight – no doubt that Dana was as excited as Kambrie!! We followed up ‘Kambrie’s first’ with Lauren showing her fishing skills catching a small shark; however, once she sees it flopping in the ocean, she immediately dropped the rod & reel into the surf, which Pop successfully rescued. L-Dawg agreed to touch the little critter along with Maddy and Kambrie, before we released him to live a nice, long life.
Tom & Thelma, aka TnT, along with Darryl, Krista and family, spent time at the beach with us along with their friends, Francesca and Mike, from NY. Body surfing continued to be excellent, enjoyed by Nick, Miguelita, Darryl and Pop.
That evening, we enjoyed dinner followed by a trip to 59th St. beach for our family photo ops. All decked out in khaki and white, we are the stars of the beach scene and the pix turned out great!
Day 4, Tuesday, August 4, 2009 opened with another very successful Lemonade Stand morning. Maddy and team have collected close to $100 in two days for this worthy cause. All told, our Leukemia Charity team collected over $400 during the entire week with matching contributions from ‘Daddy Warbucks’ and ExxonMobil. Kristin, aka Mommy Psimas, organizes the funds and makes the contribution to the Bryce Allen Family Fund….somehow, in retrospect, this charitable activity is one of the most memorable parts of our week together as a family and makes us appreciate our blessings.
Another magnificent day at the beach was enjoyed by our entire team. Highlights included Maddy-Mad catching not one, but two fish – one blue fish and one sand shark; & Uncle Tom K caught a double-header shark combination!
Our beach day was capped off back at the house, with all our grandchildren having the time of their lives with the small pools set up in our back yard. K-man, aka Kyle, enjoyed doing belly flops into the pool and sometimes on top of his cousins….after sufficient pool water is spilled on to the grassy back yard, our grandchildren resembled the ‘Our Gang’ character, Spanky, with lots of mud from head-to-toe.
During the late afternoon, Eric, Nick and Jeff’s happy hour was abruptly ended with a stern request to get showers and get ready for our night on the ‘boards’. The ‘boards’ were packed with everyone seemingly wearing at least one piece of Phillies attire. We enjoyed a mediocre meal at Del’s followed by a fun-filled eve at Gillian’s Arcade. Seeing E, Maddie, Nicky, Lauren & Grammom smiling broadly on the Tilt a Whirl, as well as Mike, Dana, Kambrie-girl and G-man on the huge ferris wheel were highlights! Great Grammom, Babs and Pop departed early and enjoyed some fantastic Ice Cream around the corner from our ‘house by the sea’.
Day 5, Wednesday, August 5, 2009 included beach time for most, as well as a beach break for Grammom and Pop who treated Great Grammom K to a relaxing and delicious lunch in Somers Point at the Anchorage. En route back to the house, Pop noticed a cool little ‘clam bar’ and he remarked that Nick would really enjoy that place – sure enough, we return a couple hours later, with Kristin’s & Susan’s blessing….Nick, Eric and Pop enjoying clams, chowder, shrimp and ‘BOB’ Sol cervezas purchased at the nearby Circle Beverage store. Dana once again displayed her culinary skills with a wonderful fish dinner, enjoyed by all, that eve.
Day 6, Thursday, August 6, 2009 was a most memorable one for Pop. Our morning started with Pop being dropped off in Somers Point to meet his two ‘bros’, Jerry and Ed, for a half-day of fishing at Townsend’s Inlet. The ‘wet weather’ gear came in handy and we collectively caught flounders, albeit, no ‘keepers’. Despite just an ok day of fishing, it was great to spend time with ‘bros’ and we laughed, reminisced and joked to each other about our ‘fishing prowess’.
Upon return to our seaside ‘casa’, Pop was greeted by a throng of well-wishers for a ‘Twin-60th Bday Party’, orchestrated by all. Uncle Jerry joined Pop shortly thereafter and the ‘party was on’. There were many highlights including high school buds, neighbors and family traveling from afar to celebrate the ‘twin milestone’. Mike did a wonderful job with a family-developed Irish 60th Birthday Blessing for the Twin Murphy ‘boys’! It was obvious that this was a real family affair with so many people making contributions and sacrifices to make it happen. Fond memories included our Birthday cake with a picture of the twins, ‘Jerry & Jeff’ at age 7; Nick, the’ iron-man’, cooked thousands of burgers on the ‘rental grill’; Christina and Heather in full aplomb pregnancies; all of the little guys in the moon bounce + running around inside and out, despite a little rain; cousins meeting for the first time, in some cases; Susan snapped 1000s of photos and made sure all was cleaned up at the end; Kristin with Ethan on her hip, taking photos, smiling broadly, and running around as the ‘emcee’; Mike, Eric, Uncle Jerry, Jimmy & Pop telling rather unsavory stories at midnight; and Mike, Eric and Pop closing up shop @ 1:30 am having one more Sol and sitting on very wet lounge chairs.
Friday, August 7, 2009 saw the week come to a close for Mike, Dana and family as they packed up and trekked back to Bean Town. The ‘twin 60s’ team of Jeff & Jerry successfully upheld their ‘beach football’ tradition by dominating the ‘twin 30s’ team of Jimmy and Eric. Truth be known, the more mature team won on a ‘triple or nothing’ wager at the end!
We found a good seafood take-out eatery for dinner; celebrated L-dawg’s Bday one day early; then, E, Q & team followed suit with their journey back to VA that eve……and all of a sudden, it was getting much quieter in the big house by the sea….& Pop was already yearning for more noise and commotion.
Saturday, August 8, 2009 saw the Psimas family pack up and head south via the Cape May ferry & soon thereafter, Grammom and Pop made their final check for items left behind, before packing the Highlander for points south. In summary, everyone agreed that our family vacation was great and we need to do it again real soon!
