The last hurrah of summer...

Weeks ago, we started talking about how I wanted to celebrate my birthday and I immediately thought about the Phillies.  They were playing a home game on my birthday and it just seemed like such a fun way to end the summer.  I looked at their pitching rotation and kept counting by five.  Barring anything unforeseen, Cliff Lee should have been pitching and I was giddy as a school girl... at least until the Phillies' and Nationals' August 14th game was rained out, pushing everyone back a game.  Instead of Cliff Lee, it looked like we'd be seeing Roy Halladay.

Now, don't get me wrong - Halladay is a fantastic consolation prize as far as starting pitchers go and I'd have been just as happy to watch him at work even though I had seen him in Pittsburgh back in June. But when Irene started creeping her way up the coast, the Phillies made a somewhat unexpected move Thursday afternoon, pushing the Sunday game up by 24 hours for a day-night doubleheader.  Halladay would pitch the first game, putting Lee on tap for the nightcap!!!  I did a happy dance to end all happy dances... what the rain had taken away two weeks prior, it had given back. 

And then, 24 hours after that, with Irene moving in faster and stronger than anticipated, with public transportation shutting down in anticipation of the category 1 hurricane's arrival, and with the Phillies concerned about making it to Cincinnati for their Monday game, the 7:05pm Saturday game was cancelled late Friday afternoon.  With the early game still on tap (at that point) and an inside connection with the Phillies, we briefly considered swapping our tickets for the 1:05pm game before ultimately deciding that even if they played, it would be wet and miserable.  So, for now I am holding onto those tickets and looking ahead to see how the pitching is projected before deciding to pull my kids from school (and a yet to be determined educational side trip) or to simply return the tickets.

Considering how the last hurrah of summer had been going, I shouldn't have been surprised at all...

Which means we should step back and look at the start of the long (and somewhat disastrous but certainly memorable) weekend. 

Because we planned to be in Philadelphia by Saturday and because we haven't been to the Atlantic Ocean in several summers, I suggested we could turn the trip into a mini-vacation, spending some time at the beach before heading into the city for my birthday celebration.  We debated when to go, how long to stay, and where to stay before finally settling on a hotel in Atlantic City (but with plans to spend our time at the beach and boardwalk in the more family-friendly Ocean City).  One of the nice things about Atlantic City is that there's a large selection of relatively cheap hotels rooms during the week and we ended up staying at the same hotel we stayed at back in November of 1998... our last overnight trip to Atlantic City.  That's the night I skipped my 10-year high school reunion to see Simon and Garfunkel play at Boardwalk Hall... long before Facebook reconnected me with old friends from high school (many of whom I would now love to see again), it was an easy trade off; the show was fantastic and I still remember hitting the jackpot on the nickle slots (I think it amounted to $50.00, but it was still pretty cool!).

We arrived in Atlantic City on a very rainy Thursday afternoon.  With a break in the weather, we walked up to the boardwalk only to have it start raining again... we ducked into the Rainforest Cafe for dinner thinking it would be a really fun place for the kids.  It was, except they were a little spooked by the thunder and lightning storm that came on schedule, every 30 minutes.  And there was an ape above our table that spooked Cathy pretty good on our way to the table and that we needed to keep our eye on throughout dinner.

Our quick dip in the Atlantic Ocean

With a break in the storm, we strolled down to the beach after dinner, just long enough to let the kids dig in the sand and get quite messy and to dip our toes in the ocean.  But, with a really nice day in the forecast for Friday, I figured we could spend a few hours on the beach, check out of the hotel and then drive down to Ocean City and spend some time on the boardwalk.  Because the hurricane wasn't expected until Sunday, I just assumed it would be business as usual down the shore on Friday and we'd be long gone before the weather started to turn.

In our hotel room later that night, we learned that there were mandatory evacuations along the barrier island communities stretching from Cape May to up above Atlantic City.  We packed early and checked out of the hotel room, but defied the evacuation order long enough to walk the boardwalk for about two hours... it certainly wasn't deserted yet at that hour of the day, but was much less crowded than it would have been on a beautiful Friday morning. 

If nothing else, the calm before the storm was quite pretty to look at.  The waves rolling, but not yet intimidating.  The beach deserted.

Most of the businesses along the boardwalk were already closed and boarded up, the amusement piers closed.  Now that Hurricane Irene is mostly past, I hope the shore communities were spared the worst of her destruction. 

Many businesses along the boards were boarded up in preparation of Irene's arrival

Even billboards were taken down all along the boardwalk and even the route out of town

This was neither the beach vacation of my dreams nor even the beach vacation I imagined taking with the  kids, but maybe that is a good thing.  No doubt, we'll all remember how Hurricane Irene crashed the party! 

We had a relatively easy drive out of town... the only traffic jam coming as cars merged back together following the Egg Harbor tolls (which were free for the day to facilitate the evacuation).  Not knowing what else to do, we bumped up our Saturday morning plans, hitting the Garden State Discovery Museum Friday afternoon.  Admission to the museum is typically $10.95 for everyone 12 months and older, with a $1 discount for seniors.  However, it participates in the Association of Children's Museums reciprocal program and was therefore free thanks to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum membership (wow, are we ever getting our money's worth out of that purchase)!

The museum was cute and had lots of activities for the kids.  One of my favorite areas - a sports themed room that included a miniature hockey rink and some Flyers' memorabilia.  Growing up, the Flyers were one of my great loves, though I have drifted away from hockey somewhat over the years... so you can imagine my surprise and shock when I realized that my very favorite player growing up, Dave Poulin, had been inducted into the Flyer's Hall of Fame back in 2004.  I am somewhat embarrassed that I didn't know this... but so happy to see it.  I remember Poulin as a terrific defensive forward, a great team leader, and a class act both on and off the ice.

The kids were obsessed with bubble play, especially the large hula hoop and platform where they could enclose themselves in giant bubbles.  

The museum also had a section entitled "Down the Shore"... sort of ironic considered we'd just been evacuated from there.  The fishing boat was one of Cathy's favorite places to play and we must have returned to fish off the side of the boat a half-dozen times.  Maybe by the time we take our next trip down that way, the kids will be ready for a half-day excursion on a real fishing boat... perhaps we can head out in search of flounder - something I did on occasion while growing up.

As luck would have it, it was 4:30pm when we learned that Saturday's Phillies game was postponed... just 30 minutes past the time we could cancel the hotel reservations without penalty, so instead of driving home Friday, we spent the night as planned.  We had a terrific dinner at the Iron Hill Brewery, played a game of miniature golf, then called it a night.

Birthday lunch with my favorite little guy

We took a slow trip home on Saturday, stopping first at the Great American Pub in Conshohocken, then at Chocolate World in Hershey (we still simply cannot pass nearby without a stop here), and then finally at Ray Azteca back in State College for dinner.

It's funny.  Not too long ago, I reflected on my comparison between my summer with the kids and a marathon.  I suggested that if the Summer of Fun really was a marathon, we were clearly heading into the home stretch.  And if that's true, than I imagine this weekend is like passing out from heat stroke just a mile from the finish line (sorry for the reference, Rich, but thanks for being OK with my using it).  It's always tough when you have an expectation for how you are going to finish something and you instead end up far from where you thought you would be. 

So, even though the race didn't end quite the way I expected, it was one hell of a run.  I am spent, ready to slow down for a while.  The school buses start rolling on Tuesday morning; Matt will be on board for his first day as a 1st grader.  Meanwhile, the kindergarten kids head in for an hour-long orientation and officially join the full-time ranks on Wednesday.  I can hardly believe these milestones are here, that my kids are about to head off to school together... I'm sure I will say this more than once over the coming weeks, but I could not be more proud or excited for both kids, most especially for my little girl. Once upon a time, I could not imagine this day would come.  But it has.  And there's no doubt she'll make me proud!!!