Longport,NJ Beach Day with Uncle Mike and Aunt Emily

Our Day trip to Longport Beach 

We decided to take a day trip to the beach to meet up with Uncle Mike and Aunt Emily and to say congratulations to them. They just got engaged in St. Kitts last week and we couldn't wait to see them and her beautiful ring. It is stunning and she is smiling ear to ear. We are so happy he finally popped the question after 5 years together. 

Connor and Mike playing wiffle ball 5 mins after we got there, of course. He was hitting balls all the way back to the bulkhead.

Connor tried to go out on the khyak with Mike, but the waves were too much and he couldn't keep his balance and kept falling out so we decided we would try again another time when the waves were not as strong.

Meghan was all about the good times on the beach...EATING! She was much better at the beach this time than when we were in Florida a few months ago. She loved the sand and the water and kept wanting to go farther into the ocean but most of all she loved all the yummy snacks Mommy packed for her. She loves peaches and loves cruncy snacks like dorittos. She also endulged in blueberries, grapes and a cheese sandwich.

and of course after all that hard playing and eating she passed out for a little while to take a quick nap!

Mara was so upset when she fell off the boggie board, she came running out of the water as fast as possible. But of course, she got on again later. She loved being pulled around by Uncle Mike.

Samara just had fun digging in the sand and building sand castles and being burried by Emily.

Uncle Mike still having to find things to do with Connor. For boggie boarding, playing wiffle ball, playing bocce ball and diving waves was just not enough.He even tried to go Kyaking but connor kept falling out of the boat.  Uncle Mike brought these poles and they made a game of frisbee and tried to knock the cups off the poles and win points.

After a long day at the beach thinking the kids would be totally worn out we were driving through Margate and Connor saw the Elephant and said, "Hey, Mom there's Lucy(I think that's her name) that everyone in my class talks about, can we please go see her?" So, here we are...visiting Lucy!

Lucy is Art!

That's right, ...
she is the oldest example of Zoomorphic Architecture.

James V. Lafferty’s idea of an animal-shaped building was innovative and in order to protect his original idea, Lafferty applied for and received a patent from the U.S. Government. He made his original application June 3, 1882, and received the patent, No. 268, 503, on Dec. 5, 1882. In his application Lafferty stated: "My invention consists of a building in the form of an animal, the body of which is floored and divided into rooms ... the legs contain the stairs which lead to the body ...". Lafferty also included a paragraph which stated the building "may be in the form of any other animal than an elephant, as that of a fish, fowl, etc."

Mr. Lafferty hired architect William Free to design this unusual structure. The Elephant was constructed in 1881 by a Philadelphia contractor at a reported cost of $25,000. Lafferty believed it would attract visitors and property buyers to the area.

Lucy the Elephant is a six-story elephant-shaped example of novelty architecture, constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1882 by James V. Lafferty in Margate City, New Jersey, two miles south of Atlantic ... Wikipedia

Height: 31' 10" (9.70 m) Opened: 1882

My three loveable bugs hanging out by the foot of Lucy the Elephanant!

Mommy and the kids 6 stories high on the lookout of LUCY. It was a fun tour and the kids really enjoyed climbing inside of the Elephant and Connor even signed the guest book.

After our tour we stopped by the Lucy Beach Grille to get ice cream and water ice only to find out they don't sell ice cream so that means one Happy Samara and one sad Connor and thank goodness Meggie doesn't have a say yet. I told Connor we would stop for ice cream somewhere else but never found an ice cream shop and then we were homeward bound and and Mommy wasn't stopping. Surprisingly not one kid fell asleep on the way home(how they weren't tired I have no idea) but we definitely had a fun filled day of the jersey shore. Of course I had to mention something about the boardwalk and I must say that it is pretty sad but the kids said, "mommy, what is the boardwalk?" I know they have been there before a few times but we don't go that much and I think the last time we were there was for Connor's friend Tyson's 3rd birthday and that was two years ago. Mommy would rather hang on the beach all day!