My favorite Jersey Shore beach town (part 1)
I’m not even going to try to apologize for my absence because I’m not even sorry, yikes. I hope you missed me though. I truly had all intentions to blog once or twice while I was at the beach but we had wifi issues and instead of me searching for places to blog, I just decided to take some time off. It was wonderful.
I have blogged about my favorite Jersey Shore beach area before and I took so many photos this time again on my morning runs or while creeping with my camera early in the morning. So I decided to split it into two posts. This one is a bit more personal and then I will also share the pretty homes and lots of inspiration some other time.
Avalon and Stone Harbor, NJ don’t really have any ugly homes. There are no high-rise hotels or yucky boardwalks. I feel comfortable letting the kids roam and walk to the best ice-cream place ever by themselves. We adore the relaxed small-town atmosphere.
The beach is full of soft white sand and sometimes the ocean is a beautiful clear green like this summer (you can read why HERE).
I’m usually not a runner but can’t get enough of it down at the beach and ran anywhere from 4-6 miles every morning which made me feel so so good. What anxiety and stress? When I’m on the beach it just appears so far away.
I tried to take some nice photos of my kids too after they were showered but they always end up fighting over the stupidest stuff. I’m probably not the only one right? So I just photographed them fighting on the beach. And they look like they are enjoying the fight!
Glad she got those bunny ears in after all!
And I got at least one beautiful photo of them behaving with the sunset on their shoulders. If you follow me on Instagram, then you saw this one already. And I snapped my heart out on snapchat. You should follow (@cuckoo4design) me so you can see me snap in Germany.
I get the worst fever blisters in the sun. My nose is a mess and it’s definitely not a sun burn because I used 100SPF on it.
The kids decided to make me an ocean mud mask.
I have a pretty long history with Avalon and the place we stay in. My parents and we are lucky enough to have amazing longtime friends who are like family and below you can see me as a little girl with my mother sitting on the front porch and our dear friend (RIP) walking with me.
And I have been there ever since countless times.
The house has changed into a beautiful big beach home and the deck flags were influenced by soccer again this year as you can see in the photo below.
I’m so so thankful for every minute I get to vacation in this amazing spot and to see my kids enjoy it as much as I have since I was a kid.
That’s it for today and I’ll be back with a gazillion photos of pretty homes.
Tschüß,
(Youleeya)
We have missed you but everyone needs a vacation. I too took a beak this week (mine was more of a stay-cation) and I have to say, I’m not sorry either! It is nice to take a few day to forget about deadlines and responsibilities and just relax. Avalon looks like a beautiful place to do that.
Stay-cations are great too and I’m glad you got a chance to relax at home. What I don’t like when I disconnect at home is that I see what needs to be done and can’t relax. When I get away I don’t nonstop think I need to clean or fix things 😉
aaaw, i loved this post and the photos! what a beautiful place to visit each year and create new memories while visiting old ones. and your kids fighting look just as mine do when they fight- they are definitely somewhat enjoying it!
I never even noticed how much they enjoyed fighting until I looked at the photos LOL. Is that a good or bad sign?
Hi Julia –
One thing I will miss since moving to SC is getting down the shore. It is my favorite place on earth. Seeing those old photos with the old style house with no AC, sandy floors, and a slamming screen door flooded my mind with many happy memories spent down the shore in the 60′ and 70’s. Happy times are what the shore is all about. Happy to see you had a great time.
You described it perfectly with the sandy floors and slamming screen door Diane.
It is my favorite place too and I hope I still get to visit for many more years to come. Maybe you can go again one year too. We should do a blogger conference (aka get-together) somewhere at the Jersey shore
Diane, I love it. You proved you’re one of us. Only Jersey beach rats (ha ha!) know the expression “down the shore” not “down TO the shore” (or, heaven forbid, “to the beach”!). I❤️7-mile island.
I LOVE all your pics…can almost smell the salt in the air.
The kids are getting so big- you son hansome and your daughter gorgeous! I think they look very German!
Thank you Carol. I’ve heard before that they look German 😉 Especially because my son and I have a big head and according to our pediatrician, that is a German thing.
That is a ‘real’ vacation when you can shut out everything work-related and enjoy family. Your photos are fabulous.
Thanks Lynn, I enjoy taking photos down there more than anywhere else and I took way way too many.
Looks absolutely beautiful! I had no idea NJ was this pretty. Glad you finally had a chance to unplug, though I did miss my weekly notifications!
You should visit the Jersey Shore one day. Looks like you had a great time in Lohr though too. Wish you could come to the Festwoche.
Beautiful pics. Especially love the old ones – can’t believe how small those bushes in the front used to be! I have no memory of ever actually seeing the front two windows of the old house! haha =)
You have no idea how grateful we are that we have been able to do this every 4th of July and hang out with the same people down there. It’s so great that the kids were able to make friends who they see every year again. It’s the best place ever. I have so many old photos of our parents by the way. Kay got a lot of the old DIAs developed.
Wow! One of my favorite bloggers in my hometown of Avalon?! I wish I had known ~ I would have loved to meet you in person (and I also could have given you my miracle cure for sun blisters … Stops them dead in their tracks before they start looking like pine cones hanging from your lips????).
First you have a beautiful family! I absolutely love your pictures and am jealous. What a great beach and amazing memories.
Oh thank you Donna
Enjoy Avalon! Have a drink at The Circle, for me 🙂
Thanks, I love going to the Sanbar at the Golden Inn
ahh, looks heavenly! and I love the pictures with the kids (the goofier pics are the most fun anyway :))