Bayside Nature Center

I'm always up for a field trip, something new to see, something different to learn. The kids and I have developed a nice little routine here in Ocean City. We now have things to do, places to go and people--people who actually know us--to see. Still, the idea of doing something new is always appealing.

I'd read many times of the Bayside Nature Center, but every time I'd searched for it online, I'd come up empty handed. Save for a description on the OC Chamber of Commerce website, I couldn't find a website, a schedule or anything. A website is a great mom barometer. It helps me judge if an event or attraction is worth getting 3 kids into the car, buckling car seats, navigating through traffic, unbuckling car seats and getting 3 kids out of the car.

Today, we went to the beach with our new friends from camp, Zach and his mom Brenda. When Brenda mentioned the Bayside Center, I knew we had to give it a try. After dinner, we met there, at 5th and Bay, to hear a kid-friendly speaker. The speaker, however, was late, and after 20 minutes of letting the kids run around the parking lot, we decided to call it a night.

Sometimes it pays to be slow. It took me a while to load every one back into the car, and just as we were pulling out of the driveway, the speaker arrived. He waved us back into the parking lot and convinced us to stay. Will and Carter made up the small, but captive audience.

The speaker, a man named Colby from the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (www.fsw.gov.northeast/forsythe), talked to the kids about the wilderness. He gave then note cards and asked them to write or draw what they thought of when he said the word "wild." Will drew a dinosaur and a swordfish. (Carter wrote the letters x, o and t, never missing an opportunity to show off. He later demonstrated his ability to add and spell the words "top" and "tot." Thank you, Electric Company.) He then talked to the kids about what wilderness is and showed them pictures of his trips through the wilderness in the desert in Joshua Tree, in Alaska and in Idaho.

He did a great job and really kept the kids engaged. Real kudos to him, since I'm sure we weren't quite the audience he was expecting. He gave the kids lots of opportunities to ask questions and they learned a lot about native plants, caribou, bears and moose, plus a lot about the concept of preserving our nation's wilderness.

The Bayside Nature Center is also a museum, right on the Ocean City bay. Another bonus of our private class was the wonderful view of the sunset from the top floor of the center. We'll definitely go back to explore the museum itself, which includes a whole room on life saving, right up Will's alley. Every Tuesday and Thursday night, they offer free, hands-on presentations done by different speakers from the community, all geared towards kids and nature.

We'll definitely go back again. Website or not, it passes this mom's 3-kids-in-car seats test.

Surrey with the Fringe On Top

It's no secret that I love the Ocean City boardwalk. Yes, it can be fun to stroll down the boardwalk to snack, shop and people watch. But for me, a trip to the boardwalk is more about the journey than the destination.

My goal for the summer is to ride the boardwalk from end to end, a six mile round trip, from where it starts at 23rd Street all the way to the North end of the island. Will has made the trip a few times with his buddies next door. Carter, Charlotte and I usually make it to about 12th Street, where Carter declares that he is simultaneously tired and thirsty. Tired legs are an insurmountable obstacle to a stubborn 4-year-old. Will usually catches us on his loop back to 23rd Street, finding me walking alongside my cruiser, with Carter sitting on my bicycle seat, Charlotte in the back, and Carter's two-wheeler precariously balanced on my front basket. Old ladies cluck their tongues, and knowing mothers who have been there and done that give me crooked smiles. Will likes to pass us with a smirk and impatiently wait for us at the end of the trail.

With the two boys in camp last week, I thought Charlotte and I would finally make it to the end of the boardwalk. We made it to Oves Restaurant, close, but not quite, to the end. When she started to fuss, I reluctantly turned around, knowing there was still unexplored territory ahead.

Make no mistake, the boardwalk is just as fun to explore by foot. When Mom was visiting last week, she tested out a new pedometer. Our strolls on the boardwalk alone helped us log way over 10,000 steps a day. Of course, the adrenaline rush from jumping out of the way of racing bikers, sweaty runners, wayward surreys and swooping seagulls turned our leisurely steps into more of an aerobic workout.

But is there any better way to tour the Ocean City boardwalk then by surrey? Nope, no fringe on these surreys, but who wouldn't feel like singing while pedaling this part bicycle-built-for-4, part Flintstones car? I dream of one day having my own surrey that I'll park in the garage and use to pedal us all to the steps to the beach or to haul our kayaks to the bay. I have my someday-surrey already decorated in my dreams in red, white and blue for the annual 4th of July parade, in which, one day, I will win first prize.



For now, I'll settle to rent one. My friend Jen and I (of Uncle Bill's fame) decided, after our ill-fated restaurant trip, that we'd take all seven of our children on a surrey ride. The babies rode up front in the baskets. Will sat in front, next to Jen and me, the brave captains of the surrey, where he was always willing to lend a hand by unexpectedly pulling on the brake or "helping" steer. The remaining four crammed into the back, squished together as we pushed the surrey occupancy limits and tested the strength of our flip-flopped feet.


The hardest part of riding a surrey is the trip up and, as you might imagine, the trip back down, the ramp up to the boardwalk. We realized halfway up the ramp that with only two adults pedaling, we couldn't make it up the ramp. I'm not sure how we did it, but Jen and I managed to hop out of the surrey and muster up all of our inner mom strength to push that vehicle--and its wiggling, screaming occupants--up that ramp.

Surreys aren't permitted to explore the boardwalk in its entirety--only from about 14th to maybe 4th Street where the walkway is at its widest. We used part of our hour rental pedaling down the ocean side, enjoying the breeze and laughing at the attention we attracting. (Do onlookers smile because the kids are cute or because they pity for us? We're still not sure.) Yet, those demons Hungry and his evil brother Thirsty struck--all 7 kids. We tried to satiate these persistent brothers with hot, fried donuts and icy lemonade from the food court, while the surrey rested in front of a not-yet-open Mack & Manco's Pizza.

Hungry and Thirsty were soon chased away by other well-known twins, Hot and Tired. (Perhaps you know them, as well?) We loaded back onto the surrey and pedaled back down to our starting point. The trip back down the ramp was as frightening as the trip up. I held onto the handbrake, several of the kids squeezed their eyes shut, and we shouted warnings of our uncontrolled descent to the unsuspecting bikers in our path.

Whether by bicycle, surrey or by foot, I've explored almost every inch of the OC Boardwalk--with the exception of those elusive last few blocks. Yet, each time is its own adventure. When we arrive back home, our hair is windblown, our skin is salty, and often, our tummies are full--and we're already planning our next journey down the Boardwalk.

Wetlands Institute

Another rainy day in Ocean City and I was in the mood to get out of the house and do something new. I'd been reading about the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, so following a morning trapped indoors by the weather, we hopped in the car for a fun adventure.

If you're headed from Ocean City, it is an easy drive--straight down the GSP, exiting at Stone Harbor Drive. It is just past the exit for the Cape May Zoo, a charming little spot when you're in need of a beach reprieve. Combined with the Wetlands Institute, it would be a great day trip.

The Wetlands Institute (http://www.wetlandsinstitute.org/) is a cedar-shingled building surrounded by wetlands. They focus on education, specifically the wetlands and shore environments and, in particular, terrapins. If you've ever helped a turtle cross the road in Strathmere (and no, this is not the beginning of a bad joke), you might not know that you were "volunteering" for the Wetlands Institute!

We got there just in time to join into a presentation just for kids--all about Spongebob Square Pants. It was cleverly done. The kids were shown pictures of the characters from Spongebob, given the opportunity to talk about each one, and then shown what the real sea creature looks like. Then, the kids got the chance to actually touch a sea sponge (as in Bob), a sea snail (Gary), a sea star (Patrick) and a spider crab (Mr. Krabs). Will, who had been nicknamed by his first grade teacher "Dr. Will" for his love of science and his penchant for stealing away class discussion and directing it towards a topic he is interested in, was captivated. He's now on a quest to find a sea star so he can break it in half and grow his own.

The Institute is also home to two osprey, now proud parents of four chicks. They have a camera on the nest and we got to see the mama osprey leave the nest to stretch her wings, while the father stayed guard, and then return to feed her baby chicks. An amazing sight.

Another part of the Institute focuses just on terrapins. Interns from Stockton College work on helping injured turtles and taking eggs from turtles that have been run over in the street. (Eggs that have been fertilized can be grown in captivity.) Will, again, loved all the details about the turtles, and we learned the correct way to pick one up to help it across the road. Carter, Charlotte and I loved seeing all the baby turtles swimming around in the tank.

The kids' favorite part was a building filled with hands-on exhibits, including an opsrey nest for the kids to climb in. It is a small space (and would certainly be a whole lot easier to navigate if it were not for people like Lincoln and Tristan's mom thinking that the entire place only existed for her to take photos of her bratty boys. I digress, but would be remiss if I didn't also mention that I was as grossed out at her mom jeans as I was annoyed by her children.) and full of things to see. The highlight, in my opinion, was a teaching pool, a shallow tank filled with creatures the kids were allowed to pick up. Will loved that many of the exhibits focused on some of the treasures he's been finding on the beach, including horseshoe crabs and "mermaid's purses," which, we know now, are actually skate egg cases. They had several exhibits with buttons to push, drawers to open and puzzles to assemble, to the delight of both Carter and Charlotte (and every other child in there). On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:15, they do an aquarium feeding. That was the event that brought us to the Institute to begin with, but it was crowded and Charlotte was getting antsy, so we opted to skip it and headed to the gift shop instead.

Of course, you had to walk through the gift shop to get to the exhibits. Maybe that was the real highlight for the kids. It was filled with stuffed animals, including many ducks and birds. Charlotte does a deep-throated half growl, half quack when she sees a duck and entertained everyone with her very,very loud animal sounds.

Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children over 2. They had so many more events we want to try, we go the family membership for $40. We plan to go back for a fishing trip on Saturday. (They bait the hooks, cast the lines and the kids get to pull them in, catching mostly sea weed, or so I'm told.) Had we been better dressed for cold, windy weather, we would have stayed for the marsh walk, a guided tour through the marshland, or gone bird watching from the observatory. I'd love to go back one day for the kayak tour through the back bays.

This was a great rainy day activity and I'm sure we'll go a lot this summer. We're not going to wait for a rainy day to go back though. It would be worth a day of sunshine to explore.

Simple but Extraordinary

To my friends who jaunt off to distant locales and tropical islands for their vacations, to those who have been around the world twice, to those who rack up frequent flyer miles for their next reprieve, I have a hard time describing life here in Ocean City.

Nothing fancy here. If we wear shoes at all, they are flip flops. Bathing suits all day, followed by a comfy pair of fluffy sweat pants in the cool evenings. We rarely eat out, save for a morning walk to Dot's on Asbury for some donuts or butter cake or an evening trip to Kessel's Korner, also on Asbury, for ice cream sundaes or, the boys' favorite, "crybaby" water ice--a sweet and sour concoction that makes me cringe!

Yesterday was cool and windy here. The water was warm enough to swim, but the wind kicked up sand and made it hard to enjoy, except for the wind surfers, who entertained us by letting the winds fill their kites and carry them down the shore line. I called the kids in earlier than usual, and on our walk home, I wondered how I would entertain them for the afternoon.

After a shower and a snack, they headed outside and were joined by their friends next door. Soon, the air was filled with the joyful sounds of children laughing. Is there a better sound? No television, no video games, no toys. They had the time of their lives with an old phone book, some sidewalk chalk and a plastic bin. Our driveway became a secret fort. The front yard became an emergency clinic, where Will made paper towel "casts" for Carter's stubbed toe. They became pilots parachuting off our front porch-turned-airplane-in-distress. They became soldiers, involved in a dangerous secret mission.

At one point, I saw all four boys playing dead in the front yard--tongues hanging out of their mouths, eyes squeezed shut, stifling excitement and laughter. After a moment or two of silences, one boy slowly sat up and announced, "Hey, not everyone can be dead at the same time!" So two revived, and a game of emergency hospital began again.

At dusk, they enjoyed frozen ice pops, while sitting on the front steps, unabashedly trading popsicles so they could each enjoy every color and flavor.

It wasn't an ideal beach day, but that didn't stop the fun. Simple fun, but extraordinary nonetheless.

Working in a coal mine. . .

Workin' in a coal mine

Goin' down down down

Workin' in a coal mine

Whop! about to slip down



The lyrics to the old Lee Dorsey song are what go through my head when I watch my boys play on the beach. By the ocean, every kid has his game of choice. Some like paddle ball, others the boogie board. Some work diligently on sand castles, complete with sea shell kings and queens. But my boys, my boys like to dig.

We have a "only take what you can carry" rule when it comes to beach time, which pretty much means that each boy can take two toys--one for each hand. Will never varies in his beach toy choices--in one hand, his faithful boogie board, which he lets trail behind him as he pulls it by its leash, and in the other hand, a shovel. The handle of the shovel is bigger than he is. He purposefully swings the shovel up over his shoulder and marches off for a long day of play.

Once we hit the sand, Will finds his spot. As I set up my chair and towel, he starts to dig. And he digs until he hits water. Then he picks another, seemingly random spot, and begins the process again.

Today was no different. Will put his dowsing skills to work and diligently began to dig. But instead of water, he found treasure. No, not chests filled with gold and gems, but little boy treasure. He found parts of a horseshoe crab shell and various parts and pieces of other dearly departed crustaceans. With his big shovel, he plopped each find into my open beach bag, hoping to take his treasure home, to protect it all summer long, and to take it with him for show-and-tell on the first day of the second grade.

Will does not dig alone. Carter is often his partner in crime. And, the two of them have made fast friends with our new summertime neighbors, two boys next door named Michael and Matthew. Maybe it is a boy thing, because they love to dig, too.

Most of the time, I'm happy to supervise the digging process. Today, the moms got to join in. I'm not quite sure how it started, but before we knew it, we had four boys buried up to the neck in sand.

And then, after a long day of watching the boys' beach labors, we suddenly found ourselves with four still, quiet boys. And we enjoyed about five minutes of peace before their digging began. . .again.