A Month Left of Summer

I love Wednesday mornings in Ocean City. After I drop the boys off at camp, Charlotte and I head down town for a farmer's market. It seems like such a local thing to do--buying my fruits, veggies and other treats from area farmers. A lot of other people seem to enjoy the same routine, strolling down a section of the Tabernacle grounds, sturdy baskets and shopping bags in hand.

At this farmer's market, I always see one of the teachers from Carter's school. She helps out with afternoon carline, so I see her, during the school year, almost every day. In the beginning of the summer, I ran into her at the farmer's market--she has an Ocean City vacation home on the bay.

Since then, I run into her every week. We briefly chat about clams (her favorite weekly purchase) and hot pepper jelly (mine) at the farmer's market. Then, our eyes wide and our hearts heavy, we launch into our countdown until school starts. It's not something I really want to think about yet, but I realize that the clock is ticking. This week marks the end of July and once August is here, September is not far behind.

As I think about our summer coming to a close, I start to panic a little. Did we have enough fun? Did we do all we wanted? I keep finding myself reviewing a mental list of activities, making sure that we've really taken advantage of this great town and all that it has to offer.

So, this week, we really tried to cram it all in.

Monday, we met cousins Kate and Lindsay in Sea Isle for an afternoon at the beach. The evening was welcomed in with a torrential downpour, making us all run for cover. After we cleaned up and the rain stopped, Lindsay took us back down to the beach for the Sea Isle lifeguard races. Lindsay was a Sea Isle lifeguard in the past, and her brother Matt is now. At this event, lifeguards from Sea Isle, Upper Township and Wildwood competed in tests of strength and endurance, including swimming, rowing, paddle boarding and running. It was an exciting evening. Even not knowing anyone competing, it was a fun thing to watch. Will especially enjoyed watching it, especially the rowing. The ocean was rough that night, and the air was cold, making the competition that much more difficult, I'm sure. We'll definitely try to catch it again next year.

Tuesday, after camp, we headed to the Wetlands Institute. It was a nice, hot day. I had planned an afternoon at the beach, but Will was itching to get back to the Wetlands. In the aquarium, they have an empty tank, waiting for a local octopus to fill it. The boys are intrigued by this vacant exhibit. The first thing they always want to do is check to see if they found an octopus yet. (If you yourself are interested, I can save you a trip and tell you that there is no octopus yet, but they have the tank all ready for its capture.) We looked at our usual favorite exhibits and then took a stroll down the Salt Marsh Trail to the dock. The boys have gotten good at identifying the different creatures and plants along the way, remembering details that I have long forgotten. They could probably lead the Salt Marsh Safari themselves. When we reached the dock, we were lucky enough to spy a horseshoe crab running around the shallow waters of the bay.

By the time we got back to the main building, it was time for the aquarium feeding, something we've never seen before. What a treat. I'd expected an intern to throw a couple of fish into a tank and call it a day, but I should have known to expect more from this great place. One of our favorite interns, Heather, brought out a box with a turtle named Pretty Girl in it. She talked a lot about the turtle to the spectating children, explaining what turtles do, what they eat and how they know Pretty Girl is indeed a girl. Then, each child got to feed the turtle, which just involved throwing a pellet of turtle food into her container. Next, the children got to help feed a boxful of baby turtles. They feasted on brine shrimp. Finally, Heather opened up the touch tank and the kids got to learn a little about each of the animals in it, including horseshoe crabs, sea urchins, fiddler crabs and sea stars. Carter held the sea urchin, which wiggled its spines as it sat in his hands. He was thrilled. Will held the horseshoe crab, an animal that has really captured his attention this summer.

Tuesday night, we headed to the Bayside Center for a program on Arctic Ice Caps. Although a little dry for most of the children in the room, it held Will's attention. They talked a lot about polar bears and Will was full of facts and figures following the presentation.

After camp today, we went to the Ocean City Historical Museum for their drop in program. It was lead by Miss Elyse, who we met last week at the Bayside Center, and my boys were the only ones in the program today. She gave them a brief tour of the museum, with a special emphasis on the history of the boardwalk. Then, they sat down together to decorate shells with beads, buttons, glitter and pipe cleaners. They loved it. The Museum does a drop in program every Wednesday for $2 a child. We'll definitely try it again next Wednesday.

After leaving the library, we headed to the playground at 9th and Bay. We pass it during our excursions to the Bayside Center and Carter especially has been dying to try it. During the heat of the afternoon, most playgrounds are empty as area kids are soaking up the sun on the beach. The boys and Charlotte had a great time exploring every corner of this playground, which includes a digger that the boys can sit in and scoop up sand, and monkey bars that are low enough that Carter could easily swing across. Our favorite playgrounds on the island have each earned a special name from us, meaningful to only us. This playground, forever to be known as the "purple and green playground" joins the ranks of "the fish playground" at 52nd and Haven, and "the playground that used to be wooden" at 34th and West.

From the playground, we went to the Bayside Center. We've been there plenty of times in the evening for programs, as well as the Night in Venice, but never during the day. They accept donations, but entrance is free to the public. Again, we were the only people there. We've gotten to know the woman who works there and she cheerfully opened up the new touch tank for the boys. They very knowledgeably identified and handled most of the tank's inhabitants, including horseshoe crabs, sea urchins, a spider crab, a hermit crab and more. The Center also has a huge sand box full of ocean treasures--shells and egg cases of all shapes and sizes--and a huge magnifying glass. The boys loved looking at all of these familiar things under the microscope, paying close attention to the new details. In the back of the room, the kids could sit at the huge picture window with a pair of binoculars to spot birds flying over the bay. The Center also has a room of life guard memorabilia, as well as another room of ship models, but the touch tank and shell exhibits were the favorites of my crew. The beach was really windy today and this was a great alternative.

But we didn't stop here. Wednesday is $6 pizza night at Blitz's Market, a deal that can't be beat! I picked up two pies and met our friend Julie and her three boys at the 34th Street Playground (otherwise known as "the playground that used to be wooden." The old wooden climbing structure was recently replaced by several modern structures, and the old wood chips replaced by a nice, soft rubber ground cover.) We had a picnic dinner of pizza and juice boxes. The kids could hardly contain themselves long enough to sit down and eat a slice of pizza. They were soon up and running, having the time of their lives, even Charlotte. She discovered a small slide at the playground. I'd take her to the top of the slide and drop her down into Julie's waiting arms. Charlotte would wiggle herself free, and run over to me to start the process over again.

The sudden rain storm didn't dampen the fun. We moved our party indoors to Pino's, a nearby ice cream shop. The rain really started to fall as it was time to go home. We don't usually drive to this playground, but I am so glad we did today. We ran to our car, laughing at what we have started to call God's shower. The boys insist that it got them clean enough to avoid a bath.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. Beach, boardwalk, activity or craft? We're all going through our mental checklist, making sure we've done it all. Yes, I love Wednesdays in Ocean City and am so glad to have a few more before summer comes to an end.

Crabby Kids

Thanks to our time at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, the boys have a new fascination with the water. Dip a net into the water, you almost always pull out something interesting. They love a program at the Wetlands Institute called Catch of the Day, where kids get to pull a seine net through the water and dump its contents into a large tub where they can inspect the wonders of the bay: minnows, shrimp, mussels, jelly fish and seaweed, lots of seaweed. At times, they also give each child a hand net. They love to sprawl on their bellies on the wooden dock, purposefully scooping out the bay's treasures to inspect. Will, surprisingly, is not squeamish and is happy to hold a squirming minnow between his fingers.

Both boys were excited at the prospect of crabbing today. After a brief session of Internet research, Will and Craig headed to a local bait and tackle store to buy some traps. There, they also received the lay of the land, picking up some bait and the locations of some good places to go crabbing.

So, joined by Colleen and Brian, we piled in the car and headed to our location. I’m not sure I want to tell you exactly where, since we were the only ones there to crab (we were joined by some spectators) and had a moderate amount of success.

For bait, Craig had picked up two frozen fish, which he bravely hacked right in two for a fishy set of heads and tails. There was some debate by Carter whether “front bait” or “bottom bait” would be better for catching crabs. We started with the tail section and threw our nets into the bay.

Within a few minutes, we had caught our first crab, a feisty blue claw, so angry at his capture. We used our leftover bucket of chicken container from a recent dinner at Blitz’s market to hold our crabby prisoners. Once we had a few crabs, we had to put the lid on to keep them from escaping.

After a few hours of crabbing, we had six good-sized crabs. That was enough for dinner for all of us. Will and Carter wanted to keep them, but were undecided about dinner. I believe they had delusions about having six new friends for their hermit crabs. Will had the honors of depositing the crustaceans back into the bay, with he did with one delft swing of the bucket.

We’ll go back again, probably to catch the same six crabs. We all had fun catching crabs, but am not sure we have the heart to actually eat them. We'll save our crab appetite for a restaurant, where we don't know the crabs quite so well.

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.