I live sooooo close

There is a reason people live close enough to the beach to enjoy it without having to sit in hours worth of traffic and then have to look for parking for hours. Or have to pay up the ying yang when it's $1,000,000 per hour. And "they" know. "They" know you're going to pay whatever they ask in order to experience Coney Island. "They" know that after sitting in traffic and trying to find your own parking that you just wanna get out of the car. Especially on a holiday weekend.

It's one reason we love living so close to Coney Island. We can hop on the D train and ride it 6 stops and be there. We can enjoy all that Coney Island has to offer with no headaches. Ok... No traffic headaches. Toddler headaches are always around waiting to sneak up on you. We also live far enough away that we don't have to deal with it constantly.

Today was one such day. My friend Shanna and I took the kids to the aquarium today. Rob got home early so it was a perfect time for me to put Sean down for a nap & just enjoy some big kid play time. Shanna's son is very close to Meredith's age. It's so cute to watch them play together.

We met up at the train station (same one) and we were off. Of course Meredith is a big girl now so she had to stand up & hold onto the pole.



When we got there, we could not believe how long the line was. Fridays after 3pm are pay what you wish to enter. It's a great idea, except that the aquarium is only open until 5:45pm. Poor planning if you ask me. Thankfully though, I have a membership so we sailed right in. We didn't see much this time, but we were able to catch the sea lion show.





I am sorry to say that I encouraged a 3 year old boy today to be a menace. I swear I didn't mean to, but it was funny. And I can say it was funny because he's not my son. Ok here's the story. We found a spot in one o the front sections. It was hot & humid and had all the makings of unruliness to come. Seth really had it in for the man in front of us. And I mean bad. He started hitting him on the back and then poking him with his shoe. I truly felt bad for Shanna because I know what it's like to have the unruly kid in the group, but it was funny. But.... nowhere near as funny when Seth decided that his wife (?) needed a cracker to the back of her head. Again.... I don't condone this kind of behavior (neither did Shanna) and I totally know what it's like to have the unruly one. That's why I can laugh. And I totally didn't mean to laugh & let him see me laugh.

It was a good show and Shanna got a run for her money. And if you're reading this Shanna.... I was not embarrassed in the least. Maybe Seth sensed something about them.







I have to say that it's so nice to have a friend who has a kid Meredith's age living so close by. It makes getting together easy. But you know what's also nice.... having someone that has a son with Down syndrome that understands. She understands that while I accept his diagnosis and love him for him and blah blah blah..... She just gets it.

When Sean woke up from his nap, Rob & he came to meet us on the boardwalk. We stopped on West 10th street where the Coney Island Dancers had set up shop. It's pretty cool. They set up a dj and play music. My kind of music.....  Meredith wanted no part of dancing. In fact when I tried to dance with her, she cried. :( Seth had no problems dancing with me though. He was the star of the show. 





So we mosied on. Sean ate almost an entire hot dog. I had no doubts that he would enjoy a fresh Nathan's hot dog, but for real? That much? God bless that boy. He eats.



Meredith & Seth played in the sand. It was so nice to watch them. There is something so sweet about watching kids play.






 











We had an amazing start to our 4th of July weekend. Can't wait to see you guys on Monday :)


P.S. Can anyone tell that I'm so thrilled to have my camera back from the shop? Oh my god that might have been one of the longest weeks of my life.