I've had lots of good blog ideas over the past week or so but, as is to be expected over the next year, life got in the way. Bear with me, I'm subsisting almost exclusively on peanut butter and jelly (with some cheesesteaks and mac and cheese on the weekends--not so bad) and I'm at least 3 episodes behind on The Hills, so obvi blogging isn't my first priority.

Better late than never though: This was my first July 4th since college not doing some sort of group weekend. We might have to rev up that tradition again for next year, but I enjoyed myself thoroughly at the old-standby Jersey Shore. Plenty of good weather, drinks, barbecue, and even hitting the jackpot video poker-style at the Borgata. Sometimes I forget that I'm over 21 and I'm allowed to gamble so I grabbed my winnings and ran out of the casino, but they let me keep it.

The only slight issue with the weekend was the family adventure on the high seas. We decided to take a trip around the island in our small whaler rather than just fishing on Sunday afternoon, and we moved calmly (and slowly) up to island through the no wake zones to the inlet north of Atlantic City. Things looked a little choppier than I'd like, but I'd never done this before and was assured the whole trip would take about an hour, and since we were already at the hour mark, I didn't want to backtrack over the plodding route we'd taken. So we're busting through the inlet, flying over waves, smacking down on the water, generally having a good if slightly painful and damp time. Then, next thing we knew, we're in the middle of the inlet and still a good mile from the ocean straightaway with no land in sight because of the height of the waves that are now hitting the boat with such force that we're all soaked and there are several inches of water in the boat. "We're almost there, it'll be smooth sailing once we're in the ocean" shouts Captain Baman, whose boating skills are questionable at best, and right on queue, a wave actually crashed over the entire boat engulfing us. Fortunately that was enough to get the boat turned around so we could travel home safe and shivering.

After that was a short week followed by a trip to Beantown. I know as a Philly person I'm not supposed to admit this, but I like Boston. It's a lot like Philly, and the accent I used to find annoying is just funny to me now. I got to watch a little more Red Sox than I like (and almost missed my flight waiting for Big Papi to bat), but I do admire their devotion. Except there weren't nearly as many hats this summer, 2 years after the championship. I actually saw more Boston sports stuff in Aruba. But of the people wearing hats and clothes, a good 80% were Boston sports-related. I do not recommend going to Martha's Vineyard. It's just a long ferry ride to spend a lot of money. But other than that, the weekend was good, from the Cape League baseball (just like in Summer Catch!) to the family to the beach. It was a nice change from being in DC and watching the multiple murders every night, including in Georgetown, and dealing with the endless traffic. I even was pushed off the road by the HOT 99.5 van as soon as I got back. I'm sure they were in a really big rush to get somewhere and play a HOT Pussycat Dolls song, but they couldn't have possibly changed lanes so I could merge? Not HOT.