Post senior prom, everyone in my senior class - and I mean everyone - drove down to the Jersey shore (pronounced "shoo-uh") for the weekend. When you graduate from high school in New Jersey, it's just what you do. On the way to dinner on the boardwalk one night, we even saw our high school principal, Mr. Padian, biking down the main strip in Seaside without a shirt on. He had muscles? Who knew? Anyway, I'll spare you the details of everything that happened on that post-prom weekend, but let's just say it involved Zima, Blackberry Jack, and a deck of cards and leave it at that.

Growing up, families in town would go "down the shore" for the summer (tip: New Jerseyans never EVER say "to the ocean" or "to the beach") and return all brown and leathery. My parents would take us down to Point Pleasant, our favorite shore point, for the day where we would walk along the boardwalk, play games at Jenkinson's Pavilion, catch sea crabs, and eat vinegar fries to our heart's content.

Many years have passed since I've been to the shore, since we usually visit in the fall, so it was high time to return! There was no Zima involved this time, though. Sorry, Snooki.

We decided to drive down to Spring Lake, a small, quiet town right on the water. For lunch, we ate at The Mill Restaurant, which was lovely...

We walked around the town a bit...

...before heading to the beach so Luci Belle could put her feet into the sand and ocean for the very first time in her life. It was such a gorgeous day - look at that sky...

What's this stuff??

The waves were pretty rough, and when the first time one came in, she got startled and grabbed my shirt. Pretty scary if you've never seen one before!