a day at the shore

so this summer, we were lucky enough to have my little brother and his sweet wife come live in Philly for 9 weeks for an internship at PwC. unfortunately, we found out the week they got there that we would be moving back to the new york area, but that didn't stop us from enjoying every second of family time we could before we had to leave! it was such a blessing to have them there in our final weeks in philadelphia; they were there to lift our spirits when the stress of moving seemed too much, they helped us pack, and kept bea entertained at all times. they even offered to drive our car to connecticut so i wouldn't have to drive the uhaul by myself! they took miss bea and drove our car while i drove the uhaul with bradley by my side. i NEVER want to do that again, by the way. at least not on I-95. it was such a nightmare. and in case you're wondering, crossing the GWB in a uhaul costs 35 dollars. we had no idea. we offered to pay the toll in change {we had enough in coins!} but were denied. they said they'd send uhaul a bill. and then at one toll stop, some scammers tried to tell us we scratched their car because they thought we'd be like "OH! im so sorry, i didn't even see where my big fat truck is!" except, i'm FROM new jersey! you can't fool me. oldest trick in the book. i didn't hit your car. i know exactly where it is because i ain't no fool. anyway. we made it to CT, if only a little worse for the wear. and our baby was happy as a clam because she got to hang out with uncle pete and aunt cami for 3 hours.

2 days later, my mom came to town to help me unpack, since bradley had to get straight to work, and let me just say. that woman. is amazing. we had the whole place done in like 2 days. AND we were able to consolidate {and get rid of} a ton of stuff so that we didn't even need to get a storage unit like we thought we would have to. we fit everything we have into all of our {many} closets with much room to spare. so we had 2 days to go couch shopping {side-note: bought a couch on sale. love it. half-off and free delivery! only draw is that it'll take 7-10 weeks to get made. blegh. lucky for us we have friends that let us borrow a couch in the meantime}, get pedicures, get some decorating done, and visit with friends. we kept saying how dumb we were not to take before and after pictures, it was like night and day. {pictures of the apartment to come, btw. as soon as i get that couch...} then with a heavy heart, i sent her home. couldn't keep her forever. i guess i'll let her have a life.

we really felt peter and cami's absence our first week here, and since they were set to leave philly this past monday, we decided to make a trip to philly to give them a proper goodbye. so last friday, we headed down the olde turpike. ah, the new jersey turnpike, where litter is in abundance and dreams go to die. we had a nice visit with them friday night and then saturday we took a trip to the SHORE! we planned it so we could meet up with all of our closest philly friends at the beach in ocean city, nj. we'd been to ocean city before so we felt like pros and were all set to have this great beach day and then we got on 95 and it looked like this:

it took us FOREVER to get there! and since we had to grab breakfast on the way, we were there a solid 30 minutes after everyone else, but then we had to park like. really far away. so we walked TEN {loonnnnggggg} BLOCKS {!} to where everyone was set up, tried our best to shake off the grumbles and have a good time. which we did. it was SO nice to see such great friends and enjoy ourselves in such a fun place. i'm just so glad they aren't too far away.

a fresh pedi in the sand. does it get any better? 

bea was happy enough looking at the ocean...and that is about where it stops.

ignore the doofy look on my face.

I LOVE THESE GIRLS! and their babies (:

bea fell asleep on the eternal walk back to the car. it was seriously like 2 miles.

i couldn't bear to leave her asleep fully sitting up so i seized the opportunity for the ever-elusive "dead-weight snuggle".

goodbye kisses for aunt cami

i know we were only in philadelphia for a year, but the friendships we made there will be lifelong, and for that i am so, so grateful. philly is a tough place to live, and i know i wouldn't have made it through without those friendships! i'm also so grateful for the wonderful, if a bit brief, time we got to spend with pete and cami this summer. it was such a blessing to have them around, and not just because we used them shamelessly ;) it is hard to say goodbye, and there've been a lot of goodbyes this summer, but i'm glad to know that goodbyes are only temporary. whenever i have to say goodbye to someone these days, i always think of this quote by one of my faves: 

so grateful for forever families and great friends. life is good.