Fun family traditions

Proverbs 17:6 Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father!

One of my favorite family traditions when I was a little girl was going to Cape May for summer vacation. My mom LOVES the ocean, she could totally live on the beach! (Now I know where Julia gets it from). My dad enjoys making my mother happy...he is not a beach fan, but he does like sitting on the shore with a good book or a camera, its the artist in him I guess, he hates sand though and I always wondered why he would wear moccasins at the beach, but that was just him :)

Mom and Dad would take the 2 hour drive to cape may and me and sara would play car games like name all the state license plates, sing songs, and listen to dad tell us stories. Plus dad loved the drive down to cape may and he would always point things out to us along the way (even though we saw the same thing every time, we would say, "cool daddy!")

Once we would settle in to our hotel mom would immediately want to go right to the water and we would too! Suits on, sunscreen on, flip flops, let's go! I loved going into town in the evening and shopping at the mom and pop stores and getting ice cream!

Well, needless to say when we got married I wanted us to have our own family traditions. Cape May is one of them. We try to go every year right around our anniversary in August. We used to stay at lovely bed and breakfasts but now with the kids being so young we stay at hotels right off the beach which is also nice.

My new favorite family tradition started 3 years ago when the Weaver's moved to Pennsylvania. We drive to their home during Labor Day Weekend which only takes a little over an hour, and it is a beautiful drive, plus we get to pass through Peddlar's Village (a really cute shopping area). We try to stay for a few days so we can just sit and enjoy their company...we miss them so much! The first year we did it we were pregnant with Julia. The second year we did it we had Julia and that is the picture taken above. (John Dimare joined us, my doula's son is best buds with Luke). This past year we brought both kids and it was the first time we didn't sleep over...I didn't want to have Mark keeping everyone up at night, even though the Weaver's insisted we just stayed for the whole day.

Usually we all share a meal together Christy's style and then we share a meal McInerney style! Last year John and I cooked chicken francaise and pasta! We go to church together. We go to Peddlar's Village and walk around and shop. And we always go to the park by their house because the Weaver kids are so athletic! And we always end our time with...ICE CREAM...Bill and John always compete with who can eat more...Bill always wins!!!

Family traditions are so special because when that time of the year comes you are so excited for that special time to happen, you look forward to it, and once you are there you feel so blessed that you had another year to celebrate life and love with your friends and family.