Life. It [Continues]

I wish I wasn't writing this right now. Like I said, it happened way way way too fast. It seems like we were just getting started and now we're home. I miss the beach. I miss the room. I don't want normal life to contine. FYI I may not write this all out tonight. My wrists are already hurting and I barely typed anything. This is going to be painful. I guess I'll start with the morning of the 22 (Monday)

Monday August 22, 2005 (Day 1)
I didn't sleep well that night. I was restless to fall asleep and quick to wake up. We weren't leaving until after 12:00 so I had a bunch of time to aimlessly do stuff around the house. I finished up my packing and changed the sheets on my bed. I tried to straighten the room a bit too but it wasn't working.
Reid and I had preorded this Nintendo game at EBgames that was supposed to come in that day. I was just as eager to get it as he was but it was kinda funny when he called the store to see if it was in but then started crying when he found out it wouldn't come in until the 23 and they wouldn't hold it for us. Arrangements were made. Nana picked them up for us but wow was he ever dying to get that game. Mom left earlier in the morning to get some last minute stuff. I wanted to go with her to get these two books I wanted but because mom is so great, she brought them home for me. I was so glad. That book made the vacation even more perfect. I finished it by the way today.
Slowly the day progressed and the van was packed. Here's a nice little picture of it. Yeah. It was packed tight. That was even before a lot of the stuff got in. It did go up to the roof.

When we managed to get out on the road after numorus run throughs, clean ups, and arrangements, we had to make a stop at CVS for Rachel to pick up her face cream. We stayed in the van. I read. The cream wasn't even there. It was a waste of time. We got back driving and things went fine. I read because it was a really good book and oh my gosh, I wasn't the only one reading...... Rachel read for a bit of time but the picture doesn't do much justice. She stopped after 5 minutes. Figures.....

Before long, we arrived at the Charlroy. We went into the check in area and got our room key. Everyone headed back to the van to start carrying in bags. That was funny. As we were all proceeding to carry the stuff into the room, we kept getting looks from the people in the pool because there was just no end to our luggage. It went on for a good 20 minutes or more of carrying in. Then we had to arrange the room and unload all the bags. I took my usual corner of the room with my air mattress. It felt so good to be back in the room where I had left off last year. Once all the food was set up, it looked back to normal. The first thing we did, like always, was eat the tuna. Mom made it this year. I hate to say it but it wasn't quite as good as hop pop makes it. No biggie. It was still tuna and it tasted ok. I fixed myself a nice plate of chips and tuna and soda and teddy grahams and watched cartoon network by the bed. This is what I miss. Everything was like always. I loved it.
Soon after eating, the plan was to walk across the street to the pier over the water and watch the water and the beach. We stood around there for about 10 minutes before the kids (I'll refer to Rach, Reid, and Riley as that) started to itch to get to the beach. I was bought a beach pass for myself because I'm over age now and we went back to the room to get ready. Reid and Riley went in the pool because they got done fast and waited until we were ready. Soon enough, I was where I wanted to be laying in the sun. The kids went in the water kinda far while I made my progess to about waist level if that. It was only the first day so I wasn't to eager to go all the way in plus I didn't feel like getting soaked. I watched. Then I did some backflips in the sand. Dad got a picture of one later on. Ilike this picture.
So this first half beach day was fun. We returned to the room after about 2 hours and went to the pool area to wash the sand off our feet. Everyone was covered. I jumped in the pool after and swam around for a bit. This was the first of only two other times I would go in the pool. I wish I had gone in more. When everyone was all hungry from being in the water, we decided to go the Saw Mill for dinner. There, Reid and I made the mistake of ordering the buffalo chicken sandwhich (I don't know what came over me) but yeah it was really hot. So hot I ended up trading it over to dad for his cheesteak. My mouth was burning the rest of the night and I was fearing heart burn but luckly it never came. The service took awhile that night. It was real crowded and it seemed like forever because we were all hungry. I spent the time playing Eye Spy. That game never fails.
After eating, it was boardwalk time for a bit. We walked not so much to play a lot but more to familiarize with the stuff. What's bad is I won more this night when we weren't trying than I did any other night. My luck was off this year. It went to Reid. I can't explain how weirdly lucky he got but let's just say that night he won me my sour patch kids at a wheel. That's pretty bad. I can't even win myself my sour patches anymore. I DID do okay in Lucky Leos. I picked up a popular squishy ball and a dog in the cranes. That was the last and only thing I won in a crane. That depresses me so I don't want to talk about it. Let's just say it was an off year. There was nothing good in the machines and they didn't pick up for squat. I was dissapointed in Leo this year. He let me down. The first night was just about over and so is my typing for tonight. I'll continue tomorrow with more that I feel like typing. That day ended with us lounging around the room and setting up the sleeping arrangements. Dad, Reid, and Riley in one bed. Mom and Rachel in the other. I had the air matress. It wasn't too good of a sleep for me. I wasn't used to sleeping on an air matress. It took me awhile to sleep even though I was real tired. I read a lot that day too. I believe I read around 100 pages in the book just that day. I told ya it was good. I feel asleep holding the dog I won from last year, which I brought. What else is new? The shore was back. I didn't want anything to have changed.
[Will pick up here tomorrow.....]

-Tuesday August 23, 2005 (Day 2)
I tried waking up early. I really wanted to be up early so I could get a good start on the day. I did alright. I was up at 8:45, which was well before the kids got up. Mom and dad were already out getting coffee and walking so I got up and got dressed and ready right as they came back to the room. Actually, it was only dad who came back to the room. Mom was at the beach already sitting. So I grabbed my book, chair, and beach pass and walked over to the beach. It was already getting hot out but it was perfect for getting a tan. There weren't too many people out yet so it was very relaxing. I read for awhile with mom until the rest of everyone came. (Maybe like an hour later) I was comfortable so I kept reading. I practically spent this beach day with my book the whole time. There were a few times when I went in the water (actually it was more than just a few times) but I didn't go in too far. Riley was funny. She was picking up jelly fish and carrying them over to us in the chairs. She wasn't scared at all.
I'm a little hazy around here but around lunch time I went back with everyone while mom stayed at the beach. We were hungy so we went back to the room and got tuna. Aftewards, I believe I went back with just Reid at first then dad, riley, and rachel followed. Like I said, I'm hazy on these finer details but the point was we were back and forth on the beach and in the room all week so the details have gotten jumbled. Basically, it was the beach day. The plan was once we left we would order pizza at the saw mill, take it back to the room, and watch Big Brother. That's what we did. I was taking a shower at this time too. Actually, we ate the pizza a good 2 hours before Big Brother started. Once finished, dad, Reid, and I headed to the boardwalk to go to Lucky Leos and stuff. Reid used his points to buy a shirt there that I really wanted and shouldn't have pointed it out to him. Once he got it, I didn't want it because there was no point in both of us having the same shirt (my opinion) When we returned to the room we were expecting to find mom, Riley, and Rachel there but were suprised to find that they weren't there. There was no note or anything so we figured they left. We were only gone for 45 minutes so we didn't believe they had gone anywhere far. Realizing that the stroller wasn't in the van, we really believed they hadn't gone far. Time goes by and they still aren't back. We were getting a little worried so we walked up the boardwalk a bit to look for them. Went all the way back to Lucky Leos and still no sign of them. I kept telling dad to call the cell phone so we didn't have to go crazy searching but he said it was more fun looking. Figures. After a half hour of searching it was now 7:30 and Big Brother was on in a half hour. They had to be back in the room now right? So back at the room, we were now alarmed that they weren't there. Dad used the room phone to try mom's cell number but it didn't work. I admit I was a bit worried but there was nothing we could do. I turned on the tv and waited for Big Brother. Right at 7:55 though I hear Dad yell that they're here but I was torn between running out to see them or wait a minute for BB to come on. I ran out. Turns out they had walked all the way up farther than we looked without Riley's stroller and had won a toy on the wheel. It took awhile for them to get back. That solved it so we watched BB as Dad and Reid watched a DVD. That got a little crazy with two tvs going and a wild kid (aka Riley) SHe was in hyper mode jumping on my bed. I got a headache. As soon as BB ended, dad had already fallen asleep and Reid was getting there. I layed down and once again it took me awhile to fall asleep. But I did, and what I considered to be one of the funnest days was over.

Wednesday August 24, 2005 (Day 3)
Ride day. [Will continue writing later.....]
Once again, I woke up at 8:45. Dad was cleaning the room when I woke up. I got ready and dressed and met mom down at the beach with my book. The rides didn't start until 12:00 so we had a lot of time before going to the pier. We started walking the boardwalk about like a half hour before the pier opened and after we had gotten all ready to go on rides. It was the day where you buy a wrist band and go all day long. We were on Casino Pier all the way down at the end of the boardwalk but the walk only took like 15 minutes. The gates weren't open when we got there so we waited for 15 minutes for them to open. Right away people starting pushing in for their wrist bands. The park was real empty at first while everyone was spreading out. The first ride we all did was the Ferris Wheel. Mom had a band this year so it was nice seeing her on rides. After the feris wheel, we split up. Dad, Rachel, Reid, and I went to the bigger rides while mom stayed with Riley and went to kiddy rides. It was a lot of fun when the park was barely crowded and we could get on whatever we wanted with practically no wait longer than 5 minutes. We rode everything from the Moby Dick to the Power Surge (personal favorites every year) It did get a little hectic when mom was going to take us on the scrambler in the dark (aka the Centrifuge) We were all crammed in this tiny room with a bunch of hyper kids waithing for the ride and when the doors opened, everyone crammed and pushed and shoved and it was real nasty. Reid and I got left behind so we decided not to go through with the ride. It was too chaotic and unorganized. That's what you get when you cram hyper hot and sweaty people in the dark.
Two and a half hours in the park we got more daring. Rachel and Reid started it by wanting to go on the sling shot. Reid did it last year with dad but he was going to do it again with Rachel this year. I chose to sit and watch them blast off into the sky, laughing the whole time. Never did I expect that when they got down, I would be coaxed into letting them blast me off next. I sat there with dad waiting to be sling shoted into the sky and I was so nervous. Especially with that camera on me, watching my every facial expression. I admit, I purposely acted scared a few times to add to the effect, but it was worth it. The ride was fun. 100 mph takeoff in 2 seconds. I would do it again. Just not in that same day. 10 minutes later I had a massive headache....I wonder why. We walked across the way to a cafe and got sodas and chicken. Oh man did that ever taste good. We were all so dehydrated and thirsty that that coke was one of the best in my life. Just what I needed. After all this, we took like another ride on the ferris wheel and another on the Enterprise but I was so exhausted. I just wanted to go back to the room. Eck. I'm a bit hazy here now. I remember Riley was tired and oh yeah I got it now. This was the time when Rachel had a bit of a well a bit of a troubling attitude. I think it's some phase she's going through so I just burried myself in blankets on the bed. I tried to fall asleep but I just can't do it when I force myself to. I think I ended up wrestling with Riley. :)
Yawn. Wow I'm trying to remember what else we did that day but I can't remember anything.
There we go. It hit me. Typing must spark something in my brain. This was the day Reid won the first moving picture at Coin Castle. He got it I believe on the way home from the boardwalk. After he got one, I wanted one and so did mom and Rachel. The plan was that night we would go back out to watch fireworks and try to win one then. By the way, all this time I haven't spent any money that nana gave us each. I was waiting for the perfect oppurtunity. I'll explain later but yeah nothing came. It depresses me to talk about.
We ended up watching fireworks from the pier across from the motel because everyone was too tired to walk out to the boardwalk. Plus, I wanted to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Out at the pier there was a good view of the fireworks over the water. I brought my digital camera and tried to take pictures of them but I was such a lousy photographer dad had to do it for me. Hehe that was embaressing. Here was dad's picture. It's hard to see but it was much better than mine. Everyone got a good laugh watching me take a picture.

When the fireworks ended, I had some more fun with my camera taking pictures of random things. Back at the room, while I watched the dancing show, dad, reid, and rachel went out to the boardwalk to try and win Rachel the hat she wanted. Mom and I had fun with the camera. She tried jumping on the bed but ended up with a sore back. Good thing I snapped that camera. Heh it's a good blackmail picture. But anyway, that was fun. When they came back, we took more pictures of us jumping between beds in mid-air. I love those pics. When the parents got angry, we settled and I blew up my air matress. I didn't have such a hard time sleeping this night. We were all tired from a super exhausting day.
*Side note* This was also the night Rachel had some problems with the sleeping arrangements and chose to take up the floor. Not the wisest choice in the world. That floor was hard and dirty. Yuck
[Will contine here tomorrow....]

EDIT: Okay after a brain racking and stressful thinking I've realized that there was more to^^^ that entry. It had to do with Reid winning the picture. Yes, he did win it but he also won 2 more. One for me and one for mom. I don't know how this slipped my mind but for some reason I was thinking he won us our pictures a day later. He didn't. They were all in the same day. So here's how it happened. Mom, Reid, and I go out to the boardwalk that Wednesday afternoon in hopes of getting lucky. As we walked, we tried playing some wheels but to no prevail. So we think that there is something wrong with our strategy. We try spinning around 3 times. Didn't work. We tried taking our time. Didn't work to some extent. What we should have tried all along, was let Reid to all the work for us. See, we were all in the Coin Castle trying desperating for more moving pictures. Must have played like 4 times in a row. Nada. Mom goes, hey you guys walk off, give me my space, and I'll win. (Not exact words but it was along those lines) So we did. I loiter around Coin Castle and watch people. Come back 5 minutes later and mom isn't thrilled. Nada. We're all bummed so we decide to walk across the way and sit in a bench until the time is right to play a wheel. Here's where things got freaky. Reid says he wants to go over by himself and try. At this point, we've basically given up because we've lost so many times but whatever. Mom gives him money and he goes over to play. He told us that if he won, we would know so we pay no attention to him. Sure enough, a minute later he's jumping up and down. At first, we believe he's joking us. This would have been just too weird if he won. Then the siren goes off. They had a winner and wow it was Reid. Couldn't believe it but he did it. I made mom take the picture she wanted and I would get mine later I said. Mom gets her picture and now it's win Ryan one time. I know that it won't be possible to win again. The odds are just so not going to allow it. I loiter because I don't want to play with my money. I knew we couldn't win again. So I walk around the corner with mom to play the purse wheel for Rachel. At the same time, Reid goes to play the picture wheel. Now there must have been some strange energy in the air at this point and a HUGE stroke of fortune because at the exact instant mom wins a purse on her wheel, Reid wins on his wheel. The lady at the picture wheel is in shock that this little boy just won twice in a row but she's smiling. It was pretty funny. I got my picture. I was happy. Rachel got a purse. She was happy. It was a good day. What a complete turn of events. But we did what we wanted to do. We perfected our strategy and it had nothing to do with spinning around 3 times. It all had to do with just one kid. Strange.....

--Rest of the day proceeded as written above--

Thursday August 25, 2005 (Day 4)
Here I go again. Typing another day. This is really getting long and fyi at this point, I've put in around 2 and a half hours of typing spread across the 3 or so days. That's a lot but I'm not giving up. I still have this last full day to write about. Too bad the details are starting to get foggy. I'll do my best. Let's see. I woke up somewhere around my usual time of 8:45. Still a little tired from the rides yesterday, I got up before any of the kids did and mom and dad weren't in the room. Today was going to be a mixed day. We would do a little bit of beach and boardwalk plus a lot of staying around in the room. This was the day that it was real windy. Mom and I went down to the beach to read like always but we didn't stay long because it was too hard to read in the wind. Mom was too busy watching the soccer team practicing on the beach to care about the wind anyway. Everyone was up back at the room. I sat down with my book and read on the bed there. The plan was that Aunt Debbie and the family would come down later on in the day. We had to do something in the meantime. But what?
[Tired of typing..will pick up another time]
Picking up today the 31 of August now. Well I kinda feel like shortening this out now because the meat of the trip was the last three days. So skipping over details, today was the mixed day. We went to the beach later on in the day and it was like a mini beach moment. Everyone was there and it was just like our beach day only with snacks and a shorter time. I layed out to get a tan more and I read. I didn't really go in the water at all this day. I had more fun making a seat in the sand. It was only comfortable for a little bit. Then it started getting itchy so I just settled for the chair. Later on, we were in the room waiting for the Hylkemas to come so I sat and read. When they arrived, we got ready and went out to the boardwalk for dinner. After walking all the way down to Casino Pier and after Riley had fallen asleep, we decided to eat at uhhh darn what was the name of the place??? It was some bar/restaurant that was new and right across from the ride area. We sat in the back of restaruant in the outside section and had moving swing seats. That was cool. I ordered the cheeseteak and thought it was real good but apparently no one else seemed to like the place. It may have been because they didn't like the service but it wasn't a problem to me. I don't get all worked up over that kind of stuff. The waitress had to correct the bill like 3 times before it was right so it took awhile to get out of there. Walking, we headed back to the room. Along the way, Reid stopped to throw some balls and proved dad wrong about how fast he threw. The funny thing is, all he won was a spongebob and a shirt for hitting the target twice. Kinda cheap for such a hard game.
This was BB night and I was missing the live eviction. We got back to the room just in time to see April win HoH (not that we wanted to see that) I thought we were good because it was tapping at home but it turns out that it didn't tape right. Instead of me taping the show for pm (timer set) I set the channel for am. I felt stupid and was dissappointed I missed Rachel's eviction. Oh well.
Once the show ended, all heck broke loose. It was like a war zone in there with the two squishy balls. I mean it was constant back and forth pegging and decking. I have to say, the adult responsible for causing this was most definately my aunt. She has a way of stirring up the kids. I layed on the bed and laughed. Taking it all in, it was a funny thing to watch. No one knew how to settle down once they left. I had some energy left over and more important, a lot of money. I had to spend it. It was like pressuring me but I didn't know what I wanted. I'm not an easy spender. Mom would take me out to the boardwalk to look.
....This was the most painful night there. We walked down the boardwalk and I spent my money where I saw to. It's not like I wanted to just waste it away, I didn't at all. I just wanted something to go right. I wanted the perfect thing. Unfortunately, it never came. That's what depressed me the most. I played the games I wanted to win hoping that the luck would hit and my money would serve its purpose. At the end of the night, when the only thing it bought me was a sleeveless shirt, I was feeling really depressed and disappointed. This was the low moment of the trip. I was at the point where I was just throwing away the money and I didn't want to do that. It was such a heavy burden and I wanted to get rid of it. I regret that now. I should have used more of it towards Lucky Leos points. I should have used it maybe for new sunglasses. I should have used it maybe for another shirt. Anything really that would represent the year there. Instead, it got pushed into the little losers money hole at the end of the wheel. It sucked. Major.

The last boardwalk memory I have there is me and mom standing at the end of the boardwalk (well actually the beginning) and just looking like well what next. There was no next. We walked back to the room. At that point I had change. I had a bunch of quarters that didn't get put into animal machines. That's another thing. The animal machines were a total letdown. They only added to my depressed Seaside state because I couldn't win anything out of them. Zip. I won a dog and the squishy the first night. After that, there was nothing. What crushed me the most with that was I expect to win a lot from the machines year after year. When I don't win, it's like taking away everything that I'm used to. It sucked. Major.

Back at the room, I tired to convince myself that something would work out with my money in the morning. I only had like 3 dollars in quarters left but you never know. I went to bed unhappy. As much as I tried to make it seem like I spent my money wisely, I know I didn't. Yes, I know the money was given for us to spend and yes I know I sound sorta silly but at the time, it was painful. Basically, I wanted to spend the money perfectly and use it for the perfect things, but in reality it just wasn't gonna happen. Nothing can be that perfect. After all, it's only money.

Friday August 26, 2005 (Bye Bye Seaside)
After a rough night, I woke up alright. To be honest, the only thing that was keeping me in good spirits was going home to get my Are You Afraid of the Dark DVDs that had come in the mail by now and the nintendo game that nana picked up for us. I was really looking forward to getting home for that so it took a lot of the saddness of leaving off. I got up a lot earlier than normal. I believe it was 7:00. Mom and dad were already out but I hurried to get dressed and met them at the table ouside. Mom had just gotten back from watching the sunrise on the beach and I wish more than anything now that I had gone. I should have should have should have asked her to wake me up because on the last night I always like getting up early to watch the sunrise. No surprise, it didn't happen this year. Fortunately, I DID get out in time to walk to get coffee with them. I was glad for that. We walked down a block to the food mart and I got a muffin while they got coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker. I snacked on the muffin on the way back. It was nice and peaceful this early with none of "the kids" around. I wish I had done it more often. I read the paper on the outside table once back. Too bad the olympics weren't on like last year. I enjoyed reading the olympic recap every morning in the paper at Seaside.
I went back in the room once I was done and fell back asleep on my air matress. It was like 7:25 when I feel asleep. I woke up 20 minutes later when everyone else was starting to get up. They had never known I was out. As everyone started rising, we started packing. We packed away what seemed like we just set up. Again, the only thing that kept me going was the promise of what waited for us at home. We didn't go to the boardwalk at all today. We didn't go to the beach at all today even though it was shaping up to be a PERFECT beach day. That's what I really wanted from that day. The beach. I grew the most attached to the beach this year. More so than normal and I'm not too sure why. It may be because I'm finding more there than I used to on the boardwalk. Previous years, the boardwalk always overshadowed the beach and I never enjoyed it because I was so eager to win stuff. With my bad luck this year, I had no desire to walk the boardwalk. I hate saying that but it's true. It wasn't my year.
Slowly, the room went back to the way it was before we arrived. The coziness and all that made the Charlroy so great was gone. It was empty and never looked so sad. Actually I take that back. The year nana was there and we won the horses was the year the room looked saddest after we left. That year was tops. That year was the best. I miss it. Not to downplay the 05 though. I had a wonderful time. I also know that this was probably our last year so I tried to enjoy it. In many ways, I did. It was memorable for all the reasons mentioned in the blog. I mean if it wasn't why would I be reaccounting every detail. I want to go back. Believe me, I fall asleep at night to the sound of waves from my picture. It comforts me. I tell myself that one day I'll get a beach house there and never have to worry about only staying a week. I'll stay a couple months and live my dream vacation out as everyday life. That won't be until I'm a lot older though and I have friends that I would want to go there with. But forgetting this dream for awhile, I want to wrap this up. We checked out of the room at 10:45. Checkout was at 11:00. Piling into the car was crammed. But we did it. I got my one last look in the room and I'll never forget that image. That sounds sappy but eh it's true.

We drove out of Seaside without one stop on the boardwalk, without one stop at the beach, without any looking back. Our vacation was done. Time to get back to reality and time for me sharpen up my luck and crane skills. Next time we visit, there won't be any exceptions. I'm ready all ready.

My Conclusion
It's August 31'st as I finsih this. I believe I'm summed up the main points of the trip and I put in as many details as I could recur. Overall the trip was great. Measuring it up to last year's trip...well it didn't quite reach there on the perfect kodack moment scale. Don't get me wrong. There were PLENTY of good memories that came from this year but it's just too hard to compare to previous years. As for the future of Seaside trips....well that's hard to say. I've got the impression that we won't be doing any more 4 day visits. That's both a good thing and a bad. It's good on the account of too much of a good thing is bad. See, I look at it as if we keep doing it year after year, I'm only going to start comparing year to year and making myself crazy to have the perfect vacation. That won't be. Maybe if I just leave it where it is, I'll be good. At the same time, I think I don't ever want this to end. Who knows? It's hard to say. I'm positive though that we'll at least make day trips to the beach next summer. We better. On second thought what am I saying. Heck, I'll have my liscense by then. I'll take trips to the beach whenever I freakin want. Wow. I don't want things to change though just because I get my license. I'll still do family trips as often as I possibly can just with a few of my own trips thrown in there. So what more do I say. The Seaside 2005 trip is done. This Friday will be the one week since we've come home. It's too hard to fathom.

I'll end just by saying that I don't want this to be my last Seaside entry. Even if we don't stay another week, I will make sure to write each visit out. I miss it and above all, I miss the memories...........

~~~~Why else do you think I threw away 5 hours of my teenage life to sit here and type at my dang computer desk??? ~~~~~~~