family time! : by amy

This is going to be kind of cheesey, but I really, really love family time!  Husband, baby and me.  I love going to Wegman's with them, the farmer's market, the mall, the beach, pretty much anywhere!  It's even more fun when extended family is around and also a nice break if I need to turn my attention to errands/chores, but nothing quite beats those rare occasions when we can spend the whole day together as just the nuclear family.  We have the luxury of living <10 minutes away from my in-laws (and it is honestly, sincerely a real luxury), so we see them a lot during the week.  Logan's only aunt and uncle who live in NYC love Logan so much that they don't want him to forget them, so they drive down pretty frequently.  And Logan's future-best-friend, Miles, lives in Brooklyn so we often make day trips to visit them and get out of the 'burbs for awhile.  On top of that, my husband is doing part-time graduate school while working full time, so he spends most of his free time and parts of the weekend studying.  Add in the weekly chores and errands and finding quality nuclear family time ends up being pretty tough when there are only 8 non-working days in a month!

But the husband just took his final exam and wrapped up the summer semester, so we celebrated by going to the Jesrey shore-- Logan's first time!

at Spring Lake, NJ

It was our first time at Spring Lake, and I would highly recommend it for those with families.  It's a really clean and pretty beach-- no fist-pumping, drinking or Snooki-look-a-likes here.  There are gorgeous beach houses, a long, clean boardwalk, lots of cyclists and super-nice people.  Parking is free but the beach admission is $9/person, which we were happy to pay considering how nice and clean the beach was.  Not too many places to eat by the beach, but there's a 2-floor pavilion with a snack shack which is very convenient for families.  They have a very cute, Hamptons-esque downtown a few blocks away from the shore.  Other great family-friendly beaches nearby are Sea Girt and Manasquan.  Unfortunately, we ended up getting rained out so we couldn't stay for too long, but we will be back, hopefully before the husband starts the new semester!

What are some of your favorite family activities/trips?