Bride-To-Be Came to Visit!

What’s been going on?  Summer is over and I’ve fallen behind.  

That’s not to say I haven’t posted, because I have, I’ve posted our year end summaries. I say “our” because Bill contributes to the summaries as much as I do – actually it’s probably fair to say more because he is the numbers guy who tracks all those numbers and uses those numbers to come up with the information I share here.  

I’ve also posted “Thoughts on Seasonal Camping” about our workamping experience this summer.  

There’s so much to tell you!

I took a few days off work to spend time with my daughter and my niece, checking off boxes on the wedding to-do list.  What fun we had getting our dresses fitted, choosing flowers, and having our hair and make-up done!  


While I was away, Bill stayed back at Country Oaks – I missed out on Star Wars weekend.  


The bride-to-be came back to NJ with me, to spend some time with Bill and I. I cannot adequately put into words how happy that made us!  Our son was able to join us for a shorter time, as he had planned time off to see the total eclipse down in TN with the Yaeger’s.  We had them both to ourselves!  YAY!  Don’t get me wrong – we love Derek but that was our last time together before our family of 4 became 5 and it was nice to have that.  

Walking the boards and a campfire were Murray family traditions that were revived and left us wishing we could stop time – just for a moment.   


Billy, sadly, had to head back to PA, but we had plenty of time with Michelle.  She had a list of things she wanted to do and we checked off the boxes as the days went by. 

Day at the beach
Burgers and dogs with Tony and Christopher

One day we took a ferry ride to Lewes DE. We parked the car and walked on. Our friends, Elizabeth-Anne & Morris, are workamping at Delaware Seashore State Park and they met us when we docked.  



Our first stop was visiting my nephew, Andrew’s, memorial cross.  We had not seen it in person and it was important to us to pay respects.  There are actually 2 crosses, one was put up right away by his friends, the second one was added later by my sister.  


I, for one, was exhausted and starving after the emotional time thinking about Andrew. His loss still brings great sadness. 

With Morris behind the wheel, we turned southeast toward he and Elizabeth-Anne’s summer home. We decided to cross the Charles W Cullen Bridge and get some lunch at the newly opened Big Chill Beach Club.  The views of the ocean are awesome!  

Yes – that’s the Atlantic Ocean behind us!
Awesome fire pit for cool evenings!
Beautiful bridge – we were told it is lit up with colored lights at night.


We are very grateful to Elizabeth-Anne & Morris for picking us up, driving us around and bringing us back to the ferry for our ride back to NJ.  We thank them for the tour of their summer campground home, it has been added to our places to visit.  Hope our paths cross again soon!

Bill finally got to check his “take the boat out” box during Michelle’s visit.  The wind picked up and we motored back sooner than we would have liked, but it was nice for awhile.  

Was a gorgeous sunny day

Dinner at Mikes Seafood in Sea Isle City – delish!

While Michelle was visiting, we got to watch the eclipse!  Where we were there was only 78% – not the total eclipse, but it was very cool anyway.  My boss, Bob, got out his welders mask, and also our friend, Tina, gave us a pair of special glasses.  I worked that day, and people came up to the office at the campground to look, safely, at the sun as the moon passed in front of it.  It was very exciting!  

This is my best pic – you can just see the moon passing in front – just a tiny bit
Looking through the special glasses
Special glasses
Welder mask
 

Quickly as she arrived, it was time for her to head home.  Bill drove Michelle to the bus, which took her to Johnstown, where Derek picked her up.  It was a very special time with our daughter before she walks down the aisle.  Bill and I will forever cherish those days, waking up and falling asleep with our girl under our roof; doing things together, sharing meals, walking the boards, toes in the sand with drinks in our hands.  

Bill stopped and had lunch with Billy before heading back to Country Oaks.  They enjoyed quite the meal. 

I’m sure Bill had just as big a smile on his face!

After Michelle went home, the countdown to the end of our Jersey Shore summer began.  We had less than 2 weeks to go!  

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16 thoughts on “Bride-To-Be Came to Visit!

    1. Was a great summer! He wished he had gotten the boat out more, but once is better than not at all!

  1. So happy to see that you all had the chance to connect and have a relaxing time together. I’m sure that come wedding time you’ll all be so busy taking care of details, and yes through tears of joy, yet in a much higher gear!! Much love your way <3

  2. The only thing better than owning a boat is having a friend to borrow one from. Karen is the sailor in our family, having lived near the lakes in Michigan. She’s tried to get me to figure out how to hang one from a fifth wheel. I promised we would rent one when we had the chance. Hmm, you guys have a boat… Maybe you can give us a ride…

    Nice to spend time with family and to have the time to stay as long as possible. I’ve come to believe those moments in time are part of our permanent memory in a physical place. Wonder if those memories are stored in our brains in memory cells or whatever. When we look at someone or experience an event with them, it goes into that physical memory space. This space become a part of them, here on earth, with us. As long as we are alive then some part of them lives here with us. Just thinking out loud, but that’s what I like to believe.

  3. Sounds like a perfect end to summer. I am sure you loved that special time with your children. Looks like you had a great time. Good luck with the rest of the wedding plans. I am sure the day will be special. We have our nieces wedding on the same day. Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

  4. Totally understand where you are coming from regarding spending time with your children all to yourselves! Our daughter recently got engaged and we’ve been able to spend some time planning the wedding with just her. We love her fiance, but there’s nothing like having your daughter all to yourself!

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