Last chance souvenirs

We went down to "Exit 0," as they say in these parts, to visit Cape May and Sunset Beach for our final day of vacation. Cape May is one of those cute little villages with lots of restaurants and over-priced shops. However, between there and Sunset Beach, the kids were able to come up with the perfect souvenirs that had been evading them all week on the Wildwood boardwalk.

Olivia found a little stuffed hermit crab, which came in second only to the live hermit crab she has been begging for all week but that we vetoed out of hand because we know we'll end up cleaning out the cage and trying to keep Greta the dog from eating the little critter. (She has since declared that she will never eat crab again. I think she's down to crackers and American cheese at this point.) All week she had $20 of her own money burning a hole in her pocket, but she held out and found what she wanted, with enough left over to buy a dolphin visor and still have some change in her new wallet.



Chiara fell in loved with a cheap plastic cat. The thing is pretty darn tacky, but it was only $3.99, and she has been carrying it around and talking to it as if it came right from the Humane Society. Too cute.


Noah settled for a small car, a black bear, and a pirate sign for his bedroom door that warns the rest of us to stay away. I'm thinking of getting one of those to hang from my forehead.

Even mommy and daddy did not go away empty handed. The Sunset Beach gift shop has great T-shirts and sweatshirts really cheap. We're talking $10 for a hoodie with Cape May across the front. Really nice. Remember that if you head this way.

So now we're doing laundry and starting to pack up our roof rack for the big trip home tomorrow. We'll spend one more evening here, eating Rick's Seafood, walking on the beach, flying kites and taking in the beauty of the ocean before going back to our real life. I'm trying not to think about work, even though I can feel it trying to push its way into my sunny beach thoughts.