THE ROCKAWAYS.

Summer is quickly winding down, and Chelsea kept reminding me that daddy hasn't gone to the beach with us all summer. These months are too precious to waste, including quality time with our children, and even though I feel like I'm doing my part as a mother to spend time with my teen, almost tween, and five year old  (including conversing with my 20 year old long distance!) I know that with my husband, we can do more. And family time is the best!

With Jon working half a day on Saturdays it's pretty impossible to be able to put a full day in at the beach, but this past weekend I didn't care. Once I got home from running a few errands I walked into the house grabbed his swim trunks, and with a stern voice said, "I know we have bills, and that your work so hard so that we can have what we need, but you really need to find time to spend time with these kids. So can you please get dressed because we are going to the beach." After a long sigh he hesitated and said, "what the heck, let's go."As much as i appreciate my hard working husband I just had to put my foot down. Making money is good and all, but family time is more important, and I don't ever want to lose sight of that!

The kids were excited, and we decided to head out to Rockaway beach. I absolute love this area in new york. The sand feels like powder, and as soon as you approach the water the waves immediately cover your torso, and instead of jumping on the waves, they jump on you! I'm grateful that Jon finally came so that he can go knee deep in water with the kiddos. For some reason Noah trusts him more than me when we go in the water. Probably because he heard that "daddy is a better swimmer than mommy."

While the kids were in the water with papa I read a few chapters of this book, and so far it's pretty good! After a while I stood up, and because I forgot to bring my bottoms was only able to get my feet wet, and snapchatted a few moments with the kiddos which you can see here, at r_jorgensen. That's my user name in case you were wondering. ;-)

Before we knew it, it was 7pm, and the lifeguards began calling everyone to get out of the water. Not sure what the rules are here compared to jersey beaches, or if there is a "swim at your own risk" sign, but it was getting late, and so we sat down, and dried off for a bit. Noah laid on the blanket with his binoculars, and saw so many dragonflies, and shrimp flies flying around. He even saw a helicopter too! 

We decided to see if we can find that fish taco stand that I hear every new york blogger ranting about, but to no avail. Apparently they haven't been open all year, so hopefully they'll be open next year summer so we can try them out. 

We did, however explore the rockaways just a little. We drove around, and found so many cool places in the corners of hidden pockets between 98th street, and 117th. The place we wanted to eat at was closed which gives us another reason to come back, and so before we headed out back into the city I decided to get down, walk around with the kiddos, and snap a few photos. 

Just a few, because, you know...we were about two hours away from home, needed to grab a bite, and be on our way!  

Told ya! I only captured like two photos, but snapchatted the whole time at the beach. The sun had gone down, and I was surprised that my iPhone even captured these photos without the flash, and that they came out pretty nice, but in order for us to capture more memories, and explore more shops at Rockaway beach before they close here is to leave early in the morning when the roosters are up! 

Happy Monday, and enjoy the rest of summer!