Lighthouses and War History

After our wild evening in Wildwood, we started out fresh the next morning for Cape May.  But first we took a quick trip up to North Wildwood to see the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse:

The lighthouse was built in 1874 and designed to look like a grand home in the hopes of building up the neighborhoods since the lighthouse was built in the middle of a fishing village. After touring the inside of the lighthouse and enjoying the views from the top...

we took a tour of the lighthouse's prize-winning gardens:

 

 

 

After our visit to North Wildwood - which used to be known as Anglesea - we drove down to Cape May.  We stopped to see the Cape May Lighthouse. The kids recognized it immediately for a lighthouse since it looks similar to Barnegat Light. 

We went to the nature center next to the lighthouse and learned about the plants and animals native to Cape May. Then we walked up to the beach to see this bunker built during World War II as part of the Harbor Defense Project of 1942.  When it was first built, the bunker was 900 feet inland and covered up with dirt and sod so it looked like a hill from far away.  Due to the natural erosion of the tip of Cape May, the bunker is now on the beach and thanks to continuous efforts to replenish the shoreline here, the bunker is no longer in danger of washing away!

The meadows near the lighthouse:

Checking the map:

Next we went to see what's left of the S.S. Atlantus, one of twelve concrete ships built during World War I.  This ship was used to bring American soldiers home from Europe and for transporting coal.  After being retired in 1920, the Atlantus was bought by a private company for the purpose of ferrying passengers between Cape May and Delaware.  Unfortunately, right before the ferry opened in 1926, a storm hit and the Atlantus broke free of her moorings, causing the ship to run aground at Sunset Beach on Cape May.  Here's what left of the wreckage:

And to finish out our little tour of Cape May's war history, we stopped to see the World War II Lookout Tower.  This tower was one of 15 stationed along the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware to help defend the Delaware Bay:

Sean thought the tower was neat, but Clare has a knack for picking up pebbles in her sandals, so she kept busy while Mommy and Daddy tried to get their dose of history!

 

Little Pink Biker

This afternoon, Clare woke up from nap before Sean.  We hung around, playing with toys, waiting for Seany to wake up, but then Clare asked to go outside to ride her bike. Mommy took her outside while Daddy stayed in to wait for Sean to wake up.



 

Sometimes we call Clare "Pinkalicious" - usually it's because she loves the Pinkalicious book series, but sometimes it's because of her pink-tastic clothing and accessories :-)

Clare stopped to inspect a caterpillar crawling on the sidewalk...

... and to admire her freshly-polished toenails - they only way she'll let me trim her toenails is if I paint them afterwards. Usually we go for a pale glittery color, but this time we went bold with "puh-pull fark-elly toes" (purple sparkly toes)!

The little miss called out to me - she wanted me to stop following her!

Throwing me some attitude with her hand on her hip:

I caught up to her and she told me her plans for the next few minutes - "we go back to home and see if my little Seany brudder is awake and eat big big snacks!  We can make ice cream?" 

 

And that is what we did!

Love those Wildwoods!

After visiting Lucy the Elephant, we went to down Wildwood for the day. We spent the afternoon and evening at the boardwalk riding rides, playing games, eating boardwalk goodies, and taking in the sights.  The kids' favorite part of the boardwalk was Morey's Piers -

We rode the Ferris Wheel and got a sweeping view of Wildwood and the beach!

Daddy and Sean on the tilt-a-whirl:

 

Clare watching:

When Sean got off the ride, Clare was so happy to see her "brudder" again!

Bumper cars:

"Dry-bing" boats:

Swinging:

Riding the Merry-Go-Round:

Cotton candy break:

More rides - flying with Daddy:

More driving and flying:

Not all the rides were a total success, however. Sean got upset on a 3-D pirate ride, but quickly recovered with the help of a cereal bar and the bumper cars. Clare did not like the Jack in the Box ride pictured below. She seemed excited about it and eager to try it since Sean was going, so on she went. She was so happy while the ride went up, up, up - but as soon as the ride started to go down and bounce, she was not happy!  The operator quickly let her off and the rest of the little riders - including Sean - had a ball :-)

No lasting harm was done and after a couple of more rides, we hit the boardwalk for dinner - boardwalk pizza and fries!  Yum!

First Day!



Sean's first day of Pre-K was yesterday!  He's in a new classroom with a new teacher and a new curriculum - all in preparation for Kindergarten next year!  I tried to snap a few pictures to capture this momentous morning, but Sean was not really excited about it:

At least Clare was very glad for the opportunity to mug for the camera!

Sean had a very good first day - and second day - at Pre-K.  He is having fun in his new setting and has been keeping his listening ears and his helping hands on!  We can't wait to see what this year brings!

Lucy the Elephant

We started off our long weekend with a stop in Margate to see Lucy the Elephant. Lucy is over 130 years old and is protected as a National Historic Landmark...

Lucy is six stories tall and is billed as the World's Largest Elephant :-)

We got to see the inside of Lucy by climbing up a spiral staircase in her rear left leg.  Once inside, we saw a short video about Lucy's history and her many incarnations as a real estate office, tavern, summer residence, and now a tourist attraction. After the video, we got to walk around, looking outside the windows and then climb up to the howdah-shaped roof!

For one summer, Lucy was used as an apartment for a family. Clare loved looking at this bathtub on display - she kept asking if she could take a bath in "Loosey the Ellelant!

After the tour, the kids took a break on to sit on Lucy's toes and pet their teeny tiny Lucy toys!