Friendcation in OCNJ

Happy 8th of July! I hope you had a fantastic Fourth of July weekend. Mine consisted of sun, sand, games, friends and a lot of laughter. We headed to Ocean City, New Jersey for a long weekend with friends. We played countless games of Salad Bowl, ate and drank wayyy too much, enjoyed some fireworks, and soaked up some sun rays. Special thanks to our friend Jimmy for letting us crash his parents' vacation home. It was so perfect for hanging out and cooking and spending a rainy day on the porch and late nights watching Drunk History. See more photos from the weekend below.

After an uneventful and surprisingly traffic-free ride from Philly to the shore, we were starving. After a quick Yelp search we stumbled upon Rojo's Tacos an unassuming taco stand near the boardwalk. Bry ordered up a one pound burrito (yes, you read that right, it weighs one pound) and I went for something a bit lighter, fish tacos. We were both totally impressed with the food, it was flavorful and authentic and no-fuss. Once satiated we ran some errands and waited for the rest of our caravan to arrive. We spent the afternoon having some cocktails on the patio, I think we might have even ventured to the beach in the evening but now my memory is failing me.

On Friday morning we awoke to Hurricane Arthur in full effect. He was dumping loads of icy rain on the shore and we were just praying that he'd keep on movin' and let us get to the beach. The boys decided to be total sweethearts and they made a trip to Browns "Almost Famous" Donuts - they brought us back two dozen because everyone needs like four donuts, AT LEAST.

My favorites were all of them, well really I loved the chocolate dipped, vanilla dipped, and the cinnamon! Well really, I'd eat all of them again, but those were my top three.

After far too many donuts, we played a number of rounds of The Game of Things. This crowd gets major creativity points on those answers! If you haven't played this game, I highly recommend it. It's a great way to get to know people, or learn who the sick and twisted ones among you are.

Riggo was feeling all patriotic for the Fourth.

Since we couldn't be cooped up inside any longer we made some cocktails, braved the elements, and took a walk down to the beach. The waves were pretty incredible and as you can imagine, there was not a soul to be found on the beach, except the lifeguards hiding out. We lasted about ten minutes out there, Kylie wowed us with another incredible British Weather Report live from Ocean City and then we made a run for home, took hot showers, dried up and played some more games.

Finally, in the late afternoon Arthur moved on his way and the skies stopped crying patriotic tears so we packed up our chairs and headed back to the beach. The surfers were out doing their thing, I kind of wish I knew how to surf, I think I would enjoy it!

Since the official firework people decided to push off fireworks until Saturday, we decided that wasn't good enough. What's 4th of July without fireworks? So we headed outside at night and created our own spectacular lights display with sparklers and fun swirling fireworks.

Doesn't Jimmy look so happy to be holding that sparkler?

On Saturday, we woke up, immediately put on our bathing suits and had coffee and breakfast on the front porch. The sun was already shining and we were ready to start the day. First up, Stand Up Paddleboard lessons! We took a quick drive to Sea Isle and our trusty guide Jasper from Harbor Outfitters got us SUPing in no time! Everyone picked it up really quickly and we were trying some fancy maneuvers and falling in the fishy waters in no time.

After SUPing, we were totally famished so we headed back to the house grabbed a quick lunch and then made our way to the beach for the rest of the day. We stayed out on the beach until my favorite time the 5-7 o'clock hours (when everyone leaves and the sun starts to set) and played a round of salad bowl.