The O.C. (N.J.)

I guess it is part of trying to squeeze in as much as we can before the baby changes everything, but Evelin and I have been crazy-busy this past week. Most every day was spent visiting people (except our Thursday-night baby class). But dinner with J--- and A--- on Tuesday night or Thai food with K--- on Friday hardly compare to today's manic drive up to Ocean City, New Jersey.

We were on the road by 6:30 a.m., in Ocean City before 10:00 a.m., after some quality time with R--- and D--- and their 2-year-old, R---; J--- and M---; and Mrs. H--- (D---'s mother) — plus a lot of time walking the boardwalk, one slice of Mack & Manco's, and a surprise encounter with Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Chunk ice cream — we were back on the road to D.C. by 5:30 p.m.

Evelin hadn't seen R--- and D--- since visiting them in Chicago in April and I don't think I've seen them since the Christmas after R--- was born, so it was a nice visit, but the sun was quite strong and I got a bit of a burn.

While on the boardwalk, Evelin stopped at a henna "tattoo" place and got a neat little sun design done around her bellybutton. When we got home, she peeled off the bandage and the mud came off with it; it looked like very little of the stain had transferred to her belly, but, in the morning, it became clear that enough had permeated the skin to transfer the design. It's lighter than she'd've liked, but it's there.

The other fun thing was that we stopped at Balić Winery on the way home. I've been wanting to stop there out of curiosity most every time we've passed, but it's usually been at times that they weren't open (late at night; early on Sunday, etc.). This time, the "open" flag was flying, so we stopped.

I haven't tried too many New Jersey wines, and I wasn't expecting much, but they had some very nice wines. Apparently, Balić has a vineyard in Macedonia and they import some of the grapes to supplement/improve what they grow in New Jersey. The Alexander the Great wine, made from an "indigenous Macedonian variety" of grape was really nice: very dark fruits and dry, was especially good. They also do a pomegranate wine, which was sour-sweet and interesting.

Of course, the daytrip to New Jersey also meant yet another day that the grass/ögras went uncut. That is the first task for tomorrow morning ...