One of the happiest times in my life was going to Seaside Heights with my family. There were seven of us making the trip; my mom, my dad, my five year-old brother Alex, me (I was seven years-old at the time), my aunt Kate, my sixteen year-old cousin Kaitin, and my fourteen year-old cousin Ray. We all met at my house and went over everything that we were going to or needed to pack, such as coolers, fishing rods, crabbing nets, sunscreen, beach chairs, towels, blankets, and suitcases. We then piled into 2 small cars and headed off to the beach. It took us about an hour and a half to get there, because we hit traffic.


When we pulled into the driveway of the house, all of us were speechless. We saw a medium-sized wooden house on what seemed like stilts, but we learned later on that they were there incase of flooding. We grabbed our suitcases and ran as fast as we could up the stairs. We then claimed rooms; Alex and Ray were in the first bedroom with two twin beds, Kaitlin and I were in the second bedroom with a queen bed, my mom and aunt were in the third bedroom with a queen bed, and my dad was on the pull-out couch in the living room. The house had three bedrooms, a living room, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a dining room.


We put on our bathing suits, and waited anxiously for every one to come down so we could go to the beach. Thirty minutes later, every one had excessive amounts of sunscreen on and was ready to hit the beach. Towels in hand, we sprinted down the wooden walk way to the beach. When we got there, we paused to take in the glorious view. There was the golden soft sand with pieces of small rocks, seashells, and seaglass protruding from it. The seagulls softly cawed from overhead and the murky blue-green ocean softly touched the sand, only to retreat back a moment later. As we threw down our towels and sprinted towards the ocean, I knew at once that it would be an unforgettable summer.


Time passed quickly over those two weeks. We made massive sand castles, played cards, read books, swam, went to the board walk, and went on early morning bike rides, just to name a few activities. I think that my favorite memory was going for hamburgers and Cokes at a small surf shack with my aunt and Kaitlin, then going for a walk on the beach to collect seashells and seaglass .To this day, I still have seashells from our walks.


I have so many amazing memories from this trip that I look back on even to this day. I realize that I am very lucky to have a family that does so many things with me. Every summer, when Alex, my parents, and I go to Seaside Heights, we look at the house we rented six years ago and smile, thinking about the good times we had.