We're Back!!

Not only am I back to blogging, but we are finally back to New Jersey.  After a week long stay in Pennsylvania, due to the ferocious Hurricane Sandy who ripped through our town last week, we are back, but definitely not back to normal.  Our home is ok, but our beach town and all our favorite places are destroyed.  The inlet, the boardwalk, Gee Gee's, Leggett's, Sea Watch Beach, all of them are damaged or completely destroyed.  We sat in Pennsylvania for an entire week watching the TV, reading facebook, and receiving emails about what devastation everyone back home was facing.  Many went without power, some had water in their house, and even some students in the school that I teach in completely lost their homes.  

With all that negativity and sadness it's amazing to see how everyone in Jersey has rallied, joined together and have made so much progress already.  We are not back to normal yet and will not be there for a long, long time.  There is a water/food station across the street from our house with army trucks, police, ambulances, etc.  The lines for gas get smaller each day, but they are still there screaming out a sense of abnormality.  You drive on the roads at night and there are mile long stretches where it is completely back.  You walk through Kmart and it is dimly lit by a generator and there are opened boxes of pop tarts and soda sitting around the store where people have just been hanging out in the store.  School is cancelled for the remainder of the week.  Normal is definitely not something that we are experiencing here right now, but we'll get there.  Sooner or later, we will be back to normal.

Here are some of our favorite memories from our beloved Manasquan Beach. :(