Around the World in 61 Days: Rodgers Annual Beach Vacation 2012

There were 25 of us at the beach this year--me and my four siblings, our spouses, all of our children and my older sister's three grandchildren. Sadly, Mom and Dad, the people who started this traditional family event a half century ago, could not be with us because of their health. We stayed at four condominium units at the Pyramid in Ocean City, Maryland, where we have been vacationing since the mid-1970s.

It was warm and sunny all week. Mostly, we relaxed on the beach, read, played cards and cooled off in the ocean for hours each day before gathering for dinner in a different unit each evening.

About half of us spent a couple hours on the bay side of the peninsula windsurfing, sailing, paddle-boarding and kayaking one day. The next day, the wind was stronger, so Peter went back on his own to windsurf and enjoy the stiff breeze.

We have certain traditions, which include putt-putt golf one evening, joint celebration of summer birthdays, dinner at a restaurant by the inlet on another, sparklers on the beach, girls' shopping another. Everyone goes to dinner and goes to the beach for sparklers, but the other activities are optional. (I have no interest in recreational shopping, so I skip that one.)

Baker taking a nap on the beach

Of course, the young children are the delight of the vacation. This was the first time we met Baker, Cindy and Mikey's second child, who is now 5 months old. Haiti, Rick and Julia's daughter, is almost one and Cooper, Baker's big brother, is three. Kes is the youngest niece at age five. (Rick, who was the first baby at the beach, is the oldest at age 30.)

Cooper swimming (No, he does not have an off-center bindi; it's just misplaced suncatcher paint from the previous evening's arts and crafts activities.)

Cooper started swimming by himself in the pool one day, which thrilled both him as well as those of us who saw him.

Rick, Julia and Haiti had to leave mid-week, and the rest of us checked out on Saturday morning (July 28). We are using Dad's Taurus station wagon. The air conditioner stopped working east of Cambridge, and then Peter starting hearing noises. At one point, we had to pull over when we saw smoke puffing out of the hood. We let the serpentine belt cool down and finally made it to Hagerstown, Maryland, where we found a Sears auto repair shop open at 6 p.m. The good news is that they were able to get a new compressor and are now installing it (as of 4 p.m. on Sunday). The bad news is that they will probably not be done with the job until Monday morning.

Beth Ann, Rich, Liv and Jared also stopped in Hagerstown, at the same hotel, after dropping off Kirsten at BWI for her flight back to Florida. On Sunday morning, we transferred luggage from their car into the Taurus to make room for Matthew and Katya to ride to New Philadelphia with them. Katya has an appointment at 8:30 Monday morning for Rich to extract her wisdom teeth.

The time I had planned to spend with my parents has been eroded by transportation difficulties, first with the delayed and then cancelled flight out of JFK and now with automotive mechanical failure! We should make it home to New Cumberland by early afternoon on Monday, July 30, if we are lucky. The four of us fly back to Sacramento on Saturday afternoon. School starts soon!

More photos:


Haiti crawling in the wet sand


Katya reading to Cooper


Katya, Kirsten and Cooper listening to Kes reading all by herself for the first time


Katya and Baker


Cooper and Kes (front) and Haiti, Charlie, Cindy and Baker rooting for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Michael's "Quest for the Shirt." The four-year bet is that Terry buys Michael a $250 Pirates shirt if/when the Pirates have a winning season.