Saturday morning, I heard the alarm go off at 3:30 AM. The beach bag was all packed – I just needed to put on my swim suit and get out the door. We made a quick wawa stop and got to the beach at 5:30 AM. It’s the surfer’s hour. I should tell you that’s the reason we were up that early. My husband loves surfing and I was tagging along to get a good sunrise and a good beach morning.

It was beautiful out – not too cold, but a little breeze. It was just me and an older man about 100 feet down the beach staking his spot for the day. Justin was already out in the water (that’s him in the picture above.) The sun was like a hot pink circle that moved through the clouds until it broke free over the top. It was perfect.

While watching my husband do something he’s been missing since his California childhood, I realized that this is home for us. How crazy is that?

If you would have asked me 5 years ago where I would be this summer, I would have answered “hopefully on the boat or at a cabin as much as possible.” I had no idea that we would ever be living in New Jersey.

I love that we can be at the beach for sunrise surf in an hour, but we can also get to the Catskills for skiing in February in under two hours. We are a ferry ride away from New York City and get to enjoy the beautiful lights from our tiny little pier for free any night of the week.

I love the diners and family style Italian restaurants that line the main streets. Some towns look like they haven’t changed a bit since the 60’s. I love that our retail stores are closed on Sundays, but you can buy liquor (not something I’m used to in Minnesota.)

I love the Palisades Park, Washington Street in Hoboken and the views of the Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park. I love Cape May, Asbury Park and Sea Bright. I love the wineries we’ve visited in central Jersey and the hilariously tiny Trenton airport. There is so much left to explore.

Our original plan was to leave after two years, but now that we are approaching that date – we’ve decided that we aren’t ready yet. We are home and we’ll stay for a little bit longer.