Debbie, Lillian and I planned a trip to go see Grandma this weekend. Since she’s close to Verona I suggested taking a trip to Amazing Hot Dog, the sort of newly opened up, then burned down, then opened up again Jersey hot dog joint. We were set to head over there for lunch before heading to Grandma’s in Pequonock, but she then announced that she wanted us to take her to the world famous Hot Grill in Clifton. I wasn’t about to argue with that at all so we decided to take Grandma there for lunch, hang out and shop with her and then hit Amazing Hot Dog for dinner.

Before hitting Grandma’s we headed to the Menlo Park Mall in Edison. I was looking for some stuff at Banana Republic and came up empty. However Debbie did find a sweet dress and I saw an awesome cycle jacket that would look good on her. On the way back I tried on a pair of Frye Harness boots at Nordstrom and decided to buy them. The deal was made sweeter when I spied a sticker on the bottom of one which had Nordstrom’s Anniversary pricing on it, even though the anniversary sale ended like 2 weeks ago. At the first the saleswoman wasn’t going to sell them to me at that price and then changed her mind because I saw the sticker.

Then it was off to Grandma’s. Lillian fell asleep on the way there so Debbie went in to round her up. While she was in there I began to map out our route on the Nav. Suddendly an old lady in curlers came up to my window and starting talking. I rolled it down and she explained that she wanted to take a peek at the kid. Apparently she was a neighbor of Grandma’s and knew Debbie from when she used to stop by when Lillian had her Doc-Band appointments. After a brief conversation she left and Debbie arrived with Grandma.

20 minutes later we were on Lexington Street and pulling into the Hot Grill lot.

Debbie, Lillian and Grandma grabbed a table and I went up to order. 4 all the way, one plain, frenchy 1, a Sierra Mist and 2 diet’s. Total - $17.17. This was Lillian’s first Hot Grill dog and Debbie’s first dog all the way. Both of them enjoyed their dogs. After Debbie ate her first one she went up to get another. Gransma decided she wanted another too. I was wary of this because everytime Grandma eats two Hot Grill dogs she gets sick. I intervened and offered to eat half and she proclaimed that to be “a good idea.”

After I ate I took a few photos of the very unique Hot Grill interior including the mirror and an enlargened photo of a Hot Grill dog done up ‘all the way.’ When I sat back down an employee confronted me at the booth asking if I was taking photos of the ATM machine whihc happened to be in front of the enlargened photo. No no no no I replied. I was taking a photo of the hot dog. He understood and left but then turned back and asked if I was planning to open a place like the Hot Grill. No no no no I replied again - I’ll just keep coming back here. No good reason to start competing!

After the Hot Grill we headed over to Clifton and Stefan and Son’s Pork Store where Grandma bought us a pound of barrel-cured saurkraut and a kielbasa. Then she did some shopping as well picking up cold-cuts, salads and best of all - a pound and a half of ground beef which was twice ground right in front of us.

We then returned back to Grandma’s and hung out with her for a couple of hours. Lillian had fun running around her place and I passed out in her reclining easy chair after programming her remote control. I think she had a good time.

At around 4:45pm we headed off to Hot Dog location #2 - Amazing Hot Dog in Verona. Amazing Hot Dog opened in January 2006 with great fanfare on Egullet.com only to burn down a couple months later due to an electrical malfunction. The two guys who run the place got it rebuilt quickly and reopened in May and finally we were going to pay out first visit. After about a 15 minute drive we arrived.

Inside we scanned the menu for what we wanted. Like Crif Dog, Amazing Hot Dog featured bacon wrapped hot dogs which were deep-fried. They used 1/4 pound all-beef dogs from New Jersey based Best’s Provisions. I settled on a ‘Caped Crusader’ which was a bacon wrapped dog with chili, jalapenos and cole slaw. Debbie got a classic dog with brown mustard and kraut and Lillian got the kids meal which featured a dog cut into 6 pieces, fries and a lemonade.

The dogs were excellent as were the fries which were fresh-cut and twice cooked. While we ate I took some more photos of the place which featured items from their menu. Debbie was intrigued by their mini-egg roll dogs but I was too stuffed to try them. Next time probably.

Outside I took photos of their display of unique hot dog items. My favorite was called the ‘Car-B-Que’ which allowed you to roast two hot dogs in the comfort of your own car. The side of the box featured an illustration of a couple using it at a drive-in. I wonder if D ever heard of this thing and i wonder why it never caught on.

The super-initial plan was to hit Wildwood this year on Sunday when everyone else arrived and stay until Tuesday or Wednesday (really dependent on how long the kid wanted to stay.) That plan got blown out of the water when I realized that the Rolling Roadshow screening of Clerks was on the Tuesday (with Kevin’s signing on Monday.) I finally decided to head down Wednesday and stay for a day and a half and told Debbie to go down a day earlier on Tuesday. Genius.

The Wednesday plan was to head out by 7:00am so I could be near the sea air and Googie-style architecture by 9:00am. That plan also got pushed back because I was having so much fun at the Dublin House the night before and got to bed late. After hastily packing some stuff up I finally left the house at 8:30am. After getting a greasy breakfast and some ca$h I was off. It was later than I wanted to leave but as it turned out - the timing couldn;t have been more perfect.

A few minutes into the trip I decided that a trip to the White House Sub Shop in Atlantic City was in order. For anyone who’s never been there, look it up and read all the glowing reviews. The place didn’t open until 10am but since I left at exactly the right time I ended up getting there minutes after it opened. Even more or a miracle was the fact that I was able to get through to them on the phone and place a pick up order. I ordered 3 regular White House subs with everything, peppers on the side, and they were pretty much ready when I got there. I then headed back east on the AC Expressway and 40 minutes later I was in Wildwood.

I parked the car by the Vets building on Atlantic and walked to the Cape Cod where I dropped off a bag and said hello to Debbie. Lillian was napping so I then took the subs over to room 206 of the Waikiki. I said hello to Mrs Mihalcik and Aunt Mary and then I hung out on the deck with Audrey, Kristin, Stephen and Robert. After talking for a bit Kristin ran back to her room and got me my birthday presents. They came wrapped in orange wrapping and consisted of a Natty Boh pilsner glass and a Natty Boh shirt with the Natty Boh guy on the front and ‘BOH knows Baseball’ on the back. Sweet. I then greeted Mr Mihalcik. Emily and Claire arrived wearing handcrafted t-shirts and i greeted them as well. It was good to see everyone again

Debbie called a bit later and said that Lillian had woken up. I went back to the Cape Cod and gathered a few things (including Robert’s crusty-ass bathing suit) and we all headed back to the Waikiki. I said hello to Kara and the just traveled from the West Coast Deena. Back in room 206 the sub was cut and shared and enjoyed and then it was time for the beach.

I quickly got my beach gear on and then waited for everyone else. Stephen stepped into the bathroom, closed the door and then I heard a loud thud and the sound fo running water. It turns out that the bathroom ceiling tile had randomly decided to fall because of a random water leak from above. The Waikiki was sadly showing it’s age. I tried to place the blame on the last person who was in there (Kristin.) Maintenence was called and they went to work, looking like this thing was old hat.

Down at the beach we met up with the rest of the family (Aunt Joan, Uncle Jim, Ann Toohey, Aunt Kathy) and then we hit the water. Last year Lillian wasn’t a huge fan of the ocean. She had a couple cuts and scratches on her legs and I think the salt water didn’t feel too good. This year was a complete 180 - she loved the water and the waves. Debbie and I kept a close eye on her and I tried to keep an even closer eye on her fearing that the ocean would pull her in and sweep her away.

We took Lillian back to our beach setup after she started getting cold and then I played with her in the sand while Debbie went into the water. I made her a couple of sand crabs and boats with the sand molds the Moore’s gave us awhile back, specifically for Wildwood.

When Debbie returned I headed back to the car after realizing the game was on. I lugged the old beat up drive-in radio all the way back to the beach only to listen to the Orioles lose in grand fashion. Debbie took Lillian back up the the Cape Cod for a nap and I kind of did the same, dropping out on the beach myself. Hey, it had been a long week and it was only Wednesday.

The rest of the beach day ended with a marathon session of Mille Bornes in which I was paired with Deena and consequently we were the only team not to win a game. After that Robert, Stephen and I tossed a frisbee around for about 45 minutes. Running after a flying disc on loose sand was killer on my sore ankle but I fought through the pain like Terrell Owens and made some nice grabs.

After the beach I headed back to the Waikiki and learned that Lillian wanted to hit the pool. Sounded like a great idea to me. I stayed with her on the shallow kiddie end while everyone else hit the depper side playing a game with a plastic bottlecap. I think my kid had a good time. I had the best time I ever had sitting in a foot of water.

After the pool I headed back to the Cape Cod and showered quickly and then we headed off to dinner. Before we left I asked Audrey where her crew was going. She mentioned they were probably headed over to Urie’s Landing to which I replied, “Oh man, the last time I ate there I got so sick it was coming out both ends.” It was a total lie but she looked at me with a shocked face and said, “Reeeally?” I fessed up and told her that I’d never been there in my life but the quickness to which she believed me was kind of funny.

Debbie, Lillian and I headed over to the Wildwood famous Restaurant Bandana’s while the Mihalcik’s and Aunt Mary headed over in another car. We quickly parked and were seated very quickly. You wouldn’t think that a mexican joint on the southern end of the Jersey shore would be that great, but I give big ups to Bandana’s. We enjoyed chips and salsa while waiting for our dinners with Lillian enjoying just the salsa - not having grasped the concept of the condiment enhancing the flavor of the chip. Debbie and I split the chicken enchiladas and shared a big plate of ‘mucho nachos’ which everyone. Great as usual. We decided to skip dessert.

After dinner we went back to the Cape Cod, gave Lillian and bath and then put her to bed. I got a craving for some Sea Shell Ice Cream (see photo on my myspce main page with the big ice cream sundae). Debbie decided to walk over with Stephen and bring me back a Dusty Road (3 scoops, whipped cream, chocolate and malt). I was hoping they had a clever way of making their stuff to go. Sadly this wasn’t the case. To go meant putting the ice cream in a styrofoam bowl and putting the bowl in a box. Sad to say half the thing was dead after the 8 block walk back to the hotel made by Debbie and when I opened the door it was dripping and messy. Luckily the Sea Shell piles on so much ice cream that much of it was left intact. One drawback however - when it came out it was covered with walnuts which Debbie and Stephen tried to pick out for me. They ended up being about 90% successful.

Stuff I got for my birthday:

Mom and Dad:

• 3 cans of something that looks like cat food

Debbie:

• Zingerman’s really yellow mustard
• Zingerman’s Telicherry peppercorns
• Zingerman’s reubens via mail order
• Entourage Season 1
• Under Armor sleeveless shirt
• Moonstruck Chocolates
• Whole Foods cookbook
• Black Jansport backpack for ball snagging

Mom and Dad D:

• $75 gift card to Sunglass Hut
• personalized rawlings baseball mitt(!)
• $50 Whole Foods GC

Kevin:

• Piece of signed paper