Families Savor Quiet Easter at the Shore

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Kelly Cagle woke up on Easter Sunday wanting to spend a quiet holiday with her young sons, Matthew and Edwin, in a place far away from the bustling crowds. “I was taking a shower and thought to myself, “What can I do with the boys?’” she said. After a 75-minute drive from her home in Swedesboro, Gloucester County, Cagle and her sons ended up on a tranquil stretch of beach in Sea Isle City that they had all to themselves for Easter. “I really like the beach,” Cagle said. “It’s much quieter this time of year. I knew a lot of people wouldn’t be here and that my kids would have a lot of room to roam.” Other people were also enjoying the solitude of the shore during an Easter getaway – attending church, taking a walk with their dogs, riding their bikes on the Promenade or admiring the views of the ocean. Erin McLeer, her sister-in-law, Danielle Forte, and Forte’s daughter, Juliana, were walking on the oceanfront Promenade during a relaxing holiday. “We had a big family breakfast. Now we’re walking it off,” McLeer explained as the three women broke into laughter. Erin McLeer, left, and Juliana Forte and her mother, Danielle Forte, pose for a holiday photo on the Promenade. McLeer lives in Mullica Hill, Gloucester County, while Danielle Forte is from Moorestown, Burlington County. Their families make it a tradition to spend Easter in Sea Isle each year. An Easter egg hunt was planned later on in the day at their shore house. They planned to top off the holiday with a family dinner at a local restaurant. “It’s our tradition to visit with the family on Easter,” Juliana Forte said. Mike Jacobs and his 10-year-old son, Ryan, took advantage of the quiet holiday to spend some quality time together playing at Sea Isle’s street hockey rink at the Dealy Field recreation and athletic complex. “This is not as busy as we thought,” Jacobs said of an otherwise empty hockey rink. Jacobs, who lives in West Chester, Pa., has a vacation home in Avalon. He and his son are huge hockey fans, although Jacobs voiced his frustration with the awful season that the Philadelphia Flyers are having this year. “I almost didn’t renew my season tickets,” he said. But not even the Flyers’ poor season could detract from the fun Jacobs and Ryan were having together at the hockey rink. “It was my dad’s idea. I said, yeah, let’s go in 10 minutes,” Ryan said. Mike Jacobs and his son, Ryan, pass to each other while playing street hockey at Sea Isle's rink. Jacobs, his wife, Kelly, his 12-year-old daughter, Ashlyn, and Ryan were planning to take a walk on the beach and have a family dinner together before heading home to Pennsylvania to end their Easter weekend at the shore. “But we still found time for hockey,” Jacobs said. Kelly Cagle, meanwhile, was savoring the time she had left on the beach before the holiday was over for her and her sons. She sat on a blanket while watching Matthew and Edwin keep themselves busy by digging in the sand. “Mommy, I think I found a dinosaur bone,” Matthew, 6, announced while uncovering something in the beach. “A dinosaur bone?” Cagle replied. “No, it wasn’t a dinosaur bone,” Matthew said after investigating further. “Well, maybe next time,” his mother told him. Cagle then turned to her 22-month-old son, Edwin, to remind him about the holiday they were enjoying together. She asked him, “Can you say Happy Easter?” “Easter,” Edwin responded in an adorable, squeaky voice that drew laughter from his mom. A sign outside the United Methodist Church announces the sunrise service held Easter Sunday on the Promenade and the 10:30 a.m. Mass inside the sanctuary.