The beach

I had friends that wanted to play over the Memorial weekend. I was trying to figure out if we wanted to go to the farm or the beach. Tory had the beach house. I decided to see if she wanted company. I could bring the party to her.  Not many people want to hang with William, which means she doesn't get much adult social life. I don't see her very often myself.

 The beach is a big enough place that we can play with Tory's family yet still have room. Besides my plan was to do just one night then beat the  hell out of there before something was broken.

My mom has "treasures" all over the place. The furniture  is "antique". The books are old "collectors" dreams. It is a stressful place to go with children. As a result I packed our big tent. I planned to keep my hoard out of the barn and away from disaster. My girlfriends that came with me had also been instructed to stay mostly outside. That way we could claim no knowledge of anything broken or destroyed inside the building. One of my friends brought a big van to accommodate her children and her sleeping in the back. Another friend brought a big tent also.

My niece had initially set the weekend up with some girlfriends from her school. She  OKed us crashing her teen chick weekend. We arrived in mass with teen boys, small children, dogs, and vodka . We all had dogs and I was dog sitting a spare. We beat Tory's hoard to the beach  by several hours. I had the gates up on the stairs to discourage anyone or dog who went into the house from going up into the sleeping quarters.

 We had our tents  set up. Our sleeping bags were out and I had padded the camp cots with extra sleeping bags. I am getting more use out of those camp cots than I ever thought I would. We were several hours at the beach flying kites, Riley brought his two string trick kite, before Tory finally made it down  with her group.

The teen girls took one look at the tents in the yard and promptly asked if they might sleep out in the tents instead of the barn where there would be  real beds and supervising adults in the same big room.This way the girls could stay up as late as they wanted. My girlfriend was all over sacrificing her tent and sleeping on the ground for a warm bed inside. One tent was all the girls needed so I got to keep mine. Besides, I was firm that I did not want to be inside and have to deal with the clean up of the inside of the barn on the last day.

Later that night I took one camp cot over to the fire pit as it can sit three people comfortably. The girls came over to cook  hot dogs and make smores.  I had my camp chairs set out, but I had noticed while loading them into the car that they had the odor of cat pee. I was hoping that some airing out over night at the beach might wash them a little of the odor. The breeze at the beach helped. The chairs were used and no one mentioned the odor.

The weather could not have been better on the first day. No rain, the sun shone. The breeze was just right for the boys to do the trick kite. Riley had kept his kite in good order, not losing any pieces as Trevor had. Trevor's kite hadn't lasted the first weekend he used it. You have to be meticulous with all the parts and put the kite away properly each time.

I had also brought down a three dimensional kite that had been in the garage for ever. I bought it for a party gift but never used it.  It was a sailing ship with three masts. Cheap plastic and it looked as if a mouse might have chewed the sails. That kite was given to the little boys my other friend had brought along. I was amazed when it really flew as it was just a cheap plastic. It even held up several hours before the mast snapped during a crash to the sand. Kites are well worth every penny you spend on them.

My girlfriend with the van had also brought down a bicycle built for two and a couple of little bikes. The teens took the training wheels off the little bikes and loved taking out the two seater. They even managed a trip to the beach. We ended up loading the bikes back into the van at the other end, after everyone went into the water and got wet. If you have ever ridden a bike in wet sandy clothes you know how you can chafe your legs. The teens were cold, wet, and tired by the time we crammed everyone into the cars for the short ride back to the house.

Riley wanted to show off his driving skills to these cute girls. The car was full of women. He was fine until he tried to make the turn into the driveway to the barn. You have to cross a five foot deep drainage ditch on a little culvert bridge. Riley took the turn too tightly and got the car stuck on a big rock right before entering the bridge gap. Everyone had to pile out and poor Riley had to give up the driver's seat to an adult to back the car up off the rock  before the car went tumbling into the ditch.  No one gave him a hard time but you could tell he was embarrassed. Driving is not a strong point for Riley. I think Tom needs to take him out in the Caddi for some confidence driving.

The evening by the fire is something of a blur to me. The adults had wonderful cocktails and I remember good conversations, but I indulged, so much of the evening was remembered as a lovely fire and laughter.
The next day I lay prone on my camp cot  by the morning fire, as the most comfortable position I could find, until eventually I took some pepto bismo  and found a corner away from everyone to empty my stomach of any food I had eaten for breakfast. I felt much better, but did not have quite the energy or pizazz that I might have otherwise had.

The dogs cleaned up after me, so I didn't worry about any one stumbling over my mess. Only fair, as I had been going around cleaning up after the dogs, so no one would accidentally step or roll in poop while playing in the grass. The weather turned grey on Sunday so we opted to take the tents down while it was still dry. My friends and I planned to leave that evening. The girls had gotten along so well with my boys and the other teen age daughter my girlfriend had brought along, that they asked if we would leave our children for one more night. We consented after making sure everyone would fit in the cars that would be left. It would be a tight squeeze with perhaps holding sleeping bags on laps, but it was doable.

I knew my boys would use good judgement and have fun. The girls had already tried to play spin the bottle and truth or dare the day before. My boys had raced away before the games began. The girls were forced to find another game to play. I saw everyone playing old maid later.

Riley  had hesitated about my leaving and his staying one more night, but in the end he opted to stay. I think he liked the idea that everyone wanting him to stay so badly. Originally he tried to chase my car down the road with a gaggle of girls chasing him. I drove round the block just to make sure everyone settled in OK before leaving for good. Riley did take a little down time and go into the barn to read his book, but he was back outside after his little rest.

I am told clean up took three hours. It always does. The boys were home by 7:30pm Monday night. They had had a wonderful time. Everyone had tired smiles on their faces.