Morning was always nice on the trip. I went down to help with breakfast but Joanna is always very on top of things and all the kids are super helpful. You have to be up early to get in on the production crew.
Our plan was Huntington Beach this morning. We knew it would be an all day thing, so we packed all the lunch stuff again. Everyone got towels, suits, and anything we needed and we took off. It was only a half hour away, maybe a little less. It was just the same beach we followed home yesterday. Yesterday, when we were driving, we noticed that a local team is called the Long Beach Dirtbags. We thought that was the funniest mascot. Why choose a bag of dirt, or more metaphorically a lame guy? I guess they used to get their white uniforms all dirty. That led to lots of jokes and looking up of information. Apparently, “Once a dirtbag always a dirtbag.”
We parked near the pier and unloaded. Joanna brought this awesome Shade awning. It was large and a bit cumbersome to take around, but it popped up so easily. And it was huge. Not just the square one but the large rectangular one. Spoiler alert, part way through the morning, the shade buckled in the middle weirdly. Only Katie and Eve were over there and they were desperately trying to hold onto it. I saw them and called in the troops. Turns out one of the metal bars broke. It wasn’t going to hold, especially considering the amount of wind. So we took it down. And that was okay too.
It was windy. Very windy. I just assume there is going to be wind, but we heard later that it was more wind than usual. In fact, they asked people to get out of the water at one point because of the wind and rip currents. It was almost hard to stay warm. The sand was nice and warm, but the wind immediately cooled you down, especially if you were wet.
Which Tyler was. He went and rented surf boards. I admire him so much for trying. Surfing doesn’t look fun to me at all, but that is because I don’t love salt water and the thought of swallowing a lot sounds mighty unpleasant. Tyler and Jackson were both diligent trying it out. And Oscar too. They all took turns. Tyler learned very fast why you wear a rash guard. His stomach was rubbed raw right away. No fun chafing. I think his best was getting one foot up. Good job. Even Eve and Katie tried out the boards. Props Surfer girls!
Other people split up. The majority of everyone else who wasn’t in the surf was building a sand castle. Not just a run of the mill sand castle, but a huge one. They used the big bucket we bought and made four towers. Then they made walls between and even a moat around it. Joanna bought some simple toys later so they added tiny turrets along the wall. It was amazing, but it took them almost the whole time. Aaron and Christina were diligent and worked on it until the end. Christina even put little stairs inside one tower. It looked so awesome. (The one picture looking down into the spiral stairs messes with my mind. It is like an optical illusion. The staircase descends down into the tower, but it looks like it rises out of it)
I wanted neither to dig in the sand or get wet, so I sat in a chair for a bit until the shade caved. Then I asked about who wanted to walk down to the pier. We got a good sized group and we headed over. The pier isn’t terribly long, but it was very windy. Also, Tyler was already rather uncomfortable by then with a chafing suit and general rashy body. Poor guy, but he came too. We checked out all the small shops along the pier. They were mostly souvenir places. We thought about buying a shot glass for Aaron (I mean jam jar) but we didn’t. June did buy an anklet and then a hat with an American flag. (Issac couldn't be there in person, but he was there in spirit.)
We walked all the way to the end and around the restaurant that isn’t open right now. There were several fishermen at the end. And surfers in the deeper water waiting for the right waves. Did I mention it was windy? I'm trying to decide what Irving is doing...maybe he's hiding from the wind?
Fun fact: While I was walking back along the pier, I got a call about the library job I wanted. I was wondering when they would get around to it. I got an interview for the next week. Spoiler: I got the job! (And that is the whole reason all these blogs posts are so behind. How do working women find time for anything?)
Later, it was finally time to play Spikeball. We had really waited a long time. It was still windy, so we had the same problem as yesterday with the ball not being where we thought it would be. We played rotation for quite a while. Eventually, it was just four. Irving, AJ, June and me. We decided to play a game. We weren’t far in when a couple boys stopped and asked if they could play winner. Cool. It is great to meet new people and play with them. I was playing with June and we easily creamed the boys. So we played Cash and Axle, the new guys. We were better than they were, but we almost lost. The score was 15-12. Then more of their friends showed up and we started rotation again. They brought Dane, Cash’s twin brother, and two girls, Clara and Jenna. They were super cute and Clara was originally from Utah, in Millcreek. It was so fun to have extra people and to talk with them. I think it was a little uncomfortable for the boys since the girls were in bikinis. Most of the time, the boys just try to ignore that most of the beach occupants wear less clothing, but it’s a little harder when you are playing spikeball with them. :) But no one said anything stupid. In fact, I think a few of the kids talked about the church. Very cool. Cash was asking me about playing on grass versus sand. Way easier to play on grass. :) It was a really fun way to end the day.
Then it was time to go home. Lots of sun and sand for one day. We got back and everyone showered and we worked on dinner. I don’t think I helped with anything for dinner. Tyler was so rashed up on his legs and you could tell he wasn’t feeling well. Poor guy. But he still helped grill. What a stud.
Joanna started this really weird conversation at dinner. She said that we were all a family and she was assigning roles to the kids. Like Christina and Jackson were the parents, June, Oscar and Irving were the kids. Hannah, Aaron and Katie were aunts. And AJ and Eve were grandparents and Izzy was a great grandma. I guess that was okay, but she took it so far. She wanted to know who Hannah was dating and what the family’s last name was (Dirtbag) and so many details. She got them to talk about this imaginary family for over an hour. It was weird to say the least.
I took a nap somewhere in there and the kids played a lot of Jackbox. Oh, I tried to take a picture of each one of the teens out there on the beach. I think I got everyone.
Later in the evening, we did Come Follow Me. I’m really glad we did. It is a great way to end the evening. We talked about testimony and relying on the Lord. We shared personal stories and it was sad to hear about how Hannah’s uncle died and Katie’s parents divorced, but how they understand that the Lord wasn’t punishing them or not answering their prayers. That is hard. AJ still had an amazing amount of spiritual comments.
Some of the kids planned to get up super early and go watch the sunrise on the beach. That would not include me. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment