August 2, 2022-One Last Hurrah at the Beach Before School

(click for today's pictures)

As I was laying in the bed this morning with the one sliver of sun shining in this camper glowing on my face, I realized that maybe it wasn't sun since I could hear the rain pattering down on the roof. Even with no sun out, it is still bright outside at 7 (when I went to the bathroom), at 8 (when a text woke me up), and at 9 (when we first started to really stir). And yes, after we did start to stir, I definitely made sure that I fixed my window so the sun won't light up my face in the morning (though I think that it is supposed to be raining again!)

Robby and I took a walk first this  morning with Bentley. The rain had stopped, and the sun was shining so it was hot and steamy. We didn't walk too far, but Bentley was ready to be back in the camper. Once we made it to the front of the camper, she pulled me to the door and stayed there until I opened it. (Later in the day, she did refuse to come in-I guess she just has a mind of her own.)

After our walk, Robby, Graham, Campbell, Keaton and I drove to the state park lodge area. The first thing we did was to walk out on the peir. Half of it was destroyed in 2020, but it is still really long. Then we waled down the beach towards the lodge. I am not sure why people ever run on the beach-just walking nearly kills me. It is not an easy task. Especially since during all of this, the strom clouds were coming back. It was spitting rain and blowing stinging sand on us-thankfully, it was blowing sand on our backs. 

When we did make it to the lodge, the rain had let up. The lodge sits right on the beach and is really pretty. It is a classy place-I was going to say that it was a classy, little place, but it is massive. After thouroughly exploring the lodge, we headed back to the camper.

Graham and Keaton actually headed off on 2 bikes that we borrowed from their ride share program. They rode the 2 miles back to the camper and almost beat us except they went down the wrong trail and had to turn around. Well, I guess they did beat us, becuase we went to the pool area and looked at the gift shop and laundry room here.

Back at the camper, we started stirring the others to go to the beach-and that is when the rain started. It was light, but it was persistent. So we ate lunch-sandwiches for most folks. We then waited some more, until we just couldn't wait anymore.

Graham and Keaton took the bikes bal to the bike station at the beach and did beat us-we went to the other side so they only had a mile to ride. The rain was a light sprinkle and happened pretty much the whole time we were on the beach, but that didn't stop us from having fun.

All of the kids enjoyed the water. Everyone had a great time-despite the yellow and purple flags. They didn't go out too far, but they did go out far enough that Whitman and Campbell thought that they were stung by jellyfish. Something must have stung them but just enough to hurt brielfy and not leave a mark. However, Graham was stung, and it hurt him for a good bit and did leave a pretty decent mark on his arm. I think that it is all good now-he did get some medicine when we came back to the camper, and he hasn't mentioned it since.

There was lots of hole digging-I am not sure why boys, even big boys, like doing this. We had bought a sandcastle making kit from Sams, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Pretty much everyone helped me make a sand castle at some point or another. And yes, pretty much all of them were fails, but we had fun making them.

After about an hour and a half we headed back to the camper. Anderson, Campbell, Keaton and Whitman went to the pool with me. Graham took a shower while Robby took Reagan to the bathhouse. In between picking her up, he threw in a load of laundry. 

We walked back, and Robby picked up Campbell to take her to the bathhouse while showers started here-Keaton, Whitman, and Anderson. As Robby grabbed the laundry from the dryer, I started making air fryer pizzas for our suppers. This is not a quick meal, but it is a favorite-though we bought the wrong kind of bread for the crust so they weren't as good as our usual.

Basically, we were loafs most of the morning long, but come 2 in the afternoon-we moved at full speed until the end of the day. It is 11:30 now, and I have just started on the blog and still have my shower to do. We could have had a restful evening, but it is Tuesday which means it is movie night.

We drove to Orange Beach and watched some movies. Reagan, Robby and I watched Where the Crawdads Sing. It was one of those films that will probably win a lot of awards, but it didn't leave you with a happy feeling. (Reading the book was on my list, but I am not too sure now. I like happy, Hallmarky things.)

Anderson and Graham watched Thor. They said that the reviews say the movie is terrible, but they thought that it was fine. Keaton, Campbell and Whitman watched DC League of Super Pets. They enjoyed their movie-even though they were out first. Robby took them our popcorn to munch on while they waited. The boys soon joined them and they walked around outside while waiting.

Outside had been a real party when we came-we were running late so we couldn't explore. However, the foam pit was still there and still had foam in it, so Whitman, especially, enjoyed that. We walked all around the almost deserted shopping center before driving home.

Back at the camper, Bentley had a walk while I swept and tried to straighten some (impossible). Robby and Campbell walked Bentley and threw the trash away. Then there were a few things to clean-Bentley threw up plus a coke burst under the couch (thankfully, contained in a bin). Plus a hinge broke in one place, but Robby will fix that tomorrow. 

I believe that the weather will be a bit more promising tomorrow. However, even if it is like today, we will still have some more fun. 

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