The planning started the week before. What to eat, where to go, what time to be there and so on and so on. While I was busy planning every detail so that we could have an enjoyable day, the only thing on Alyssa's mind was that her friends would find us. There was shopping, cooking, gathering supplies and equipment and making sure we didn't forget anything. Finally the day was here. We had picked up 5 pallets the night before but since they don't allow pallets at the beach, Robert had to get up early and start cutting up all the wood. Amber and Alyssa helped get the 2 little ones ready while I went down the checklist making sure we had everything. Who knew a day at the beach would require so much. It looked like we were going camping for a week!
Luckily Daniel and Jessica met us here and we put some stuff in their car. It's 11am and off to the beach we go. Arrived at 11:30 and lo and behold, people actually arrive at 6am to get a fire ring. Well, we decided to make the best of it. We find an empty area on the beach and unpack everything and set up camp for the day. Everyone is having a great time, playing volleyball, frisbee, playing in the water and sunbathing. We have a group of about 30 and about 6pm, it starts to get a bit breezy. The later it gets, the colder it gets and I realize, Alyssa's friends are not getting picked up until 10pm when the beach closes. Without a fire pit, I know how cold it's going to get. We give everyone the option to call their parents to pick them up earlier but they decide they would rather stay at the beach and be cold than to go home and be bored. Yippee for me!
About 7:15, Jessica and Daniel decide, it's too cold for them and they pack it up to leave but will look for an empty pit on the crowded beach on their drive out. Feeling hopeful, I tell everyone to please say a prayer that they will find an empty pit or at least one we can share with someone. About 10 minutes later, my phone rings and it's Jessica. "Hurry Tori, we found a pit!" I load 12 teenagers into the truck and drive them about 1 mile to hold the pit with Jessica and Daniel. Then I go back so we can load everything into the truck and move to the new spot. We get to the new spot thinking we'll just take the wood and some chairs since we only have 2 hours but everyone is hungry and they want to eat. We take the bbq and ice chest and decide we need the tables to put the food. We end up unloading the whole truck. We're enjoying a bonfire, smores and hot dogs when the lifeguard drives by announcing the beach is now closed. We all have to hurry and pack it all up. Parents are trying to pick up their kids but they are not allowed to enter the beach so we have to walk the kids to their parents cars while still trying to pack it all up. At one point the lights at the beach are shut off and boy is it dark! We finally get everything packed, kids are with their parents and we load up the truck.
On the 1/2 hour drive home, we are beat. Our feet are killing us as the sand was full of debri and was hard to walk on. We are recapping the day and still can't believe we found a pit but somehow are not too surprised because that's how God works in our lives. We may not get what we want when we want it but we always get what we need when we need it. Just as each kid is dropping to sleep and it begins to get quiet, we hear Alyssa in the back seat say "Thanks mom and dad for today!" I in turn thank God for all he did today. I look at Robert and we confess that we had a really good time and it was well worth the work to see our kids happy!
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| Frisbee! |
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| Smile! |
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| Giving massages to the one in front |
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