Beach weekend with the boys

L to R: Joel, Brandon, Thomas, Matthew, Shawn, Shane
Three of mine and three friends

A little beach reading - Joel's working his way through the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxes.  Summer reading for AP European History - not your typical beach book!

The daily ritual - sun lotion application...

and a little skim board action.  I think he wiped out.

I had a wonderful time at the beach with the boys.  Coty couldn't go because of preaching duties and Andrew had to work.  So we missed them. 

I did all of the cooking and received my reward in the form of satisfied and appreciative eaters.  I do love cooking for people who enjoy their food.  After dinner the first night, one of the guys (not one of mine) said that was the best meal he'd eaten in a long time.  BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, red potatoes, and biscuits.  Mmmm!  After dinner each night, I appointed a clean-up crew and left the kitchen.  I cook.  You clean.  Not a bad system.

Another nice thing about going to the beach with a bunch of big guys is that they carry everything!  Gone are the days of lugging the chairs and umbrella while trying to keep a whole passel of little people in view.  It is lovely to have someone set up your umbrella and put out your chair, and then to be able read several pages without wondering if someone has gotten pulled out in the undertow or wandered off too far down the beach.  

Though I enjoyed my uninterrupted reading, I do miss those days when the first step in the ocean elicited a squeal of delight; days that always included an epic battle with the tide as the kids and Coty fought to protect their sandcastle from destruction from the encroaching waves; days when every shell was precious.  As I watched families with small children, I remembered with fondness those old days - and looked forward to the day I get to sit on the beach with my grandchildren.  There will be no book reading then.  Come to think of it, I don't think I ever saw my mom read a book at the beach when my kids were little.  That's just not what grandmothers do when grandkids are around.

But til that day....

  this'll be just fine!