Noah's Flood

Happy Birthday Joe-Joe & Courtney Up around 7am partly cloudy, warm and humid Push-ups (no sit-ups) Coffee – some TV ahead of a run Leave for run around 8am – sun shining – hot steamy sunshine! Run regular CWB route – north beach neighborhood then return via beach – gorgeous Take a dip in the pool immediately after run No one awake – spend time writing in blog. Mindy not up until 1030am or so – kids even later The plan is to spend the entire day at the beach – no one moving too fast – lazy vacation day Beach around 1130-12noon – Everybody carries something (cooler, toys, towels, umbrella, chairs, etc.) Gardner’s lagging several minutes behind but eventually meet us at the beach Sun in and out of clouds but can still feel the rays Play in surf & sand all afternoon – sip beers Mindy heads back to room for more beer and snacks. Jacob insists on going along but Mindy denies. More sun, beer, and water play Moderate rain hits beach Discuss lunch/dinner plans – first idea – Palm Pavilion shot down, Kenny wants to change/shower first Decide to visit Crabby Bill’s instead. Also check out boating. Parasailing, fishing excursion times/prices at the marina Almost 6pm by the time everyone is showered and ready – ten people Walk to Crabby Bill’s – pleasant stroll along the strip reasonably clear skies Seated immediately – table for ten I skip beer/booze – only lemonade Order the scallop/shrimp combo – along with appetizers: alligator bites, calamari, and oysters for Kenny Everyone enjoys their meal. I picked up the big tab. After dinner, we all walked the docks watching fisherman cleaning after the day/ preparing for tomorrow. Check out some fishing tour pricing too. Storm blows in from seemingly nowhere – heavy rain, lightning, thunder, wind Eventually taking shelter in the smallish outdated mall. Owner/manager throws us out around 730pm closing. Won’t make eye contact presumably because of the heavy weather. Knows he’s essentially throwing small children out into the storm. Chrissy asks about taxi’s. He gives number. It’s pouring buckets. Bella is freaking out. Crying at the top of her lungs. Jaded, I determined to walk back. It’s only a mile or less. Others agree after taxi company says they will have to send three cabs Attempts to hail the Jolly Trolley fail, but as luck would have it, as soon as we commit to walking back in the torrential rain, the trolley skims along the marina/mall where we just vacated.  Already soaked, we forged onward Bella cried the entire walk back Water in some places along the strip was over afoot deep – well up and over the curb Cars passing by drenched our already soaked bodies. Meanwhile, I was wearing my expensive new Born leather shoes. I had to take em off after they became completely water logged and slimy. Some Bella quotes: “I thought God promised he wouldn’t do this again” (referring to the flood) And then, “this isn’t a beautiful moment”. It poured rain until we were directly across the street from our condo – of course! We couldn’t help but laugh it off. After changing out of our wet clothes we gathered in the Garner’s condo to watch movies: Water Boy & Anger Management. We watched all of Water Boy, but only half of Anger Management Home to bed.