Full Day in the Sun

I was up near 730am to yet another bright, sunny morning on the beach. The forecast, meanwhile, was calling for clear skies and temps approaching 100. We decided the night before that Thursday would be a beach day.

I enjoyed coffee then left for a run around 8am. I ran north into almost no breeze with the hot morning sun beating against my right shoulder. It was hot, hot! I stopped for a break after about 3.5 miles and splashed some sea water on my shoulders and face. I continued on to the end. I took a few minutes to reflect/meditate at the shoreline sitting near a large tide pool before walking back to the house. Nice!

The house was fully awake and breakfast was on. Can’t recall what was served. I spent a little time working on monthly reports while enjoying my breakfast. The plan was to spend time on the beach, but folks were slow to motivate. I was anxious to get some sun so I headed out to the pool with my book around 11am. Mindy, Bella and Kaileigh headed off to do some shopping. Connie and Lane left to go after swimmer’s ear antibiotics in Kitty Hawk. Darwin took care of the wee ones in the house.

As it turned out, I spent about 2 hours in the sun at the pool by myself. I enjoyed the time immensely. Darwin joined me around 1 or 2pm and brought me a cold beer, my first of the day. Prior, I’d drank only ice water. The girls got home around 3pm and joined us around the pool. By then I was on beer #3 or 4. Mindy drank 2 or 3 White Rajah’s in little more than an hour’s time. Add the extra hot sun and she had quite the buss going. Pictures don’t lie!

I stopped drinking after beer #4. I’m thinking it was near 5pm when Mindy went in for a nap. Darwin prepped thick Shuman’s steaks for the grill around 6pm. Connie baked potatoes slowly all afternoon. While Darwin did the grilling, I did some more work on my monthly reports. Mindy and I tinkered with idea of leaving for home Friday evening instead of waiting for Saturday morning, when everyone else is leaving the island for home. We were having a wonderful time but the thought of sitting in traffic for 3 or 4 hours wasn’t appealing in the least. We shared our thoughts with the McVey’s. They were supportive but also sad that we might head out early.

The grilled steaks were nothing short of magnificent. I might have to buy a Weber charcoal grill. The hot sun had zapped everybody’s energy. We did a lot of relaxing inside the house. Once again, Mindy declared Friday a beach day in lieu of any pool lounging. We headed to bed earlier than most other evenings, asleep by 10pm.