Long time no see
On Monday after work we got word that my sister and her family landed safely. Cindy was babysitting DJ so she couldn’t go but I headed out to the Bonita Carrabas to meet them for dinner. I had not seen Damon or the kids since Cindy and I visited their place in State College years ago during a winter northern road trip. Hell they have lived in two other states since then. The kids, who are now 13 and almost 11 have grown exponentially since then, it was weird seeing such taller versions of them.
Even though it was a Monday night we did actually have to wait at least 20 minutes to get seated. Damon and I hit the bar where he told me about his keto diet and this miracle vodka that he had discovered. We had a fun meal catching up. We laid out a loose game plan for the week including visiting the beach on Tuesday.
They were staying at a hotel close to Bonita Springs so we decided that instead of them driving all the way out to our house only to turn around and go to the beach that I would just meet them there. We picked Lowdermilk as the spot and agreed to get there around 11. Wow, what a mistake.
It’s been years since I have tried to go hang at the beach during snowbird season. By the time we got to the park there was not a parking space to be had and there was a non-stop carousel of cars circling the lot looking for and empty space, like a buzzard circling a carcass. There was no way to make that work so I said we should try Vanderbilt Beach instead as it has a three story parking garage.
Luckily there was still some open parking on the third floor. Damon dropped off the kids and Torrin at the beach with the gear and then met me up top where I was loaded up with the gear I had brought for adventure. The humanity filling the beach area was pretty crazy. After walking awhile we found a small square we could stake out for ourselves.
They had stopped and grabbed some food for lunch, luckily they had some extra as I did not bring anything. I had no plans to go in the water so I was wearing my standard camo shorts with a t-shirt and my mega brim hat we got at the sand sculpture festival. I did go mid calf deep into the ocean a little bit. It felt cold at first but tolerable after a short adjustment period.
Emily and Griffin wasted no time digging into the beach experience, literally. They began construction of a sand fortress close to the water’s edge. The choice of location was challenging as the waves were consistently banging into the front wall, eroding it each time. I took up the role of a human backhoe as I kept collecting buckets of sand that I would dump on the wall that Griffin would tamp into place. Of course every time a wave hit the wall more sand was needed. Despite the chilly by my standards water, Emily was in and out of it constantly, having a great time which was fun to see. I think the kids really enjoyed themselves.
After we had enough sand and surf for the day we packed up and headed out, them to their hotel to shower and I home to do the same. They came out to our house for dinner around 5pm. Before eating we gave them the grand tour. The kids loved the 3D/hobby room as well as the two prints we made for them, a cool purple dragon for Emily and a silver light saber for Griffin.
We then took everyone outside to meet the chickens. We grabbed a bunch of greens from the garden so the kids could feed the hens, which they loved. Our property had changed a ton since they were last there which unbelievably was somewhere around a dozen years ago. Things looked much different from what they recalled.
Cindy busted her ass making food for everyone which included barbecue chicken, burgers and some great gluten free deserts. After eating Griffin was very excited to hook up his Nintendo Switch to our big tv to play games with me. Griffin and Emily teamed up against Damon and me in Super Smash Brothers. They destroyed us every game, Damon and I had no idea what was going on, the game looks like it was designed to cause epileptic seizures, there is that much going on at once. Even though we were beaten badly every game it was still fun playing with the kids, who thoroughly enjoyed dominating us.
At one point Damon almost passed out from sugar overload. His keto diet is very low on carbs and sugar, ingesting a ton of them in a short period of time really did a number on him. The gang headed out a little after 8. They are going on a fishing charter this morning and then will meet back up with us this afternoon at some point. We are going to hit Corkscrew Sanctuary more than likely but I’m not sure if that will happen today or tomorrow. It’s been a fun visit so far and there should be more of the same for the next couple days.