Our daughter plus our oldest son and his family arrived July 2nd, so we started out the month with a houseful! Our home is small, but somehow we all fit, and it was wonderful having everyone. On July 4th we had originally planned to go to see the fireworks in DC, but the grandkids really wanted to go to the beach. So we planned a one day trip, and on Monday morning we packed up and drove 4 hours to a quiet beach that is part of Delaware Seashore State Park. We arrived about 2:00 p.m., and everyone was very, very hungry, so the first thing we did once we got set up was get out our picnic lunch.
After lunch, the grandkids played in the sand, and jumped
waves with their grandaddy, aunt, and uncles.
(Grandad may not be in these pictures, but
they did a lot of wave jumping with him.)
Little Keith and Allyssa had a great time digging in the sand.
Unfortunately, our afternoon was cut a little shorter than we had expected. A thunderstorm came up rather quickly, and although we had started to pack up when we heard the first rumble, a lifeguard drove up to us and told us to get our canopy down immediately, because the metal poles made it a lightning rod. (Our canopy was the tallest on the beach!) We got it down and threw things in our bags. We didn't care that everything was in chaos. We tried to get the little ones to hurry, but they didn't want to leave. Then a huge bolt of lightning hit very close by, with a very loud clap of thunder, and even the children ran at that point. We were drenched before we made it to our cars, and we sat waiting in our vehicles, hoping the storm would be over quickly so we could go get cleaned up at least a little. We did get a chance to rinse off inside the bath house, although we had a little trouble finding our clothes and toiletries because everything had just been thrown quickly into the cars.
Then we headed to Ocean City for our traditional ice cream treat. Our car led the way, but before long Mike and his family were no longer behind us. We got a call on my cell phone. Mike said, "Our car is overheating." They had to find a gas station with some coolant. We pulled over at a McDonalds, thinking it would be an easier place to meet them once they got what they needed. The skies poured, and we hoped it would clear soon. It didn't. They did join us, but had to wait to get out of their car because it was a "Noah" rain. Finally they came in, and we had some food. It wasn't where we'd intended to stop for our dinner, but it was a haven in the storm. By the time we finished eating, we were able to go to our cars without getting drenched, and we continued on till we found a Candy Kitchen that let you do your own ice cream sundaes.
On the way home, Mike's family had to stop again, but he said to go on ahead, and they would meet us at home. While driving home, we saw fireworks, and they were pretty good ones, so we stopped by the side of the road as several other cars had done. We didn't take pictures, but it was nice to see some fireworks on the 4th, too. They were suprisingly good fireworks, too, although we couldn't figure out what town in Maryland was doing them. Even though we stopped quite awhile, we still got home before Mike's family did. They arrived a bit later.
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