A Season for Everything

Ok, that’s not really me in the picture, but after 9 hours behind the wheel yesterday it’s pretty much how I felt last night. The long, long, long drive home aside, we had a great week! We loved the rental house. It was a nice size and nicely decorated, but not fancy. The kids had plenty of room to spread out and we didn’t have to worry about them messing anything up. There was even a big, fenced in yard with horses next door that we were encouraged to visit with and treat to carrots. The kids loved that.

Oh, there were a few small ups and downs….mostly related to the friends the kids brought along. The day before we left Matt’s friend, who was supposed to be driving his car, let us know his dad said he couldn’t because he’d just gotten a speeding ticket (in a fines doubled zone). We ended up taking Tim’s work truck to handle the overflow. It was too late in the day to get a rental or add a U-Haul hitch and trailer. It meant a lot more money out in gas as the great beast guzzles it as you’re pumping it in. Then Megan’s friend started to cry in the car on the drive down…only after we were about 4 hours from home. She cried the whole way. Nobody ever thought to mention to us that she’d never been away from her family before. She remained kind of mopey, but I think she’d have made it if it wasn’t for her 20 or so daily phone calls home. Mom wasn’t handling the separation much better and talking to her always resulted in a new round of bawling. The girl didn’t want to go home. She just wanted her parents there. At one point it looked like she was going to get her wish as dear old Mom was pushing less-than-thrilled Dad to come down and get a hotel room for the week. Tim and I were not at all happy about that idea, because we don’t know the parents all that well and the mom was planning to come along and do everything we did. Fortunately, Dad’s clearer head prevailed (at least a little) and all they did was drive down and pick the girl up last Tuesday. Matt’s friend also got himself one heck of a sunburn that I was afraid we were going to have to take him to the Island’s clinic over, but he perked up.

The weather was great the whole time. We spent a couple of days just hanging out at the beach. We took a fishing trip (I caught a red eel) and a Back Bay Expedition with our favorite captain, a real nut by the name of Capt. Barry. He taught us how to find clams with our toes like natives and Tim and I turned out to be pretty good at it. We brought back enough to make Island-style (neither creamy or in a tomato sauce) clam chowder following the directions Capt. Barry gave me. The night of the fishing trip we feasted on Croaker, a nice bass-like fish that makes a croaking noise when out of the water. None of the flounder we caught were big enough to keep. We rented scooters and bikes and spent a lot of time exploring the island. We caught the new Pirates of the Carribean movie (a major set up for Pirates 3), did a little crabbing, shopped, and ate lots and lots of clams, and crabs and shrimp and fish and oysters and….well, you get the idea.

One other thing we did was look at real estate. We even met with an agent to view one property. Tim and I are both totally in love with Chincoteague and the lifestyle. Tim really likes it here in PA so I was surprised when he said he could see himself living on the island. We’re a couple of years away from being in a position to seriously think about buying anything. Real estate prices are outrageous on the island. The property we looked at was a mobile home with a leaky roof, a huge addition, a decent corner lot in a park and a big garage. Turns out it’s on 2 lots. The garage is on one, the trailer on the other. The one with the garage is $119,000 and the one with the trailer is (recently reduced) $197,000! That money would buy a decent older home like the one we rented in town. Anything on the water or newer is through the roof. The owner of a campground that sits on the shore of the southern end of the island was offered $80 million for the property a while back. He refused (thank goodness), but it gives you an idea of prices. Anyway, we both agree that we’d like to own something on the island. What we don’t know is if we’d like a vacation house or if we’d like to pack up and move. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it and we’ve got a ways to go.

We’re just hanging out today. We picked the puppies up at my mom’s, I’m washing laundry and Tim’s out mowing the grass but that’s about it. Later we’re lighting a fire in the pit and cooking ham kabobs and mountain pies. Kind of a last little bit of summer vacation for Tim and Matt since Tim goes back to work tomorrow and I’m taking Matt back to his apartment tomorrow because he works on Tuesday and classes start up on Wednesday. We’ll probably spend some time in the pool, too. It’s hotter here than it was at the beach.