Prologue
I did a couple of “end of summer” posts a few weeks ago. One was about my trip to the Heath Fair and the other was about mine and Christine’s trip down the river on a couple of inflatable kayaks. One was planned for a few months to be an end of summer activity. The other, the kayaks, came up at the last minute after trying more than once to do it earlier in the season. However, it worked out because we ended up kayaking during the eclipse, which was cool. Finally, I did a post about Labor Day, the official unofficial end of summer.
Journal
The funny thing about all of those posts is that they were supposed to represent the end of summer in some way, shape, or form. However, none of them lived up to the name because summer like weather has continued into last week and it might even push 80 later on in this week. At the risk of sounding like a damned dirty hippie (Ah, who am I kidding? I am a damned dirty hippie.) this weather doesn’t feel right at all. I’ve said more than once that if we are living in a simulation, it feels like that simulation realizes that we screwed up big time and is pushing hard for a full reset.
Ah, a discussion for another time, perhaps. This latest “end of summer” post comes courtesy of the Cape house that belongs to Christine’s principal. We stayed there for a weekend over the summer and she invited us to stay again this Columbus Day weekend. Initially, Christine’s parents were going to go to Emerald Lake (another of my favorite places), but they ended up not going because it looked like rain in the forecast. So, unencumbered by plans, we jumped on the opportunity to spend maybe one last weekend of the year on our home away from home. By that, I mean the Cape, not the house. I don’t want to sound presumptuous.
There were some complications that necessitated a slight altering of plans. Christine went down with our oldest and youngest on Friday. Our middle and I had to wait until Saturday afternoon because he had a soccer game and I’m the coach. More on that next week. The important thing is that as soon as the game ended, we were on the road to meet them at the house. We missed almost all traffic, other than a bit of a snag for what looked like a parade of sports cars, mostly Corvettes, near the town where the New England Patriots play. I have no idea what that was all about, but it was neat to see all of the cars and made sitting in traffic slightly more bearable.
Saturday was just a day for hanging at the house. We went for a quick walk down to Great Pond with the boys. We were going to walk more after that, but they don’t have much stamina for a longer walk, so we ended up turning around and going back to the house. Unable to spend time on the Cape without going to a beach, we went to Coast Guard beach and then visited the lighthouse that was close by. After that, we went back to the house for the night. While Christine cooked dinner, the boys and I played a game of Magic the Gathering. We actually ended up playing a few games and I’m glad to have had some time to play the game and it has me interested in the game again after a several month absence. In fact, for a while there, I thought I might be finished with the game completely. Alas, that is a story for 2 Generations Gaming.
After dinner, we watched Captain Underpants with the boys. Honestly, I’m not sure why. They had already seen it and neither Christine nor I cared much about the movie. But, it was a family movie night and it actually wasn’t as terrible as I feared. After the boys went to bed, Christine and I watched Moonrise Kingdom. That one wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, so I guess it was a night of false hope and unfulfilled expectations all around.
We made up for it the next day with a trip back to the National Seashore beach. The boys swam, in the ocean, 10 days into October. I even got a bit crazy and hopped in. I can confirm that, even though the temperature was high 70s, the water was doggone cold. It wasn’t as cold as up in Maine a few years ago, but it was still a shock to the system. That night, we overpaid for some chowder, bisque, and stuffies, but heck, it was vacation. We also made up for the subpar movie night by watching “Gifted”, which was surprisingly very good.
Monday was supposed to be spent driving back. Instead, it was spent sitting in a gas station parking lot waiting for a AAA tow driver that took over 3 hours to arrive. By the time he did, the tire place was closed, so we ended up getting one more day on the beach (oh no, how terrible!) instead of going back to work on Tuesday.
Epilogue
We paid for our extra day on the beach with one of those “long” short weeks that are infamous and every teacher will know what you’re talking about if you tell them you’ve experienced one. But, we all survived the craziness of the flat tire, the subsequent craziness of the week, and are finally (?) ready to face the end of summer. If only it would actually end. Christine has mentioned more than once that she doesn’t want to go apple picking when it is so warm.
Well, I will say that it was chilly all day today. In spite of the fact that the sun was out most of the afternoon, it didn’t warm up like it has. I’m not much of a summer fan, but this summer has been good for family fun and activities that we normally haven’t done in years past. I can’t say completely what is different other than attitudes and a willingness to try these new things.
Sure, getting the invite to a Cape house twice in a year when we were willing to give up camping completely helped. Also, buying the Groupon deal for the kayak trip on a whim came into play. The boys are showing more interest in things. That drives what we do and also what we find enjoyable. So, I’m not a summer guy, but this summer was fun. Fall is, so far, turning out to be fun, too, but that can’t last. It’s only a matter of time before we are trapped in the house and trying not to reenact “The Shining”.