Moss Lading Chill

Our first-thing-in-the-morning quest was to find some coffee. This was a surprisingly difficult undertaking for two middle-age men, three little girls, and a tiny dog. After wandering the area surrounding the campground, we were pointed back to a coffee shop on Route 1 by a local artist who was continuing to build his sculpture garden. (I particularly liked the re-purposed school bus.) Amaya, who always steals sips of my coffee, was offered her own decaf cafe au lait by Uncle Neb. Thanks, Neb. Will you be teaching her to smoke nicotine-free cigarettes next? Anyway, everyone had a nice time and we delivered coffee to a thankful Laura and a doughnut to groggy Keiko.

Neb and family had a 6-hour drive back to LA ahead of them, so there wasn't too much time to play. We decided to take a walk to the beach, despite the cloudy and misty weather. We should have known to get the girls into their swimsuits because they simply can't resist playing in the waves—no matter how cold or windy the conditions. The adults weren't able to last very long at the beach, though, and we headed back to the campground. The Meisels showered, packed up, and the girls waved goodbye Super Cucas Shuttle for the last time. I knew I'd be seeing Neb again in a few weeks, but Keiko and Amaya won't see Lea and Sophia anytime soon. We hope that there will be some kid-applied pressure to visit Williamstown when the Meisels are in Eastern Massachusetts or Burlington, VT where Laura's family live. Nevertheless, the girls were sad to see their new friends depart. They were a good fit and they had a nice time together.

Ahhh, Beautiful Views of the Power Plant

Should we go in, even though we don't have our swimsuits on?

After the Nebster Family left, we spent the rest of the day just chilling out. Keiko and Amaya befriended a girl their age in the campground, so they played some soccer and palled around for most of the afternoon. I gave the RV a much needed interior cleaning. The RV had a vacuum cleaner in the back closet, but we hadn't used it yet. It managed to remove some small fraction of the grime we had deposited on the rugs—and as a bonus, filled the camper with a singular odor, something akin to that emitted by a damp dog. We had been living with seven people in the RV for the last five days.  For the next two days, it would just be me and the twins. A bit tight for a party of seven, but very spacious for just the three of us. After cleaning up, I just spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on email and doing a little blogging. There hadn't really been down-time for any of that while the Nebsters were aboard. It was good to have a few hours to wind down after six days of go, go, go.

Soccer Buddy Sophia

 

Juggling Practice

Sophia's Family

Just as I was starting to contemplate what I might fix the girls for dinner, the two of them came busting in to the RV to ask if we could join their friend, Sophia (yes, another Sophia) and her family for chili. Shaa! I brought a six-pack of beer along and we had a nice Fourth of July cookout. Once it got dark, they asked if we wanted to join them in a short road-trip to set off (illegal) fireworks. Double Shaa! We piled in their giant crew-cab pickup truck and headed to a deserted parking lot near the beach. They weren't crazy fireworks like we experience with Rachelle's family in Hawaii on New Year's Eve; they had a bunch of fountains, some Roman candles, and a few aerials. Sure enough, it wasn't long before a police cruiser showed up. Great, I thought. Just a few hours supervising the kids on my own and we're all going to jail. It turned out that the cop was cool and just told us that we should stop, but he intimated that if we sent up a few more while he drove away that he wouldn't be able to see them...

Tame, but still illegal