Summer just isn't summer without a trip to the beach--or a couple trips to the beach. And of course it is always more fun to go with friends or family (or both) than to go alone. It's near impossible to get every one's schedule to line up, so I planned a beach day and anyone that could go, came.
Since Mason has summer band, we couldn't leave as early as I wanted--we left right around 11:30ish. My friend, Jennifer (not Rose-Booth), didn't feel comfortable enough to go to the beach by herself, so we caravaned down. My other friend, Carol, didn't leave when she wanted, and we managed to see each other on the freeway. There were a couple of other friends that were planning on coming, too, but not until later in the day.
Jennifer and I were chugging right along, making pretty good time, when I noticed my car making a noise it shouldn't make. (Alright, which niece or nephew is even thinking about getting married?) Boy did I get over to the right side of the freeway quickly! I seriously thought that there was something wrong with my engine, but I was hoping that maybe it was only a tire problem. My heart sank when I had checked three of the tires and was making my way to the fourth tire--I was certain that it was going to be the engine. I had to look twice at the last tire because I didn't see the problem at first. I was looking for a flat tire, but there was no flat tire...all there was was a blown out tire! I was really grateful that it was only a blown tire. I can take care of a tire, but if it had been the engine, I was sunk. I was on the 55 South, all the way in the city of Orange. That would have been a very long and expensive tow back to Beaumont. After a bit of searching, I was able to find the jack and the tire iron for my car (at first I asked Jennifer to use her jack and tire iron, but of course her tire iron didn't fit the lug nuts on my car). I don't fix a flat tire often enough to remember to loosen the lug nuts before I jack up the car, so once it was jacked up, I then had to put it back down to loosen the lug nuts. Of course they were on tight and neither I nor Jennifer could loosen them. Well, during all of the jacking up and down and scraping my knuckles and everything else, I was calling Robert and he was calling me. I also called Carol to let her know everything that was going on. She was only five minutes from the beach, so she dropped off her family and then got back on the road to come to where I was. She also let me use her AAA card so that I could get help with my tire. I didn't want the entire day to be ruined, so I told Jennifer not to feel obligated to stay with me while things got fixed. She offered to take two of my kids to the beach in her car (she could only fit two), so Mason and Amanda went with her. In the meantime, I get a phone call from my friend, Renee, asking me if she just saw me on the side of the freeway! Of course it was me, so she turned around and came back to where I was. Her husband, Kam, knew exactly how to loosen the lug nuts--he stood on the tire iron to use his weight and leverage (I will definitely remember that for next time...which I hope there never will be.) About that time, Carol pulled up. She offered to take Rainer and all of my stuff to the beach while Kam took my tire to be fixed because my donut tire was flat too =). So, by the time we got a new tire put back on my car and on the road again, we got to the beach around 3ish.
Once we actually made it to the beach, we had a wonderful time. Mason and Amanda turned into fish and only came onto shore to refuel their bodies with food and water. They spent a lot of time on the boogie board and body surfing. Rainer loved looking for sand crabs and holding them. He also loved to splash in the waves.
My other friend, Stephanie, had gotten to the beach way early and had saved us a fire pit. She didn't stay to cook anything, but the rest of us cooked hot dogs and s'mores. Normally I stay until the beach closes, but I was feeling a bit skittish, so when everyone else left around 8:oopm or so, I left with them too.
Despite the rough start, the day turned out great. But, what's life without a little adventure? =)
(I might have more pictures to post of this trip, but because of the snafu that got thrown into my schedule, I didn't take any pictures. If I get copies of the pictures that my friends took, then I'll add them when I get them. These were courtesy of Carol.)
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