I wakeup about 8AM, smile at my lovely wife and needlessly check the weather by opening the curtains. It’s always sunny in Point Pleasant. Peeking into my son’s bedroom verifies he hasn’t slipped away during the night. I quietly shut the Nintendo off. We like Room 405 because it has an extra bedroom with a door so that he can play in peace and J and I can have a life too. On the way to get two coffees from the snack bar, I grab towels, toy bag and noodles to stake out our claim to two lounge chairs by the pool. The White Sands Resort has two pools and is on the beach. It’s a little bit of heaven.
By 10AM, the Kid is up and ready to go to the beach. From the cooler we brought with us I extract and cut up fruit for his breakfast. I hem and haw until 11AM when the lotion ritual begins. I get to touch and smooth sun block over every square inch of my son’s 7 year old body. Then it’s my turn. We wait 15 minutes, and we’re off to the pool. The big pool is just steps from our room and has a long shallow part and a short part that is six feet deep so I can stand. And stand I do. Pulling him on the noodle we play stormy weather and rough waters until the ocean calls us.
Grabbing the toy bag and two chairs we race to the sands end and stop dead when the freezing waters touch our feet. We chase Mr. Foamy as the waves threaten and then recede. The toy bag has shovels and forms to dig and create. We mostly dig. Mom eventually appears to take pictures; she doesn’t like getting wet. Back to the pool to wash off the sand and into the snack bar, we eat a tasty lunch. We hide in our room to let the food digest and the noon sun pass. By 2PM the sun block ritual begins again and pool and ocean performances are repeated.
By 5PM we’ve both had enough. In Room 405 we shower the sand and lotion away and the boy plays Nintendo while J and I have a drink outside. After dinner at the Sand Bar, it’s time to hit the Boardwalk. I strap on my belly bag brimming with quarters that I’d been saving since the early 70’s. The upside-down Ferris wheel is a must as are the Bumper Cars. Then it’s the “pound a turtle onto a Lilly pad” game to win a stuffed turtle. We end at Franks Amusements where we dump prodigious amounts of quarters into games of all sorts. Mom keeps any prize tickets we win. On the way back to our room the ice cream stand beckons. By 9:30PM it’s Nintendo time for Jeff and quiet time for J and me. A cool ocean breeze flows in the open window as we commiserate about how wonderful life is. Tomorrow we’ll do it all again.
kongoboken 