Jeez, where do I start?
Our weekend really started on Thursday, when we were invited to the neighbors’ house for pizza and playtime with the kids; Poor Jen was suffering a migraine so Finn and I walked over and played hard until the sun was down and the mosquitos flew. I woke up Friday morning feeling a little worse for wear, but rallied to make it into work with the top down in the Scout in sunny 80° weather. The evening was a little more laid back, spending some quality time across the street at the playground with the kids.
Saturday I was invited to go fishing out on the Bay, so I dragged myself out of bed and made it outside by 7 A.M. to pile into a crewcab pickup and head to Sandy Point. There we put the boat in the water and trolled out under the bridge to catch spots for live bait. Our initial casting area was OK but when we hit another, better spot further south, we caught baitfish as fast as we could bait our lines. Then we headed to the mouth of the Eastern Bay to use the spots on live lines for rockfish. Obviously the spot we chose was the correct one, because we joined a fleet of other fishing boats anchored in the same area looking for the same fish.
My neighbor caught an undersized rockfish within about 10 minutes, and I was close behind with what would have been a keeper about five minutes later. But I let the line go slack for a minute while I tried to negotiate getting it into the boat, and it dropped off the line and swam away. The rest of the afternoon was less climactic; we sat, cast lines, drank some beer, and called it a day at about 3.
That evening we were invited to another neigbors’ house for some dinner and a bonfire, so we rallied Finn, picked up some beer and dessert, and stayed until all three kids were dozing on the couch. Somewhere in there we sampled strawberry s’mores (pink marshmallows) over the fire, which were surprisingly delicious.
Sunday morning came a little too early, but we put an appearance in at church and then got to work clearing out our bedroom in preparation for some plaster repair, a new area carpet, and new furniture. I got the walls patched, primed and painted before we hit the road for Sunday dinner with another family; again, we adults talked over some wine and Hors d’oeuvres while the kids ran in circles around the house and tired themselves out. Our hostess Sue was kind enough to have baked a birthday cake for Jen on top of a wonderful gourmet meal, so we got to celebrate twice in two weeks.
It occurs to me this foggy Monday morning how blessed we are to have so many great, generous friends. I’m exhausted but I can’t imagine a better summer weekend. Thank you everyone!