Later that morning, our friends from our neighborhood arrived, unpacked, and quickly joined us on the beach. Their three kids and our two proceeded to get into all manner of fun activities, from splashing around in the water to digging big holes to eating the roast beef sandwiches I had made.
The fun continued into the afternoon, as we took everyone to the boardwalk. We ate pizza and ice cream, took pictures, and rode rides. We even bought ourselves a pet: a tiny hermit crab the kids named Dezzle. The kids were amped up from all the fun, and the grown-ups reveled in their happiness and in the easy breezy atmosphere of the boardwalk in the late afternoon and early evening.
We returned home at a reasonable hour. Four out of the five kids slept in the same room, which was a situation fraught with problems, but they were all too tired to put up too much of a fuss: within minutes, everyone was asleep. And, after the long and fun day we had had, so were the grown-ups.
