Had a terrifically fun day in Ventnor yesterday. Got down about noon to find Betty's house bursting with her and her children, Wes, Carolyn, and Steve, with their spouses and the assorted kiddies: a 6-year-old, two 1-year-olds, and a 3-month-old. They were all staying at Betty's and next door, in the house my mother used to own were nephew Patrick (brother Frank's son) and his wife Susan. A mile or so up the island, on Austin Avenue, were my brother, Jim, his daughter, Chrissy, and her husband, Paul in a bed and bath.
I had a beer, then changed into my bathing suit and six or seven of us went down the beach to find Jim et al already there. I actually went in the water--it was heavenly, very warm, although somewhat rough. We stayed down for several hours, then walked back and I changed into "pedal pushers" (have no idea what they're called now) and a blouse. Had a half sub and another beer, then Alison and Mike walked in with 6-week-old Tristan. Alison brought big bunches of huge sunflowers for Betty and me and the cousins all greeted each other with pleasure, exclaiming over the beautiful babies. Shortly after, Joel, Jen, and Joely, who's 5, drove up (they had been delayed because of Joely's first soccer game that day) and a gang of us went back down to the beach. Paul, Patrick, and big and little Joel all went in the water; Alison and I waded, and Chrissy, Jim, Mike, and Jen chatted on the beach.
I called Pat periodically during the day. He had forgone the bay to watch the Eagles game (a deplorable loss!) and our friend, Ray, came down to watch part of it with him.
I also got a call from Suzi D., who moved onto Long Beach Island a short time ago and is interested in participating in the peace movement. We had e-mailed each other and she called to make arrangements to meet. More about that in a later entry.
Patrick and Susan left about 6:00 (he's a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and had a procedure the next day) and so did Alison and her contingent, as they also had work or school. I said my goodbyes shortly thereafter. While I was on the parkway, Ellen called and I enjoyed talking to her the whole rest of the way home. Against the law? Yes, but I don't care.
The whole day, we just had a ball--and we get to continue the pleasure: Betty's niece, Dorothy, who lives in Galloway, is giving a birthday party for Stephen today at 4:00 and invited me to come. Also, Robyn asked if some of them could come over to our place to go in the pool and, of course, I'd love to have them. Hope we can arrange that for tomorrow.
In the meantime, on the other side of the world, son Patrick got married; it happened to be Betty's anniversary, too. Steve's birthday is today and our Ellen's is tomorrow. Hey, there's a lot to celebrate, not least being lucky enough to be born into this family.