Summer was winding down and we were all wishing for one more day at the beach, so we decided to go to Point Pleasant hoping for the best weatherwise. We were supposed to be wheels up at 900 and almost made it with Ben and Lucy in the car as Jane rushed past Suzanne to get one last thing.

Before we knew it, we found Melissa coming out of her house. The highlight was Billy's new pickup truck parked across the street. We got a tour of the house including the new swag (a la Martha Stewart) that Melissa had just made, the refrigirator with good NASCAR schedules but not enough magnets and the rest of the kitchen.

But the highlight was the collections in the living room. We marvelled at Billy's NASCAR cars living on top of Melissa's precious moments. Due to the photographic conditions, the images hardly reflect the beauty of the original. Gentle reader, you will want to take a tour to see for yourself. The overflow collection of NASCAR cars was quite impressive as we passed through the living room to the computer room and then their bedroom and Melissa's room with the wonderful frieze around the ceiling.

We then drove on to the water tower where they were lifting the draw bridge but soon enough they lowered it again

Once at the beach, this woman took our money and let us on the beach where we first saw the parasailers. The lifeguards were there though we weren't sure they were seeing the whole beach. Benjamin walked down and tested the water which weren't so cold so Melissa joined him and then Jane and Lucy went in so that we could slowly gather people together for this group picture. Jane and Lucy went in further where this wave passed them by so they tried to ride this one but missed it as well so eventually they started in where they could join us in speculating about these people who we decided were high school friends from Northern Jersey who worked as assistants to a president. Benjamin entertained us with various faces so that we knew it was time for lunch.

There was a Nathan's nearby so we checked out their menu and especially a large order of fries to start the meal. David had pizza nicely prepared by this server. Jane had these chicken tenders and Benjamin and Lucy had chicken nuggets like these with the wonderful containers of sweet and sour sauce. The kids were sitting in the heat as Jane concentrated on eating Lucy sucked up her lemonade and Benjamin talked about moving under the umbrella. But then, this chicken breast sandwich arrived for Melissa so that we could finish our meal.

Once back at the beach, we were pleased when this woman told us the time (137 PM) and volunteered to loan us her boogie boards which we didn't need. The chairs were about to get trounced by waves as David and Benjamin went back to the water and got a shell as these people passed by. They then went to work trying to gather more shells as Jane's attention shifted to seagulls back to shell gatherers and back to sea gulls This all made Benjamin thirsty as David recorded the location for future trips.

On the way out, David took this picture for our collection of similar signs.