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 P8280001 with Ben and Lucy in the car P8280002 as Jane rushed past Suzanne to get one last thing. P8280003

Before we knew it, we found Melissa P8280004 coming out of her house. P8280005 The highlight was Billy's new pickup truck P8280006 parked across the street. We got a tour of the house including the new swag (a la Martha Stewart) P8280007 that Melissa had just made, the refrigirator P8280008 with good NASCAR schedules but not enough magnets and the rest P8280009 of the kitchen.

But the highlight was the collections in the living room. We marvelled at Billy's P8280010 P8280011 P8280012 NASCAR cars living on top of Melissa's P8280013 P8280014 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 P8280015 of NASCAR cars was quite impressive as we passed through the living room P8280016 to the computer room P8280017 and then their bedroom P8280018 and Melissa's room P8280019 with the wonderful frieze P8280020 around the ceiling.

We then drove on to the water tower P8280021 where they were lifting the draw bridge P8280022 P8280023 P8280024 P8280025 but soon enough P8280026 they lowered it again P8280027 P8280028 P8280029 P8280030 P8280031

Once at the beach, this woman P8280032 took our money and let us on the beach where we first saw P8280033 the parasailers. The lifeguards were there P8280034 though we weren't sure they were seeing P8280035 the whole beach. Benjamin walked down P8280036 and tested the water P8280037 which weren't so cold so Melissa joined him P8280038 and then Jane and Lucy went in P8280039 P8280040 so that we could slowly P8280041 gather people together P8280042 for this group picture. P8280043 Jane and Lucy went in further P8280044 where this wave passed them by P8280045 so they tried to ride this one P8280046 P8280047 but missed it as well P8280048 so eventually P8280049 they started in where they could join us in speculating about these people P8280050 who we decided were high school friends from Northern Jersey who worked as assistants to a president. Benjamin P8280051 entertained us with various faces P8280052 so that we knew it was time for lunch.

There was a Nathan's nearby P8280053 so we checked out their menu P8280054 and especially a large order of fries P8280055 to start the meal. David had pizza P8280056 nicely prepared by this server. P8280057 Jane had these chicken tenders P8280058 and Benjamin and Lucy had chicken nuggets P8280059 like these with the wonderful containers P8280060 of sweet and sour sauce. The kids P8280061 were sitting in the heat as Jane concentrated on eating P8280062 Lucy sucked up her lemonade P8280063 and Benjamin talked about moving P8280064 under the umbrella. But then, this chicken breast sandwich P8280065 arrived for Melissa P8280066 so that we could finish our meal.

Once back at the beach, we were pleased when this woman P8280067 told us the time (137 PM) and volunteered to loan us her boogie boards which we didn't need. The chairs P8280068 were about to get trounced by waves as David and Benjamin P8280069 went back to the water and got a shell P8280070 as these people passed by. They then went to work P8280071 P8280072 trying to gather more shells as Jane's attention shifted to seagulls P8280073 back to shell gatherers P8280074 and back to sea gulls P8280075 P8280076 This all made Benjamin thirsty P8280077 as David recorded the location P8280078 for future trips.

On the way out, David took this picture P8280079 for our collection of similar signs.