The Story of the Beach House: Part Two in which We Blow Things Up as a Family

 

 By this time, my husband had the opportunity to see the house. In fact, the previous owners were very gracious and allowed us to have a fence installed before closing. This made it so much simpler to have kids and a dog down there! Our first visit to the house as its official owners was a quick one. It was just the kids and I since, again, my husband was busy with work. He was very possibly still on his trip to India. We went down for less than 24 hours to do a quick inventory. You see, the house had been sold to us with all its accoutrements: all the furniture, the dishes, the linens, even the paper towels and toilet paper! I wasn't sure exactly what was there, so we went down to take stock and see what we might need to bring down with us to make our first official trip comfortable.

 That was a quick, but exhausting trip. I was up late going through drawers, cupboards and closets and writing it all down. How many towels? Sheets? Spoons? It was a beautiful gift as it meant we didn't have added expense and trouble of furnishing a whole house and it made it move-in-ready. Most of the original items are still in use today! By the time I turned in for the night, I was exhausted, but I was in a new house as the only adult there and my imagination/anxiety made it difficult to fall asleep. After a while, I did, only to be woken a couple of hours later to the sound of the roof falling in on us! My heart was racing as I dashed into the next room to check on the kids sleeping there, only to find them snoozing peacefully. It was then it dawned on me that the sound all around me, the terrifying crashing noise, was actually just rain on the roof! You see, the house has an exposed-beam ceiling without any insulation so the sound of heavy rain on it was amplified and as it echoed throughout the upstairs, it caught me totally by surprise. Over the years, I've come to find this sound comforting and pleasant - something I really look forward to when visiting the Beach House, but that first time I had no frame of reference and when combined with my pre-sleep anxiety, it threw me into a panic!

 Because our family homeschooled, it made it easy to pop down to the beach whenever we liked! We spent weeks there, enjoying the fresh air and change of pace. You see it's true what they say, communities by the ocean truly operate on beach time. Even the internet and cell service were slower there. The town had been founded back in the 70s and felt a little like it was frozen in time. Many of the residents were ex-hippies and even the businesses had a yesteryear feel to them. There were plenty of entertainment options: the Interpretive Center (a free museum documenting the history of the city and natural development), several parks and trails, beaches (of course), a 3-mile long lake for boating and fishing, shopping, bowling, putt putt golf, a movie theater, the library, go-karts, and the obligatory beach rental places where you can rent surreys, trikes and fat tire bikes. The roads had all been redone just before we bought the house, so it was a great place for biking, roller-skating, riding scooters and skateboarding. Of course, we brought down lots of outdoor activities as well including croquet, frisbees, basketballs, tennis and pickleball equipment and bocce ball. The local park, just a block away, had basketball and tennis courts as well as a bocce ball pit, which I'd never seen before. When you buy a house in this beach town, you are automatically a part of the local club. They run several parks as well as two seasonal outdoor pools and a large clubhouse that had indoors a basketball court, pool, gym and rec room with video games, pool tables, air hockey and more. At times they even had a restaurant operating with subsidized food pricing - and it was tasty too!

    

 That first year, we learned about what the 4th of July was like at the beach - an experience we never could have expected. Recognizing the limits of the local fire department, the town had made a law that fireworks are only allowed on the beach, and there they have to be set off more than 100 feet from the dunes. This makes a lot of sense since the dunes are covered in dry grass and fireworks set of there could be disastrous! Fireworks are allowed on both the 3rd and 4th of July, but the bulk of them are set off on the 4th. Our family opted to do our personal fireworks on the 3rd since it was MUCH easier to find space on the beach that night and WAY less crazy. This was a fun, low-key event for us. All of the kids that were old enough got to take turns lighting off fireworks in a safe and sane, supervised way. 

 After that first year, we got brave and invited our family down to join us for the holiday. This was back before I had learned to know my limits and set healthy boundaries 😝. Over the years we had as many as 25 people, 5 dogs, two birds and a bearded dragon at a time overnight in the house. No, we didn't have a mansion! Most all the kids ended up on the floor and the adults got the beds and couches. Most years my Mom and I were in charge of sorting out the food for all three meals a day for as many as 9 days of guests, though towards the end we started asking people who came out to take one dinner during their visit. Mom and I would do a big Business Costco trip just before heading to the beach where we'd get all the components for a well-appointed continental breakfast (pastries and muffins, hard-boiled eggs, yogurts and fruit) as well as LOTS of sandwich fixings and some yummy soup. Yep, I learned how to cook grilled cheese sandwiches for 20+people. These family weeks created a TON of memories and learning experiences. 

  

 Our personal fireworks out of the way, on the night of the 4th we'd hunker down in the dunes to watch the madness. Cars would show up on the beach hours before sunset to find their perfect spot. There could be several rows of cars between the dunes and the water, which got pretty interesting when the tide started coming in! Inevitably there would be dozens of cars getting stuck in the sand. The local tow trucks would patrol up and down the beach - helping each other when they got stuck in the sand 😂. Cars lined the road leading to the beach entrance, which of course all the signage strictly forbade. One year my husband had to help the fire fighters literally lift a car off the ground with brute strength and move it out of the way so the fire truck could get through to the beach to put out a fire.

  

We had the blessing of being close enough to walk, but my husband would still take a truckload or two down with the chairs and other things we'd need for the evening as well as those of us with the privilege of age or disability (can't tell you how many times someone was there in a boot or a cast!). We'd set up in the dunes which was theoretically safe, but depending on the wind and the choices of the people setting off the fireworks, we'd still have to be careful. There we got the most incredible fireworks show you could imagine with huge fireworks going off constantly, several at a time, for hours. We also got the entertainment of watching the people down on the beach. The person who hadn't staked down their tent so it went rolling down the beach through someone else's bonfire. The person who though it was a good idea to store all their fireworks under their truck, until they accidentally set one off that headed directly at them!

  

Here's the Thing: As much as I know now that trying to feed up to 25 people three meals a day as well as stay on top of the laundry and family management for up to 9 days at a time is probably more than I should have taken on, and I see the consequences of it in hindsight, I'm so glad we had those years and those memories. I wouldn't go back and change a thing! The Beach House blessed us with the opportunity for countless family gatherings.