July 2012 - Week 2

Sailing!

Rounding the mark!

Sailing continues at  SCYC. Geoffrey  has no interest in racing yet he believes if he learns the rules of racing, he'll be a better sailor. His group is learning to race, so he's having a good time.

Claire and her sailing buddies decided to participate in the Green Fleet Regatta at the Barnegat Yacht Club. It was a windy morning. She shipped a lot of water, got tired of bailing and bagged it. In the final race, only 16 of the 36 competitors finished the race!

Claire sails "Hale Storm" in the Green Fleet Regatta at BLYC

Madi has been out on the water several times. She says she likes it.

Rose continues in the Bay Kids Program. She loves it, especially when she gets to go swimming. She's become quit the water rat.

Green Fleet Regatta Skippers!

The Rides!

First ride of the night!

Anna Marie once again organized the SCYC trip to Fantasy Island. Claire spent the whole evening with her sailing buddies. Rose talked Fodder into talking her on the Bumpity Cars. She steered the car while Fodder worked the pedal. When Fodder offered steering advice, she said, "Watch and learn, Fodder... watch and learn!"

"Watch and learn," said the driver to the pedal operator!

First ride of the night! 

Then she talked Fodder into taking her on the Tilt-a-Whirl (aka Twister). Geoffrey likes that ride, so he came with us. Rose giggled and screamed the whole time. Geoffrey laughed the whole time as well. Fodder did not have fun! 

In addition to the rides, Geoffrey and Josh set about winning prizes for the girls. They cleaned up! All told, the kids came away with nine stuffed animals/balls and one token for a prize to be named later! 

Trying to win prizes!

Rose and Emma 

Swimming!

Searching for treasure!

This week, in addition to swimming at the yacht club, we went for a dip at the Surf City Bay Beach.

Sneaking!

At the Bay Beach!

Journal Writing

The kids are keeping journals of their summer adventures. I'm not sure they like the project, but their writings will be useful for several projects that I'm working on.

Their entries are not diaries, so I can share some of their thoughts:

On July 3, Claire wrote:

I went sailing today!We practiced racing. I came in 5th in the first race and 3rd in the second. The starts were interesting. After the one minute mark, I started to get my boat in position. To control the boat, I could luff to slow down or stop; sheet in to go faster. There were nine boats. That made it exciting on the starting line. 

Racing was fun. I registered for the Green Fleet Regatta in Barnegat Light. Hopefully, I won't come in last.

On July 9, Josh wrote:

Today, Geoff and I played Xbox. Then for the first time, instead of going to the yacht club by boat we went by car. Then when we got there we had lunch. When I was outside, I found a ring and gave it to a worker at the yacht club. She said someone was looking for the ring. When I got home I played MineCraft. A little later, Geoff came home. He started playing MineCraft. Then we ate dinner. We played MineCraft a little longer then played DS. Then watched TV until bedtime.

On July 5, Geoffrey wrote:

... When Claire got home, we all went to Party Island. Claire, Josh and I went out deeper. Fodder waived us in. Claire got in first. Josh and I came in very slowly. We were busy talking.

We had fun doing swim races using different strokes.

Party Island was fun. I'd go back again! 

On July 4, Madie wrote:

We baited and threw out the crab traps. Sadly, all of the crabs we caught were throw-backers.

I helped Granny made breakfast and I went shopping with Granny.

In the afternoon, we went to the movies to see Madagascar 3. Matt, Sandi, Rose and my Mom met us there. I liked the movie a lot.

We had a BBQ at Fodder's and I couldn't wait until the fireworks. The girls all piled into my Mom's car to see the fireworks from the end of the road. The boys stayed home to watch from the deck.

The fireworks were colorful. We were too far away to hear them.

Bocce Ball!

We finished building the Bocce Court this week. Let the games begin!

The Bocce Court (beach sand surface)

Anna Marie and I were challenged by the boys (grandsons Geoffrey and Josh), who thought they had the skills to beat us. After all, "Geoffrey has a pretty good aim," said Josh. This was the inaugural game and the old folks managed a 7 - 5  victory.

Crabbing!

The crabbing was so slow last week that we decided to give it a break this week. We think the heat wave may have made the water too warm and that the crabs are in the deeper, cooler water. We'll try it again next week although there isn't much chance that the water temperature will cool anytime soon.