Summer's Last Hurrah!

Summer's Last Hurrah!

This week, all the kids returned on Thursday for Shelley's birthday party. On Friday, we set about finishing two more Greenhead Fly Traps and designed a rack to hold their boats (two sunfish, an Opti and assorted paraphernalia). The kids worked diligently on their assigned tasks. The girls had to break early for Claire's belated Arts and Crafts Birthday Party at A. C. Moore. The boys and I continued on until a few minutes before dinner. 

Following dinner, we piled into the truck for a trip to the Ocean City Boardwalk. We enjoyed strolling to boards and checking the sights. The evening was beautiful although warm and humid. We managed a walk on the beach before the kids choose to do some rides at the Wonderland Pier. The Log Flume proved to be the highlight of the evening.

Apprehensive faces on the first run

Josh decided to join the gang on the second run.
They were all a bit more relaxed this time.

The King Crab!

The fifth annual King Crab contest ended at 1600 hours on Sunday, September 2. Prizes are awarded to all the contestants, but the real honor is being named the King Crab! The King Crab is the person who catches the largest crab of the season. There is a slight change this year in that the kids wanted to crab in teams. Madi and Claire teamed up as did Geoffrey and Josh and me and Rose. At one point or another during the season, each team held the lead. The teams of Claire and Madi and Geoffrey and Josh were tied for the lead at least a month. Their biggest crabs were 5 1/2 inches. Each day, Rose and I checked the traps with the hope that we would be rewarded with a record setting crab. The only big thing we caught was disappointment and that grew bigger with each day. As luck would have it, I pulled out a 5 1/2 inch crab on the morning of the last day. The contest ended in a three way tie!

At 1600 hours, the King Crab party commenced with lots of guests, Bocce games and a coin toss and a huge old fashioned Clambake. Anna Marie prepared crabs, steamed clams, clams casino, clam chowder, burgers and dogs, corn on the cob and potato salad. One of the guests brought fabulous baked beans and others brought "to-die-for" desserts. It was quite a meal and lasted for hours!

The day concluded with the King Crab awards. In total, $120 in prize money was awarded! I think some of the guests want to participate next year!!

   

The Mini Golf Championship!

Who doesn't like a round of mini golf? We like to play a few times each summer and usually end the summer with the West Crik ProAm Challenge. Having been a busy summer, we never made it to any of the myriad courses available to us, but Josh had to defend his title, so we hit the links to play 18 holes on the day after Labor Day.

The competition was fierce! There were several golfers who made holes-in-one, but there were several tough holes that really challenged the competitors. There were many lead changes. When the dust settled, Geoffrey was the winner in the male category, Claire took the honors for the ladies and Rose won the amateur challenge.

The Competitors for the West Crik ProAm Challenge!

Greenhead Fly Traps!

The gang has finished building four Greenhead Fly Traps. Even though we were near the end of the greenhead fly season, we deployed two of the traps. They actually caught some flies. We are ready for their return next season!

Boat Storage Rack!

All the kids pitched in the help build a boat storage rack. We spent a few days in construction and when it was finished, we had a storage system to hold one Opti and two Sunfish sailboats not to mention tubes in which we can store all of the spars and sails.

The Bank!

While the kids are with us in the summer, they get an allowance of $2.00/week. We started that practice several years ago in the hopes we could teach them a little bit about the importance of saving. The allowance is paid in appreciation for the normal everyday work they do. Things like cleaning their room, bussing their dishes and cleaning the dining table. They also earn extra for doing big projects like building greenhead fly traps.

Geoffrey is the first of the kids to save over $100.00! He amassed his savings by doing extra work. He is not a penny pincher. Each year he buys a game at the Game Stop. This year for example, he and Josh each bought a $40.00 game for their DS. All of the kids are near the $100.00 mark, but Geoffrey is the first to break that benchmark. 

Congratulations to Geoffrey and all the kids. They are on their way to learning how to save their money!

Geoffrey cashes in $100 of his savings for a crisp $100 bill!

So the summer is OVER. We really love those kids and with misty eyes, we bid them goodbye. Their attention now turns to school, friends, sports and other activities. We will fill our new found time with a trip to New England.