J and K came up to spend two days with us at the beach.  [J baby-sat for our son all through her college and post-college years.  She became family almost immediately (so let’s not discuss that she went to law school against my better advice) and K is her partner who is also family.]

They arrived after an epic 5 hour trip.  So we went immediately to the beach (we can walk through an established path along a coastal reserve), then my partner and I hopped over to the IGA [which was rehabilitated from the UGH, see prior blog entry] to buy provisions.

We got back asap and I began preparing the grill.  [Ok, let’s have a moment about this:  I am a city girl through and through.  I know nothing about barbeque’ing.  I am now grilling for a suburban girl and a country girl.  I am a little scared.  They like their steaks well done.  I only know two settings — medium rare and burnt like shoe leather.] 

The steaks turned out to everyone’s liking (or so they said) and the table was full of food and family.  K and I decided to go for a run at the crack of 10AM. [I sounded brave and sure, but she IS 21 years younger than I.]   Our son was so well-mannered that he offered to share his stash of creamsicles with J and K.  We were proud.  There were other kinds of ice cream [we ARE on vacation, after all] so we all had our full. 

and life was good.