Back to Wickford

August 27-August 31

After a whirlwind trip back to New Jersey, we headed our rental car back to I-95 and drove up to Rhode Island.  We were excited to get to Newport on Monday night in time to help celebrate Liam Armitage’s birthday (Lana and Dave’s son).

We made it just in time. The kids jumped out of the car and Liam and Calan ran out of the house and there was a fair bit of screaming and hugging and carrying on, as if they hadn’t seen each other in months.  We inhaled Lana’s homemade dinner while the kids ran around and played.  It was fun to watch Liam blow out his candles, since we don’t usually get to celebrate with him.  It was an early night, as Liam and Calan started school the next day.  I wondered how our children would react to missing the first day of school back at home.

We got back to the boat in the dark.  It was late so we only grabbed the necessities from the car and nearly collapsed in bed (after making all three up with clean sheets).  It had been a fun-filled, sleep-deprived 6 days.  Guess what I did Tuesday morning???  Even if you’ve only been reading every other word since July, you know that I slept, slept, slept!!!  It was so gloriously yummy to lounge around in clean sheets, checking my website stats (28,000 hits so far, 248 subscribers.  seriously cool. thank you!) and listening to music on my iphone.  I eventually got up and we unpacked the car, put everything away, and got our acts together.

At 1600, we drove to the Armitages again.  The kids played in the pool and jumped on the trampoline and Lana made another delicious dinner.  Chris and Dave went to West Marine and did not spend a full Boat Buck (BOAT=Break Out Another Thousand) so the day was a total success all around.  Until we stopped at the Newport Creamery on the way back to Wickford.  All we wanted was some ice cream.  Now I know our tastes have been spoiled after a summer of enjoying ice cream all over the New England coast.  But this…frozen dessert (I seriously can’t even bring myself to call it ice cream)…was a travesty.  Chris took one bite of his $5.00 cup of Peppermint Stick and pushed it away.  I ate my Buttercrunch, but I swear there was only one tiny piece of crunch in it.  We are convinced it was actually ice milk.  Remember that fad from the 1990’s?  Ugh.  We at least got to joke that their signature dish, the Awful Awful, was appropriately named.  So apologies all around for all of you who worked at Newport Creamery, dated the owner in the 1970’s, love their ice cream, went to school with the guy who invented the Awful Awful, etc, etc., but we will not be going back.

On Wednesday, we really started feeling the effects of our weekend back in New Jersey.  The lack of sleep and constant motion of our trip home caught up with us.  So I….wait for it…..slept in.  And Chris worked on the macerator in the head.  Please don’t make me tell you again what the macerator does.  I’m trying to eat my ice cream while writing this (Coffee.  Haagen Dazs.  tempered to the ideal consistency. omg.)  The kids played nicely all morning, but eventually started to melt down.

 

I pulled myself together and took them to town to fill our propane tank (first time filling it since we left on July 1.  Not bad.), shop at Kohl’s, and return the rental car.  We spent the evening swimming at Muriel’s pool while Chris raced in the Wickford Yacht Club Wednesday night races with Big Bryson (not our Bryson).  The kids and I barbequed sausages back at the boat and enjoyed yet another lovely Wickford sunset.  I wish I could really and truly capture the feeling in the air and the colors of the world with my camera.  That golden quality that is so fleeting is so beautiful.  And yet we can enjoy it without clinging to it because we know the sun will come back around tomorrow and maybe give us an even better treat, with a purple that is even more purplier, or a reflection on the water that is even more shimmery.

Our last day in Wickford was sunny and clear.  The kids and I swam in the pool while we waited for Marlene and Jack to arrive.  Marlene is my dad’s first cousin.  They live in Newport and come to Florida often.  We love to spend time with them.  They are the types of people who fill a room with their love of life, their great stories, their enthusiasm for your life, and always their laughter.  Marlene and I have an especially lovely connection to each other and I love how she is like an aunt and a friend all in one.

Marlene and Jack came out to the boat and we gave them a tour while the children enjoyed opening the gifts they brought for them.  Then Lana came to drop off Dave and take the kids back to her house to play with Liam and Calan.  Marlene, Jack, and I went for shopping and lunch in Wickford.  Dave delivered our new sails to us and went out with Chris to install them and test them out.

 

 

 

 

 

Later, Dave and Chris raced remote-control Lasers with the Wickford Harbor Mudheads (a yacht club Bryson started: http://wickfordharbormudheads.com/).  Yes, you read that correctly.  They have a yacht club for racing ¼ scale Laser sailboats (big! 73” tall, 42” long) that operate by remote control.  It is a crazy amount of fun.  The members bring their boats out to the harbor on the club’s pontoon boat, which is complete with slots to hold the boats and more cup holders than you can count.  They set up a course, put the boats in the water, and stay nice and dry while they maneuver their Lasers around the tiny little course.  I’ll let Chris blog about it, but here are some pictures from last year.

That night, Chris and Dave slept on the boat while Lana and I had sleepovers with the kids at their house.  The next morning, Chris and Dave sailed Patronus from Wickford to Newport.  Chris worked on the boat, Dave went to work, and Lana and I hung out with the kids at their house.  We had dinner together and slept at their house again.  We were excited about taking the Armitage family on a Labor Day weekend cruise to Bristol, Rhode Island…

 

 

See the kids making up “skits” in the pool and “Gym Class” for the conwaysailors…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGjC4iAMqNc&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SAzLa_NvJQ&feature=youtu.be