Yesterday was a real Galveston tourist kind
of day. We actually went to the
world-famous Strand. And why in the
world would we want to do that? Oh, come
on. Have you never witnessed the wonder
of watching the candy-maker at work at LaKing’s? Or seen some teenagers working on their
city-scape jumping skills? Or perhaps do
like Kel did … glamorize a tourist’s picture-taking by doing a photo bomb in a SpiderMan
hoodie. They even asked him to come back
and pose.
After a Papa John’s pizza lunch (gotta have
pizza at some point on a cousin sleepover day), we headed on out to the
Strand. The hoped-for ride on the ferry
was nixed when we woke up to another foggy, dreary day on the coast. It wasn’t all that cold, at least, but it
would have been miserable on the ferry, that’s for sure. Besides, all these cousins have never seen
the candy maker at work. And who can
turn down a whole store full of candy to choose from?
When we arrived, however, we discovered
that the next show was not for another hour.
So consolation candy bags in hand, we made our way over to the gigantic
chess board. Jachin and Zakary intended
to play an actual game, but they soon discovered that they had way too much
help. All eight cousins decided that the
big guys needed their help in setting up the board. Whenever Noa or Luke moved a piece, the older
guys (or maybe a Daddy here and there) would very patiently move it back to
where it belonged. It looked like so
much fun that I decided to join in. When
Jachin wasn’t looking, I started moving pieces as well. I don’t think he caught on to my antics right
away, but it didn’t take him long. The whole
thing was quite entertaining for a young couple who thought they were just
there to relax for a few minutes. The
floor show was a bonus.
Back to the candy store and the demonstration
of making taffy. Our guys pushed their
way to the front and had a ring side seat.
Cailyn and Noa even staked a spot on the horse ride right by the
rail. The whole thing didn’t become
real, though, until the candy maker started tossing samples to the crowd. Free chocolate-flavored taffy and all you had
to do was catch it. Well, or pick it up
after it bounced off some unsuspecting tourist’s head (and that happened more often
that you would expect). Then we went on
back to the house, stepping in every puddle we could find along the way. Oh wait.
I guess that was just me. Guess I
was jealous of the fun they all had the day before.
And waiting for us back at the house was
none other than … a speckled trout fish fry.
Uncle Nathan and Aunt April threw in a few pounds of shrimp as well, so
it was quite the feed. Mix that with
Nani’s cheesy potatoes and corn and green beans and Aunt Christina’s salad, and
you have a full-blown feast. Good
stuff. Almost depleted our store of
fish, though. Old DadDad is gonna have
get to work on replenishing it real soon.
We finished off the evening with the
cousins’ sleepover. Sleeping bags on the
floor, a movie on the TV (Indian in the Cupboard), and a few adults carefully hovering
in the background. The number of adults
gradually diminished until only Nani was left waiting for the final holdout to
give in and fall asleep. I think that
was Josiah, believe it or not. The cousins’
sleepover finally officially ended this morning when the early risers, Micah
and Zak joined me for a trip to the donut shop to pick up breakfast. I couldn’t go without them after they left me
a sticky-note command on the front door.
It read, “Do not go to get donuts without us.” And so, a dozen plain glazed, three chocolate
iced, three strawberry sprinkles, and three dozen donut holes later, they were
ready to start the day. How about you?
1 Chronicles 16:31 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.”
Father, please keep these youngsters close
as they grow up. Help them learn the
value of family. Amen.
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