New Fourth of July Tradition - Chincoteague!

For sixteen years, friends and I have gone to Chincoteague, Virginia. We discovered this gem when we were interns and my boss offered his weekend rental to a coworker of mine. How someone can be so lame as to not go to the beach for the weekend, I do not know, but he was, and it was our gain. We crammed more people in that house than I could possibly remember. We loved the trip (housing was free, after all), and several of us decided to return. The group has changed a bit, adding spouses, dropping boyfriends - but the core remains the same as it was back in 1995.

For many years, we vacationed over Memorial Day. But the water is COLD on Memorial Day in Chincoteague, and it always rains. Always. We've gone as late as Labor Day, and that's actually a pretty nice trip. And, thanks to Virginia law which doesn't allow school to start in these parts until the Tuesday after Labor Day, we'll be available to go then for a long time. But occasionally, we head there for the 4th of July, and that's what we did this year.

We brought our trusty friends with us, my coworker from so long ago and her husband (Kellee and Jim) came, and that filled up one house. Other friends filled up a second house and a third set of friends chose to hang at a hotel. I have to say, this might have been the best trip ever.

When I announced to Helen that Kellee was coming to the beach with us again like last year, she got a huge grin on her face and said "with cheesy poofs?". Last year, while Connor ran and jumped in the ocean, begging Ed to take him out deeper and deeper, Helen plopped herself amidst the ladies under the beach umbrellas and ate cheesy poofs with Kellee. I was in shock that this was the detail she remembered from our last outing, but I guess she really does love those things.

This year, Kellee was trying to be healthy and brought pretzels to the beach. That made Helen the mayor of Chincoteague for the day, doling out her very own bag of cheesy poofs one at a time. It's harder to imagine a happier child. Her.Own.Bag.Of.Cheesy.Poofs!

She deemed them good - very good!

On our second day, we were joined by Therese, Eamon, and Rob - but Rob had a date with the World Cup while the rest of us headed out to Captain Barry's Back Bay Cruises. And unlike last year, Helen was thrilled to participate in the entire cruise. If you are going to Chincoteague with children, you must reserve a cruise with Captain Barry. I don't even know what Connor was pointing at here, but he spent much of the cruise in this position, laughing at Captain Barry's antics.

We visited shell island where Connor hoarded shells, and again lamented the fact that he had but one bag for collecting. We went clamming, where Ed once again proved he has no nerve endings on his feet. Seriously, if we were counting on Ed for dinner, we would starve. Luckily, Eamon, Connor, Helen and I make a good team. I find the clams, with my ever-so-sensitive-fee, and the kids dig them up. Kudos to Ed and me for remembering to put the kids in swimsuits this year!

Apparently Eamon thought sushi was on the menu, so he grabbed this!

Luckily, Therese knows that kids wash up, and didn't hold it against me for the rest of the trip.

We even cruised at full throttle on the open water!

When we thought we couldn't possibly have any more fun, Captain Barry threw a few crabs on deck for Eamon and Connor to catch, which we then ate for dinner that night. Connor attempted to recreate the scene back at the beach house, but a crab that's been sitting in the crisper for a few hours isn't quite as active as one pulled up fresh from the ocean.

The only thing we did on this trip that we had not done in the previous 16 years was catch "winkles", and eat them later. Therese showed off her mad skillz first picking them, and then steaming them up with lots of salt.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How we managed to pack this all from 10 - 12 is almost unfathomable to me now, but we did, and we loved it! Helen and Connor have already made additional requests for Captain Barry! And we still had two more days at the beach!
 
Elaine