Mother's Day & Birthdays Too!

Today was a dual celebration at Reel Suite in the Outer Banks. Yes, for Veronica and me it was Mother's Day where we thought of our children and reveled in the fact that we are their mothers, but it was also the 20th birthday for Kevin's children, Sean & Jenna. If their Mom were still alive, I know that she would be very proud of them.



Sean, Jenna, their friend, Laura, and their dog, Polo, arrived around 2 in the morning. They were tired and glad to be here. Polo did great on the trip! Kyla & Alex were sooo happy to see him! The kids quickly went to bed, after admiring the cottage. If I had been a betting person, I would've lost the bet because I would've sworn that Sean would've been the first one up. Instead, Jenna & Laura got up around nine and quickly headed down to the beach along with Veronica & Marte. I was in the middle of making an apple nut bread and so once it was finished, I brought some down to the beach for everyone.



After a relaxing morning, Marte and Veronica went out to see the Currituck Light House and do some shopping. Kevin and Sean went to the grocery store and Jenna, Laura and I decided to take all three dogs for a walk on the beach. Or I guess I should say that we took Polo for a walk and Kyla and Alex went for a run. It was so much fun watching them enjoying themselves. They had a ball running around in the sand. While they were playing, we met some women who had been playing cards together for 52 years!!!!! WOW! Talk about a long friendship. One of them had a son whose birthday also was today. He was 51.



While we were out on the beach, Sean and Kevin returned. Sean came down to the beach with us and began running with Kyla. WOW! I could not believe how fast Sean could run. Kyla was loving it! He wore her out, which was a very good thing. When we got back to the cottage, there was a message from Valerie wishing me a Happy Mother's Day...which made me very happy.



Afterwards, the kids went down to the pool, and I began making salads while Kevin finished up the spaghetti and the meatballs. The afternoon just flew by and before I knew it, Veronica and Marte were back and it was time for dinner. The meal was filled with good conversation and laughter. And then....da dum! It was time for the birthday cake, ice cream, and presents! That was really a good birthday cake! It was a chocolate cake, with chocolate icing, layered with chocolate pudding topped with vanilla ice cream filled with chocolate and peanut butter. YUM!



Sean and Jenna LOVED their presents and then they did something so sweet that it made Veronica and me almost cry. Those are two really good kids. I was so glad that they were so nice and friendly to Veronica and Marte. And I am even gladder that they are so nice to me. I was very nervous when I first met them because they and their Dad had been a team for almost six years and many times bringing a new person into such a tightly knit group is cause for much resentment and a rejection of the new person. I was so afraid that they would resent me for not being their Mom and reject me. But they have been nothing but nice to me, for which I am very grateful.


After dinner, Veronica and Marte left to go back to Richmond, and the kids decided to go see the movie, "Star Wars." They invited Kevin and me to come along, but we declined. We were so tired. Kevin watched the Boston Celtics game and I fell asleep and didn't wake up until the kids came home around ten. Then I took Kyla and Alex for a long walk where I met a man who had been coming to the Outer Banks from Long Island for 15 years. His dog, age 15, had died last February, and so he and his wife had brought the dog's ashes with them and were planning to sprinkle them over the ocean in the morning, because they said their dog had loved it so much here. He told me that when he first came here, Duck was the end of the settled part and that Corolla didn't exist. He said that the wild horses used to come all the way up to Duck and that one Thanksgiving he fed one of the horses an apple. That was so cool meeting him. Like almost everyone, he was amused by Alex, and thought that Kyla was gorgeous! Which she is.

Since the high temperature tomorrow is only going to be 64 degrees, which isn't too conducive to sunbathing, we are taking the kids to Ocracoke tomorrow. That should really be fun! I think that they will love driving through Hatteras and then the ferry ride to Ocracoke. We'll have lunch at one of the seafood places on Ocracoke and then return to the cottage.

Since it will be a busy day tomorrow, I had better get to bed!