The Girls went to the beach and oh yes fireworks on the 27th of June.

The Girls went to the beach on Tuesday June 25th. Elena still working Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday was free Tuesday. Sean normally has off Tuesday and Nastia is on her two week hiatus before she goes back to work.

A couple of weeks earlier or maybe it was a long time ago, I’m not sure. I wanted Nastia to take some pictures of where she went. She crabbed about it, so I told her she doesn’t have to any more. She said she would, but she didn’t like doing it. So since then there have been no pictures of their trips to the beach and even less information about what they did and if

they had fun. I’ve even stopped asking Elena for pictures. I could recycle past pictures I guess, would anyone notice? I also use the pictures as a reminder of what happened. Like I’ve titled this piece, soon to be changed with the very original,

‘The girls go to the Beach’. Now I’ll change it to the equally original, ‘The Girls go to the beach, then we freeze at the fireworks’. A bit wordy, but to the point. And the only reason I remembered the fireworks is because I looked at the pictures I took that night on my phone. I know the girls obeyed rule number 1 and came back home alive. I know they ate something somewhere because they weren't hungry when they got home. Teri requested they not stay too late and they also did that. Beyond that..oh, wait they said the water was very cold. I tried to tell them just because it’s over 90 degrees, it doesn’t mean the water is going to be that warm. And that is all I know about their trip to the beach. I’ve added some pictures to make it seem like they took some pictures for me.

Now onto the freezing 27th of June fireworks. It was a very hot week up until Thursday the 27th. A storm blew through, I think the 26th, I don’t know, I didn’t take pictures. So it was a comfortable Thursday and I thought it was going to be a comfortable night.

In the back of my mind I remember that fishing trip I took with a friend, Jim, nephew Cory and myself one May evening, back about 18 years ago. It was another of those warm days when we decided to go fishing, I think it was for Blue Fish. We got down there in our short sleeve shirts with no jacket. We stepped out of the car and the cool wind hit us in the face. We knew it would only be worse on the water so we bought three sweatshirts. I gave Cory one that was three sizes too big on him. During our trip he quit trying to catch fish and went around the boat asking people if he could help them with their catch and he would hold the fish against the sweatshirt.. Needless to say I never wore that sweatshirt after that night. I have a picture in my head of him holding a fish. I hope I have it somewhere and I haven’t imagined it. It is a great picture of a great time.

We arrived at Felix Festa and parked across the street at BOCES. We’ve parked there every time we’ve gone to these fireworks and we’ve always gone to the left around the building. This time we follow people ahead of us to the right. I’m thinking, my first mistake, the people ahead of us know more than us, my second mistake. And of course I make this mistake walking to the fireworks with my freshly 90 year old mother walking beside me, my third mistake. I don’t know if you know the school, but we walk three quarters around the school to get to the fireworks. I’ve got three fold up chairs, my mom, Teri and Nancy following me. To everyone’s credit, no one complained about the trip and for some reason no one blamed me. I should have known better. Sean and Nastia take a separate car and park near us, but go the correct way. We meet up with Kimmy and some of her friends, who were also with Amanda and her son, KJ. Amanda and KJ would have to leave before the fireworks because KJ got overly tired. They had all managed to find Sean and Nastia. Elena stayed home, couldn't bother going, wanted to play more xbox. I bought two sweaters, one I gave my mom, a loose blue one that I felt was more comfortable, but didn’t zip up. I kept the green one that would have been tight I felt on her, but it zipped up. I didn’t think we’d need them and felt stupid for bringing them. Music started after eight, and it was pretty good.The warm slight breeze turned cool, then cold as the temperature dropped. It might have not gotten below 68, but with the 90+ degree days the previous it felt cold. My mom said her teeth were chattering at one point. Nastia gave her sweater to Nancy who forgot to bring one. Fireworks started about 9:20 and in the beginning they were boring, a pop here, a pop there. The grand finale was almost worth the wait. If it wasn’t so cold I would have called it a real fun night. At this point I couldn’t wait for it to end. Once off the field after it ended, it was warmer. And yes we went the right way to the car.