By Georgia Osten
Nope, Not when we have the Moad kids. They arrived last Tuesday, flew all the way here from Tampa w/out parents. They got a little head start for a visit with their Grands. First stop, Whataburger! You see, there are no Whataburger’s in Florida. With full tummies we made it the rest of the way to the beach. Someplace familiar for these three, we kept it just the same for them. It can be their Happy Place!

A few days later, Mommy and Daddy and the two dogs, Texas and Knight, arrived. We’ve managed to stay occupied hanging here around the beach. Thank goodness for the pool, young and old alike enjoy a leisurely float or a raucous game of Marco Polo. When it’s a raucous game of Marco Polo, some of the “olders” are NOT in the pool. When we’re not in the water, we have a ball game going on out in the yard. PawPaw is the permanent pitcher, the teams vary, and I’m always the Ump and scorekeeper. I’m not paid too much at all, after all, I don’t do a lot of running, so I’m okay with that.

We talked everyone into going to Galveston for church on Sunday. This little venture required an early wake up to make the 7am ferry. It wasn’t as easy as it could’ve been. We had a power glitch the night before. I guess the electricity went off around 11pm on Saturday night. We don’t have a full-house generator, so our guests were very uncomfortable. After church, we went to Star Drug Store – breakfast for some and lunch for others. On the way back across the ferry, I kept looking at the Entergy updates, still no electricity.

Everyone was exhausted and tried to nap in the heat anyway, some successful, some not so. At 1:30, as we were getting ready to leave for Bingo at the Eagles, the electricity came back on. Whew! We were excited to think that the house would be cool when we came back home to burgers on the grill. All 5 Moads played and me. We got our lucky table, I was a Happy Camper about that! Because, EVERYTIME I bring my family, SOMEONE at our table wins! The first one to win something was Kelly. She won the first raffle and her choice was a big bag of Reese’s p-nut butter cups. The Bingo caller was a really friendly chap, asked the kids where they were from, engaged each one of them, and made them feel right at home. Terri was the “caller” person, a perfect job for her. She has a voice like a referee or a judge, very demanding. Don’t mess with Terri is what I would suggest!

As the game drudged on, the faces at our table getting longer and longer, Dax was sitting across from Michael, I think we were playing the Martini Glass, Dax was very intent, this tiny smile on his face … All of a sudden, he yells “BINGO!” Oh my goodness! He won the $100 jackpot for that game. When the “Money Lady” came over to hand him his $95, this very doubting look came over Dax’s face. “But, you’re shorting me $5!” So, she had to explain to a 10-year-old that the Eagles take out for taxes and so on, and so on … Well, guess how that went over for a 10-year-old?? It’s all good, before we left, Dax had already figured out what he needed to purchase with his $95. We think it will be a baseball bag. Well, that was last night, no telling what it will be by tonight.

Today, things went back to semi-normal. PawPaw and I starting working on the paper, I went back to real work.

BUT, at 1:30 on Monday, we all met up at Stingaree for a Parasail ride. We booked the 3 Moad kids, Addyson, Michael & Dax, for a parasail ride. Great news, Captain Rob let us all RIDE IN THE BOAT! Thrills! The boat was beautiful, Capt. Rob has a “deck mate,” a very charming young man. Captain Rob asked us if this was our first time, we all responded “Yes!” He said, “Mine too.” LOL, we all got a chuckle except for Kelly, Mom of the 3 kiddos going up in the air 500 feet!

What a fun ride for all of us! Captain Rob made a circle and lowered the speed which made the parasail drop the kiddos down in the water just enough to get their bottoms and legs wet. Longer than I thought necessary, thinking there may be some hungry fishies in the bay. But the kids loved it!

Then, Captain Rob grabbed the throttle and up they went again! Finally, our trip was over. The Captain slowed the boat, the kiddos landed back down on the back of the boat upright, just as planned. Mommy was the most grateful to have her children back on the boat and not all up in the air.

They’re here for another week or two, we’re not done yet, stay tuned for next week. This house is a-Rockin’!

[GO: Jun-13-2023]