Plum Island

Every year we look forward to spending time at Plum Island. Andrew has already started thinking about Plum Island 2009 and it’s August 2008. He just loves the place. We get to spend time relaxing with his family at the Minihaha (Laughing Waters). That’s the name of the house. No idea where it came from, but I’m sure someone knows…most likely Nana. It’s a great little place right at the end of the island. It’s on the water at the mouth of the river which means good swimming and a nice big beach at low tide. And of course there’s fishing and kayaking and eating and football and fishing and eating. Basically what happens is, we arrive at Plum Island after work and I don’t see Andrew until it’s time to leave :). He has much to get done before our time there is up. Things on the MUST do list:

1. Catch a fish. This usually requires a large amount of time because they often do not cooperate.

2. Kayak. This also takes a lot of time because every area must be explored for birds. And maybe more fish (although I have YET to see him catch a fish from his kayak).

3. Football. A football must be thrown at least once a day, a frisbee is an okay substitute.

4. Swimming. I almost forgot swimming. We ALL must swim at LEAST once a day in the FRIGID waters. I’d guess somewhere in the 60-65 degree range. This year I managed to only swim once…brrr!

5. Bait shop. We must visit the bait shop at least once during the trip. Usually because the fish have stolen (without being caught) the first round, so we need more. And maybe we’ll get a hat or new fishing paraphenalia while we’re there.

6. Walk/Run to the open ocean. It’s a pretty walk, I must admit. Plus we can check to see if other people are catching fish down there – in case we want to try that spot too.

7. Eating. There is lots of eating: hot dogs, hamburgers, guacamole, pasta salad, ice cream, chicken, chips & salsa, Devil Dogs, Twizzlers…and sometimes we have salad or fruit! 🙂

8. Fireworks. Typically these are handled by Rob. He is the fireworks master. This year we got treated to fireworks both times we went (but neither time by Rob). The 4th fireworks were great, you could see them from all the different towns in the area & along the coast. The other fireworks were set because the Tall Ships were across the river in Seabrook. A fun family event always.

9. Play Games. This can be done during the day or night, but usually at night. We get the nieces around and play card games, board games, word games. All sorts of games. Always a good time!

10. Adventure. This one is key. Each year there must be some sort of unplanned (usually somewhat frightening) adventure. The first year I went it was when Andrew flipped me over into the frigid water on the sailboat (we had only been dating for a month!). This year it involved his nieces.

There they all were, Michael (bro-in-law), Julia (11), Sarah (9), Lily (7) and Andrew. Far away from the shore hunting for clams (to fish with of course!). They had the kayak & row boat. After being out for a while Sarah & Andrew decided to come in on the Kayak, just as a CRAZY storm was headed over them! It came in quick, but it was pretty clear it was coming. After a little while longer Michael, Julia & Lily decided it was time to come in on the row boat. Well – the storm wind was crazy and Michael couldn’t control the boat by himself to get them in (nevermind the fact that it was pretty low tide so there was no great way to get to the shore). So he jumps out of the boat to try to swim it in, leaving Julia “paddling for her life” (in her own words). They are drifting further & further away. Meanwhile the rest of us are watching from shore trying to figure out the best way to help them. Did I mention lightning & thunder are striking too? Anyway, to make a LONG story very short, they finally drift to an area where we can get to them. We leave the boat tide to a dock (which is now on the sand since it’s low tide) and will go back for it later. All parties are okay…but it was a scary adventure none the less.

So. As you can see there are MANY things that MUST be done while at Plum Island. For this reason I see Andrew for about 20 minutes the whole time we’re there, but that’s great. He is like a kid again whenever we’re there & loves every minute of it! What could be better?

Our time at Plum Island always ends with a sunset. It could probably be one of the 10 things you MUST do, but we’ll leave it in it’s own category. It is usually beatiful and always a relaxing time of night. I probably have more sunset Plum Island pictures than anything else. So I’ll include a few here for you since this year was particularly good. While this post is late (we were there in mid-July) I couldn’t let it go by without sharing.