Today is a day I must put in my journal.  It was definitely a day to remember¦

My dad loves to take field trips on Saturdays. With him still working that’s his favorite day to just take off and go somewhere He says it about once a month at 7:30 AM.

He tries real hard to sneak into my room but I can always sense his presence. Today he suggests a trip to Nantasket Beach down in Hull, Mass. I don’t know if you have ever heard of it. They also have an amusement park there on the boardwalk. We see lots of Shanty Shacks with great food.  Good junk food too.

Okay I say, I’ll be ready in 20 minutes. My Mom is already up and getting some snacks and drinks together in the kitchen. Our kitchen is old but it has this great pantry that’s always filled with good healthy stuff. Sometimes my Mom will sneak some junk food in there. She says it okay once in a while. Everyone needs gooey snacks with lots of sugar for a field trip. We all are entitled to some exceptions she says.  Why would I not believe that!!!!

Off we go into the car for a two hour journey to Paragon Park and Nantasket Beach just the three of us.  Route 93 takes us to Old Highway route 3A. It’s a funny kind of highway to me because there are all sorts of funny signs and gift shops with big Indian Head Statues. My dad says this part of Mass had many Indian Reservations and lots of the culture is very visible. We see rows of Teepees all used as gift shops, taffy shops and of course old fashion frozen custard ice cream. This is my Mom’s all time favorite treat.

Dad drives right into the shop parking lot and we hop out with belly laughs because we are having frozen custard for dessert after breakfast. Have you ever heard of anything so funny?

Off we go again onto route 3 laughing and eating our frozen custard. My dad wants to know what we’re having for lunch and we burst into more giggles.

As the custard disappears so does all the silly laughing.

For the rest of the drive the radio comes on and it’s all of my parent’s favorite songs of the forties and fifties. We have a piano at home that is always being played when we have guest for the holidays. Music is a very big part of our family. I love to listen to them sing. They harmonize and my father has the cutest expressions when love songs come on.

He loves to sing to my mother and she loves it right back.

As I sit in the back, in the middle, so I can see them both, I watch and listen.

I know I’m only fourteen but I see two amazing people that are so into each other, totally.

I start to day dream as I continue to watch and listen. The scenery is kind of a blur now. My head is resting on the back of the seat and I start to wonder into my dream.

Will I have this kind of marriage with my husband?  Will we have a piano in the house, take field trips and sing in the car. It must be so much fun to be married.

I know it’s up to them to make it work, but they make it look so easy¦ I wonder if the ever argue. Dad gets mad at me and so does Mom. They must get mad at each other once in a while, you think?

As I look again at the scenery I hear my Mom shout in her sing song voice here we are

We all hop out the car at the same time and my dad laughs and chimes in "I’m glad you girls gave me time to stop the car¦

Right away we take a deep breath and each of us shouts out, cotton candy, popcorn, French fries and the best ever fried clams.  Where do we start?

The decision has been agreed upon to go the shore and wet our feet and maybe swim a little. The tide is coming in the waves are nice and easy to float on.

The rocks on the edge of the sand have people laying on them to get the best suntan they can. Little kids are clinging to their parents not sure they like the waves that knock them down. Once again they get knocked down and they burst into the cutest little giggles.

I hope I will have lots of kids and they like to take field trips too and sing.

We’re getting hungry now so we clean off in the bathhouse and head back to the board walk. Dad wants to know if I dare to go on the roller coaster. Absolutely not I tell him. There is a smaller ride that looks like a little roller coaster called the Wild Mouse. Hey, Dad lets go on that one. I see him shudder a little but I decide it’s from the cool breeze coming off the ocean. After all, my dad isn’t scared of anything or anybody. Mom sits on a bench to watch. She thinks we don’t get it ha-ha she misses the best rides.
Of we go up the tracks of the Wild Mouse. Cute little ride so far. Suddenly we drop so fast down hill. We neglected to check the other side of this cute ride. We are on a track where we see nothing but sand below us. For goodness sakes what’s holding us up here. Is there anything underneath us? We must be going a thousand miles an hour. He’s behind me screaming at me to see if I’m alright. What’s he going to do about it anyway? No I yell I’m not fine, and neither is he. The turns are so sharp we don’t see them coming. At last it stops on a dime and we think we will be thrown out of the car but we are safe on the ground. I’m a little dizzy and my dad has a green color around his cheeks. We get to my mom and she is just about half crazy laughing so hard. She said people were watching us and more scared of us than the ride. I guess we made quite a spectacle of our selves.

After some deep breathing and realizing we survived the most vicious ride on the beach we celebrate with a fried clam dinner. Yes we do, we have a very strong will to eat those clams we came for. Yes, we had dessert after lunch. Cotton candy of course!!!

Time to head home for a night of popcorn and a good movie¦..I wonder what we will watch tonight¦¦¦¦¦¦..

Notes:

Janice sent along the following note:  My parents were married for 45 years. Raised three children of their own and helped raise foster children, 18 of them with in a ten year period.
Through it all my father worked all day and came home and helped my mother with all of us.
He never once hesitated to pitch in without being asked.