Coney Island Capers

Yesterday afternoon the kids had their first visit to Coney Island during the summer season. We checked out the original Nathan's, including the billboard which lists the winners of the annual hot dog eating contest. The scrawny Japanese guy who'd won it six years in a row was bested by an American in '07 and '08. A digital clock showed a countdown of hours, minutes, and seconds to this year's contest (to be held this afternoon). Personally, the thought of it makes me queasy, but it seems that an awful lot of people find it exciting. Let's hope this never becomes an Olympic sport.

We trawled through the outdoor flea market, where Son #1 bought his first wallet. He was psyched to put his school ID card in the plastic window but looked dejected not to have any credit cards to put in the faux leather slots. Why do they want to grow up too soon? When we walked on the boardwalk, and asked the kids whether they wanted to go down the water, they all couldn't wait. (This, after they'd all said earlier that they hadn't been interested in going to the beach. Sigh.) They spent quite a while jumping around in the calf high waves. When we turned around the other way from the water, we realized there was a beautiful view of the ferris wheel, so I took a picture of my friend and her beau in front of it (they were our companions for the day). I also took a walk down the dock with the kids, and they had a good time talking to some of the fisherman and looking to see what they'd caught. One had pulled up two large spider crabs and put them on the pier to let them crawl around and get into mischief. As we were ready to meet back up with our friends, I got caught in a torrential downpour going from the ladies' room to fetch the kids from the men's room. Good thing the sun came back out and rescued me from being a drippy mess.

The afternoon was capped off by an amazingly short ride home. I guess a lot of other people also had the day off, or left early. When else could you leave Coney Island at 5PM on a Friday and be in Eastern Nassau by ten to six? All of us met up with hubby for some great neighborhood Italian food.

Today I'm making a veggie platter and some dips to bring to our best man's house for the annual 4th of July BBQ, pool party, and dog pile of kids. Weather is supposed to be pleasant all day, which is a thrill considering our recent string of bad luck with Long Island rain. Happy Independence Day!