Yesterday, we took advantage of Fun Free Fridays to take a free ferry ride to Spectacle Island. I had planned on getting the kids up by 7, leaving the house by 8, and getting to the ferry deck by 9 so we’d have a chance in hell of getting free tickets, which were on a first come, first serve basis. I also planned on having a natural childbirth, but ended up riding the epidural train all the way to happy town, so I guess what I’m saying is, things don’t always go according to plan.

We left the house at 8:45, got to the dock by 9:35 with a lot of whining (George) and patiently, totally calm coaxing (me, lying) and by some miracle, got tickets on the 9:45 ferry. Take that, plans!

I chose Spectacle Island over Georges because it has a swimming beach. Georges Island has a lot of good hiking, but if you’ve tried walking over 50 yards with my kids, you’d know hiking is not a big draw. The beach wasn’t spectacular (see what I did there?), but it had nice cool water and we found a bunch of sea glass and purply shells for our collections.

I packed the kids sandwiches and purposely didn’t pack myself one, because I vaguely remembered that they had lobster rolls at the Spectacle Island cafe. But by the time the 9:45 ferry left (10:30), we only got to the island by 11, and had to be back on the 12:15 ferry. So once again, I was lobster roll-less. I know, the humanity. I don’t know how I do it either, guys.

After George’s nap, we had some pool time.

I sat down with my Water Watcher medallion on and a plastic cup full of rosé, until the kids insisted I come in the pool. Then, they invented a new game where they try to hit me with their water squirters while I run around the lawn like a carnival freak. Fortunately for me, they have terrible aim.