A Week at the Shore With Grammy and Papa

Or, "Some Words are Fun To Say - Part Deux"

A couple of years ago, we were in somewhat of a CONTEMPLATIVE mood, wondering what we could do to continue our tradition of creating happy family memories for our children ( aka: ANKLE BITERS, YARD APES, RUG RATS, NOSE MINERS….), Heather, DYM, Ace, Nantie Meg, and Bucklintine and their spice (plural of spouse), Code Man, DYD, Queen of Ace’s Heart and Invinceable, and our grandchildren Laylee, Magoo and the Bean, and adopted daughter Bowersita.

It dawned upon us that there was a PREPONDERANCE of evidence that some of our happiest family moments had happened while relaxing at the Jersey shore. We had Grammy’s family reunion coming up the 1st week of July, 2005, so we came up with the idea of inviting the kids ET AL, to the shore for that week..

After discussing how much this would all cost, we decided that we could pay for the house and some of the car rentals and food, but that any more than that would be a SUPERFLUOUS, amount of help, not to mention expensive.

Upon informing the kids, they responded with a PLETHORA of positive responses:

AWESOME!!
BODACIOUS!!
INCONCEIVABLE!!
SERENDIPITOUS!! (because it was so valuable and agreeable and yet not sought for.)
LAND ‘O GOSHEN!!! It’s the land of milk and Honey!
And my personal favorite: “Why Grammy and Papa, how PERSPICACIOUS of you to have the acute mental vision and discernment to realize what a wonderful time this will be for all of us”.

We’d never been called PERSPICACIOUS before.

With great anticipation we awaited the wonderful occasion. And finally it came.

Grammy and Papa and Nantie Meg ARROVE first, followed soon by a fine assortment of Sisters, Brother, NANTIES, NUNCLES, Grandchildren, car seats, pac’n’play’s, suitcases, toys, cameras, computers and various and assorted sundry items need to support a crew of this size.

And then it began… Oh the fun!… OODLES and OODLES of fun!!!!!

There was food:

CHICKEN, COOKIES, ADOBO, salads, Daddy eggs, soup, chips, and Cheese Steaks GALORE, GALORE I tell you, Cheese steaks GALORE!!! There were also HUMUNGUS quantities of Rita’s WOOTER ICE and GELATIS approaching GALORE status, consumed by all, but particularly the Code Man. There was fresh Jersey Corn and Tomatoes. We even offered some JUS DE PAMPLEMOUSE to Ace, but he stated that he would not DEIGN to soil his manly lips with such a CONCOCTION. I do believe there may have been some SUCOTASH served up, though DYM probably called it SUFFERIN SUCOTASH due to the lima beans it contains. She may have even said, “What the HIDEY HOOKEY are you trying to do to me? You know how I hate beans, especially those of the lima variety!” To which Grammy responded, “Don’t get PERSNICKETY with me! If you don’t like them, don’t eat them. There is more than an ELEGANT SUFFICIENCY of other stuff to eat. There were jelly filled doughnuts. When someone asked how they got the jelly inside the doughnut, Grammy said, “Why, I thought everyone knew that… They use a HYPODEEMIC NERDLE!” Needless to say, by the end of the week we were all completely SATIATED.

There was the Beach:

Sand, sea shells, seagulls, sunshine, salt, seaweed, crabs, fish of the GELATINOUS variety, and lots and lots of people in swimsuits. Let it be known that Papa had only eyes for Grammy and she for him, because as anyone can tell you, she is the EPITOME OF FEMININE PULCHRITUDE, and he is her one and only STUDMUFFIN!



There were waves. There was FROLICKING in the waves. There was the PLINK PLANK PLUNK sound of stones being dropped into the water. There were sandcastles built and destroyed by the waves and then rebuilt again. There were trips to the boardwalk, the mini-mall, the arcade, the NUT HOUSE. There were fireworks on the 4th of July. There were bike rides and romantic walks on the beach after dark. Whether there was any FROLICKING on those romantic walks, I cannot say.

There were Games:

Canasta, Hearts, Rook, Rummy, Quidler.

There were Pictures… Lots and Lots of Pictures, none of which can be shown without the proper waivers being given by the subjects of said pictures.

What there was not:

There was no PREPOSTEROUS behaviour.
There was no need or desire for anyone to practice the fine are of DEFNESTRATION on a sibling or other member of the family
No one had a MIOCARDIAL INFARCTION.
No one felt the need to say SHRIGANESH KERRER or DANGYOUJOHNWILSON.
We saw no streets that carried the name of SHAGANAPPI TRAIL.
No one was SANCTIMONIOUS, or a POPPINJAY or ROOD, R-O-O-D, ROOD.

In the end what there was mostly were Memories, many happy Memories, stronger family ties and perhaps a few tears at having to say goodbye.

Oh, and by the way, When you use LEDERHOSEN as a swimsut, especially in the ocean, the salt water makes them very stiff and they tend to cause the most awful chafing. Not that I have any personal experience in that regard.

P.S. Many thanks to those who contributed words that are fun to say in your comments on my previous post