girls and boy band

When I heard that a certainfive four member boy band was coming to our neighborhood this summer, I scooped up a four pack of tickets and presented them to my girl with an ingenious plan to make this her Birthday Masterpiece. She could invite two besties and we'd have a westy tailgate, scream our faces off at the cute and the music , then spend the night reveling and reliving the glory. Epic plan! 

My first mistake was making the purchase 6 months ago.

My second mistake was thinking that since the concert was just 2 weeks after her birthday, the day propah could be low-key.

As the date approached, concerns began to emerge about What To Do. I suggested we invite anyone and everyone to come hang out at the beach, a(nother) brilliant idea that spiraled its way into this

ahhh, bliss.

and also this

They are exactly as loud as they look.

It was a funny, funny night. Bill and I have developed an excellent camping system, and we were psyched for the first beach night of the season. But somehow this trip was just, um... different. Louder. More crowded. Dramatic. Also? quite lovely. Here, see for yourself:

It was interesting to observe school friends and life friends finding ways to comingle

It didn't take long

I had prepared marinara sauce and par-boiled some pasta at home, so after a few hours of beach time I headed up to camp to get dinner going

Ready for business. No beer for you, girls.

They came, they saw, they scarfed

Good girls, these. And pretty easy on the eyes.

I could never see anything in the bright sunlight, so just snapped photos all around until I came up with something useful.

Sunset was underwhelming, but the girls didn't care

They were too busy being awesome

This is South Carlsbad State Beach, just north of our beloved San Elijo

These are the 103 stairs that I did not sprint upon. With only one night booked, there's no time for misery

I was always counting their heads. I did not lose even one.

103 is a lot of stairs

 

Still smiling! ish

We had the world's best campfire. There wasn't a lick of wind, the wood was sublime and the conversation sparkled

Superhero girl/woman helped set up everyone's beds in 2 tents

Bill and I didn't know quite where to put ourselves in this scenario, so we hovered on the fringe

The girls stayed up til midnight then lit candles and sang happy birthday to my girl, ate cupcakes, and went to bed. I only had to shoosh them twice and all was quiet.

I woke up early, but hung in my comfy westy bed listening to the crashing waves until around 8. I peeked into both tents and saw 8 sleeping beauties, and figured I had some time to putter and chill before getting back to mess duty. It was quiet and serene and breathtakingly beautiful. Then suddenly and without warning, one of the tents exploded into screams and 4 girls came crashing out in a fury of hair and limbs and angst. There was a bug.

So I made pancakes. Blueberry and plain and chocolate chip, because that's what it took to please 8 girls. Sigh.

After breakfast we had the girls pack up their crap and clear out/fold up the tents, then we sent them to the beach so Bill and I could decamp.

I happened to notice the time at 11:07, the very moment my baby girl was born 14 years ago. I was sad that she was 103 steps away and I couldn't share the moment with her. But then I remember that she really didn't do anything that hard on her birthday, it was her dad and I that did all the work. So we popped a bottle of bubbly and sat down and took a breath. It was a huge highlight.

We had to be out of the site by noon, so we drove over to the day use area and had ourselves a d.a.y.

pack mule

This is my favorite, because look at her! Then look at the ball.

epilogue: i have to go see one direction in two weeks.