"Well," said Yo, "I guess I really am sick." The Lovebunnies had been alerting the families that Yo was in the hospital, and Sister Sarah said she would come down from Butler for a while to help. Loie and Bucky made their way home to sleep for a few hours and get ready for the Campfire Party that night!
Which, as Loie wrote, turned out fine. Rain threatened but did not materialise. Tictoc worked hard all day at getting indoors. The Lovebunnies' friends had a good time sitting at the fire. Paul played guitar, and Laurie Cunningham was amused by Bucky's technique of making cooking sticks.
August was a much quiter month. Sarah helped Yo recuperate and get admitted to a convalescent facility in York. Bucky took her and had a few visits with Loie and on his own. Yo's friends visited her as she recuperated. The Lovebunnies had only two party dates, the first to Barbara and Thomas's house for pot luck and bonfire on the 4th.
"Our kitchen calendar is really dull this year," Bucky told Barbara. "Nobody wrote any silly dates on it yet." Barbara promised to try to remember to do better. The Lovebunnies also went to a very nice sing at Paul's house on the 11th. They were soon preparing for their beach vacation.
The Lovebunnies took off for Frisco in the Outer Banks on the first of September. They arrived in fairly good time, traffic was slower than usual. Laura and Paul showed up just after Loie and Bucky pulled in to the beach house. A few minutes later Marcia and Scott were there. Everyone had a good time greeting and carrying in and carrying on. Loie quickly decided the house was the best ever, and Bucky approved of the state of the beach. Elizabeth joined them Sunday night and the Beach Krewe was complete. This was a special vacation because Sarah and Kent, with Torie, Nicky, Toshie and friend had a house just a few lots north. So there was much mutual visiting the first week. Loie noted in her Travel Diary that porpoise were sighted in front of Sarah's house that week, and that ospreys were seen several days.
One day there were hundreds of tiny fish in the water, and one jumped out and hit Bucky in the mouth.
"I've been kissed by a fish," said Bucky. "Yuch," said Toshie. "Fish lips!"
On Thursday the Lovebunnies joined Sarah, Kent and the kids for a kayak expotition. It was fun to be out on the water, but the windy tour turned out to be difficult for some. Everyone agreed that they weren't prepared for the difficulty of paddling the clumsy boats and that the tour company, which had left them behind to return on their own, left a lot to be desired.
Aunt Loie took the girls shopping.
"You're back already?" said Bucky when Loie and the girls came out to the beach.
"Oh, we're good shoppers," said Loie. "We even got Nicky a present."
No one is exactly sure when they first noticed the odd phenomenon of the Squeaking Sands of Frisco. If the beach sand was dry, every step made a loud squeak.
"Did the sand squeak in Cancun?" Loie asked.
"No, it was too soft there," said Bucky. "I think we've had a few squeaks once or twice, but never all the time like this." The reason for this unique occurance has never been determined.
The Lovebunnies' second beach week saw a change of Krewe. All the first week guests departed and Terrie and Peter and Alyssa arrived. This was the first time in many years that the two brothers, Pete and Bucky, had been together at the beach. They had a good time dragooning everyone into helping build a ball ramp. Father and Friedrun visited from their house in Southern Shores and they helped too. In case you don't know, a ball ramp is an exciting and arduous beach project. A big mound of sand is erected, and it must be packed firm. Shoveling and stomping down by foot go on for hours to pile up the sand. Everyone gets a good workout. Of course the height of the ramp is determined by the amount of work the engineers and assistants are willing to put into it.
Then the real fun begins as a spiral trough is pressed and moulded into the conical sand pile. A hard rubber ball rolls down and around the pile, from peak to bottom, and should ideally then roll out over the beach into the water. Father used to build ball ramps when the children were young.
"We never made them this big," said Father as Bucky and Pete urged the workers to stomp harder. When Bucky expressed skepticism, Father said, "They seemed bigger to you because you were smaller. Believe me, I never did this much work on a Ball Ramp."
The Great Ball Ramp of 2001 was a huge success. It included a tunnel on the side of the mound and a bridge over the trough that had been created by shoveling up the mound. And the ball rolled to the water just as it should. Once or twice.
At the end of the second week a storm at sea created high surf and tides and a beach river rushed along to the north. It entered the ocean just in front of where Sarah and Kent had stayed. It created a waist-high cliffy cut as it swirled into the surf. Everyone had fun wading in the rushing water and watching the cliff collapse as the river eroded its base.
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