After two hours of sitting in the back seat coloring, we have finally arrived. I unbuckle my seatbelt and grab the door handle. I open it up and run into the door and down the hall. I had to go to the bathroom so badly because my mom hates having to stop on the way. I thought about the summer I had ahead of me and realized I wouldn’t have to spend more than two weeks without being able to come back down the shore.

As I went back to the car, I had to slow down because I felt a really bad pain in my feet. The driveway at my beach house is filled with small rocks. It’s nearly impossible to walk on without shoes. I continued on to reach the car, but it was a very slow process. I got to the car and stuffed both of my hands with several bags to attempt to only take one trip. I first brought my clothing suitcase into my bedroom and attempted to claim the large bed. Of course, my sister got there first and got it, but I’m convinced that I wouldn’t even be able to keep the big bed if I got there first. They always do that thing where the “older kids” get everything. I’m not sure if they realize, but they will always be older than me. I know I will never get it, but I’m so used to trying, I can’t stop now. After I placed my bags next to the twin-sized bed, I started to walk up the stairs. For some reason, my kitchen is on the upper level and I always have to take the all of the grocery bags up. When it comes to the groceries it’s not easy to take only one trip.

After putting all the groceries away, I put my bathing suit on and ran outside. My sister was out there waiting for me. I grabbed the vibrant rope and put two loops around the metal rod on the side of the deck. Brianna picked up the bulky tube and threw it into the water. The tube is really used for tubing on the back of the boat. She took one gigantic jump off the higher part of the deck and ended up right next to the tube. The jump was so big it created a really large splash. The water droplets felt cool on my skin because of how hot it was outside. The lagoon was pretty clear and saw a small crab climbing up the wood rod leading to the deck. I took a step off the deck and a pencil dive into the water. My sister and I spent hours in the water jumping on the tubes and talking to the other kids swimming. All of the people across the lagoon were on these large tubes like ours. I couldn’t even hear myself think because of all the laughing and cheering in the background. All of my fingers were pruned like raisins and my hair was tangled in a huge knot. Weirdly enough I didn’t care, all I was worried about was making a bigger splash than my sister. This is what summer feels like.

“Girls, dinners ready and if you don’t come up and eat you won’t be able to go get ice cream tonight!” my mom tried to yell from the upstairs deck. My sister and I pulled ourselves onto the tube and reeled it in back to the deck. I really didn’t want to get out of the water, even though it was only going to be around thirteen hours until I got to go back in anyway. Usually right before we go to the beach my sister and I wake up early enough to go for a swim. I talked to my sister and she agreed that we would go back in tomorrow morning.

Every summer I started to go in the lagoon a little less. Even when I did go in, there was not much company. Most of the neighbors didn’t feel the need to go in anymore. They could just go in the ocean because they were going to end up there anyway. Don’t get me wrong I love the beach, but it just isn’t the same. The younger I was, the harder it was to swim in the ocean and my mom rarely let me in alone because of how rough the waves were. Also half the summer the water is too cold to even go in the ocean.

After two hours of sitting in the passenger’s seat listening to music and sleeping, we have finally arrived. I grab my bags and put them in my room. I open my smaller backpack and take out two white cords. One is for my phone and the other is for my laptop. I plug them in and place my bags on the big bed. I always get the bed by the window because I fought so much with my sisters about it, my parents ended up getting another bigger sized bed. I walk upstairs to see what snacks my mom brought down. I ate some pretzels and went then back downstairs to see if my phone was charged enough. I put my bathing suit on and went outside onto the deck. I laid down the light blue towel onto the to chair and started to play music. I laid down and tried to tan.

After an hour of getting burned, I got a text from my mom saying, “We are leaving to go get dinner in twenty minutes.”  I got up and looked into the water, I saw a yellow plastic Shop Rite bag floating on the opposite side of the lagoon. Right next to the deck it looked like there was a weird rainbow film on the top of the water. After a little bit more examining I realized it was some sort of oil. I also saw a plastic water bottle and an old crab cage.