We all slept in quite a bit this morning. Joe and I just snacked on some of the fruit we had for breakfast and relaxed this morning. Today, Marchant is taking the train into the city to come visit us. We are so excited to see him! We also have plans to meet up with James and Loic again this afternoon at the beach at noon. Unfortunately, Marchant was running a little late because it took a little longer for him to get here than he thought. Since we planned on just meeting Loic down at the beach at noon, and we didn't have a quick way to contact him, Joey hopped on his bike (unloaded) and headed down to the beach to meet him. It was a pretty quick trip down and back and he didn't have too much trouble finding him. The two of them road back to Ryan's house so that we could all wait there for Marchant to get there and for Ryan to get back from picking up his brother. We cooked up a frozen pizza for lunch while we waited because we were already hungry. Loic went with Joey to the grocery store which was right around the corner from the apt. They met Marchant at the bus stop nearby and they all came back to Ryan's afterwards. Marchant is still the same quiet kid, but now with more muscles and a lot darker from being in the sun all the time now. It was so exciting to see him; it's been almost 2 years since he joined the Marines and left home! Once we were all together, we all headed down to the beach. Loic rode down so that he would have his bike with him, and it worked out perfectly because by that time James (who was planning to meet us later- around 2) would be at the beach waiting for us. Marchant, Ryan, Ryan's brother Robert, Joey and I all walked to the beach, which is more like a mile and a half walk. The sun was shining today, but there was a pretty chilly breeze. Originally we planned to go swimming and play a little volleyball, but Robert couldn't find his volleyball, and with that breeze, it was a little too chilly to go swimming. The boys did have a football though, so when we got to the beach, that is what they did. Loic and James were there waiting for us when we got there. James was also enjoying a really awesome, huge burrito- that is the one great thing about this area is that there are so many places to get tacos and burritos! For Loic and James, it was their first time playing American Football. There was a group of 4 guys on the beach who wanted to play some football, so they had a perfect number to play a good game of 5 on 5. Loic, Ryan, Robert, Marchant, and Joey were on one team, and James, and the other 4 guys were on another team. It worked out really great because then James and Loic could guard each other and learn the game together. Joey's team scored the first point, but then after that the other team pretty much dominated. Loic and James did really well for their first time! The group of 4 guys were on a trip around the country in an RV and are originally from Massachusetts. They told the boys that the first stop on their trip was Buffalo! While the guys played, I was the photographer so that Loic and James would have some pictures of the first time playing football. It was so nice to just sit there with my toes in the sand- I am really going to miss that! After a really great game of football, Loic and James headed back to where they were staying and the 4 of us walked back to Ryan's. It was so sad to watch Loic and James ride away. We had so much fun riding with them and now it's already time to part ways. Hopefully we will be able to go visit them in Europe some day or maybe they will come to NY to visit us. It was really great that we got to see them both today though for one last hoorah. Marchant and I each got a hot chocolate at the 7-11 when we went by because it was actually a bit chilly outside- where did California go? That afternoon, I made some brownies and we watched a movie. Ryan took his brother home and on the way back gave us a call to see if we wanted a burrito. All 4 of us got California Buritos (meat, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and french fries!). They were so big that I couldn't even finish the whole thing tonight. Before bed, we all watched another movie. Marchant stayed over so we could enjoy hanging out with him tomorrow, too. Another great day- this is turning out to be such a great weekend. Joe rode 3.10 miles today.
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