Their first lunch at the beach was at this tiny restaurant right on the boardwalk that claimed to have 'The Best Crab Cakes This Side of the Mississippi'.
They did not.
But, the atmosphere and excellent staff nearly made up for that fact. Nearly.
"Thirteen dollars for some crappy crab and fries? That is damn near theft, if you ask me!" Booth grumbled as they walked down the boardwalk after finishing their food. "'Best Crab Cakes, my ass!"
"Booth, calm down. It's really not that big of a deal," Brennan says, hoisting Hank higher onto her hip.
"Not a big deal? Bones! These people are running some kind of scam! Charging outrageous amounts of money for crappy food. How is that not a big deal?"
"It was an experience; isn't that what you always say? Besides I had a feeling the food served here would not be very enjoyable. And not just because I'm a vegetarian. Anthropologically, tourist areas a known to have both very good and very bad eating establishments. Obviously, we ate at a place on the 'bad' end of the spectrum."
"No, no no!" Booth says, offended. "You're not using Anthropology on this one! This right here," he says, waving their check around, "is not some science lesson for you and your Squints! This is unreasonable! And I won't stand for it!."
Their conversation is cut short when Christine doubles back to them from where she had gone ahead with her aunt, uncle, and cousin.
"Mommy! Daddy! Michael is getting his face painted! Can I get mine painted, too?"
"I don't know, sweetheart. If you get your face painted and then go into the ocean, the paint will wash off very quickly and you won't get to enjoy it for very long," Brennan says, trying to sway her daughter against getting her face painted.
"Of course you can, Monkey!" Booth smiles. "Go pick out what you want, we're right behind you!" He smiles, watching Christine rush off, not noticing the death glare his wife is giving him.
"Booth, why did you give Christien permission? I was trying to explain the consequences if she were to play in the water right after getting paint applied to her face."
"Because we're on vacation, Bones! And like you said: it's an experience. If Christine wants to get her face painted and the jump in the waves right away, then she should."
"So you're willing to waste ten dollars for our daughter to have her face painted but not on lunch for us?" Brennan asks, calling Booth out on his earlier behavior.
"Yes, I am. One will make our baby girl happy, and the other set me back thirty bucks! And probably gave us all food poisoning!" Booth pauses and knocks on the wooden bench next to him, canceling out the negative energy from the superstition.
"I still don't see how knocking on something made of wood will keep something bad that you said from happening," Brennan says, shaking her head.
"Because once you say it, it's out in the universe, and you gotta do it to keep the universe happy!"
"Daddy! I want this one!" Christine gets their attention, pointing to the pattern she wants.
"You got it, baby!" Booth smiles, lifting her onto the chair in front of the artist. Michael is almost done with his half-face Spiderman mask, and once her hair gets pulled back out of her face, the artist gets started on Christine's half butterfly mask.
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Waves crash onto the shore, the mid-afternoon sun is bright and makes them all squint against the glare of the sand. While the adults stake out their spot, Michael and Christine rush down to the water and start jumping in the waves. Christine turns cartwheels and backflips, and squeals happily when the water splashes her.
"Can we just stay here forever?" Angela, who is leaning back against her husband on their beach towel, asks.
"I wouldn't be opposed to that," Hodgins shrugs.
"I agree, this is already very enjoyable and relaxing," Brennan says.
"Do you guys not remember the last time we decided to move away and leave Cam alone?" Booth, trying to be the smart one, asks.
"Oh. yeah," Angela says. "Right." They all laugh at that, settling back into a comfortable silence.
"Christine! Michael! Stay where we can see you!" Brennan calls out to the kids when they get too far away from them.
And that is how they spend the next nearly two hours: the kids playing in the waves, the adults joining them on occasion but mostly lying on the towels, and baby Hank spends most of the time sleeping on his dad's chest.
By the time Hank wakes up, Hodgins has taken the big kids down the beach to look for shells and other treasures, Booth has fallen asleep, his hat pulled low over his face, and Angela and Brennan are nose deep in their phones, reading and playing on social media. When Brennan's phone chimes, Angela looks up for a moment but then goes back to scrolling through Instagram.
"My dad is here, I should probably let him into the house," Brennan says, standing up.
"Yeah, go. We'll be okay here," Angela nods.
"Oh! You're awake!" Brennan says, picking Hank up off Booth's body, and her husband doesn't even flinch. "Come on, buddy. Let's go say hello to grandpa. We'll see you back at the house," she tells Angela.
"Okay, bye!"
Ten minutes later, Michael rushes up the sand to their towels and falls onto his mom's feet, happily waving the bag full of treasures around for her to see. Christine does the same to her dad, none too gently waking him up.
"Wow! What did you find?" Angela asks, enthusiastic, slipping her phone into her bag.
"A rock shaped like a heart, look!" her son shouts, pulling out the rock.
"Wow! That's awesome!"
"Hey! Where did Brennan go?" Hodgins asks, finally reaching them and sitting down with his wife and son.
"She had to let Max into the house, Angela explains. "You ready to go?" The question was directed at Hodgins, but Michael chimes in.
"Can we jump in the waves one more time?"
"Yeah. Two more minutes, then it's time to go." the kids leave their treasures and race back to the water.
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"Christine! Christine!" Michael hisses, trying to get his cousin's attention. When she doesn't respond, he resorts to throwing a pillow across the room to where she's laying on the other top bunk. They were supposed to be having quiet time before bed, but that obviously wasn't going well.
"Ow! What?" she asks, offended to be hit and interrupted from reading her new book.
"Look what was laying on my bed when we came in."
"It was their first time really spending time in their room and exploring. Because if they had, Michael and Christine would have noticed that the blue envelope had been laying on the top bunk Michael had claimed all summer going unnoticed until just that moment.
"What is it?" Christien asks, sitting up, now curious.
"I don't know," he says, waving the envelope around.
"Who's it from?"
"I don't know!"
"Well open it!"
"Should I?"
"Yes, it was on your bed."
"I don't know, Christine! What if it wasn't for us? What if we get in trouble?" She hops down, crosses the room and joins Michael.
"Open it!"