Chapter 9: The Beach Blasters Sleepover
One seasonably warm second Saturday of June 2024, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri along with some of my other childhood friends Alex Russo, Justin Evans, Max Greenwald, Carly Shay, and Spencer Puckett, as well as Carly's stepdad, Freddie Benson, in McDonald for our Bean Boozled taste bud test. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. We jammed out to Kate Bush, Lizzo, NSYNC, and 98 Degrees as well as our favorite SiriusXM radio stations of Pop2K and The 10s Spot. Besides the Bean Boozled taste bud test, there was also a craft of sock monkeys and a choice of homemade macaroni and cheese or barbecue on buns to eat, along with s'mores, cheese and crackers, and veggie sticks for snacks. We even stopped by the Three Rivers Arts Festival to look at the art, the food, and even the live performance of Sugar Hill and the Gang. We chatted with Brooke Leesaw, one of our oldest clients, about the taste bud test. "Did you get mostly good flavors or mostly bad flavors, Brooke?" I asked. "Some good, some bad," Brooke stated. "I wish that we would have had more nice flavors," Henri stated. "Like what kind of nice flavors?" Brooke asked. "I would have liked birthday cake," Sarah stated. "I would have liked candy corn," James stated. "These were in honor of 2 very special occasions like Molly's Sweet 16 party that we snuck into as teenagers and handing out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters," I pointed out. "Plus, my birthday is coming up next Saturday," James stated. "My birthday is, too," Spencer added. "I hope that we get a very special kind of cake for me to eat." "My favorite cake is the wedding cake that we ate at my mom and Freddie's wedding," Carly stated. "Hannah is having a Desert Party at her apartment to celebrate high school graduation and she had a special graduation cake offered," I added. "Congratulations to the class of 2024 again on a nice graduation ceremony yesterday," Alex stated. "They really made it to the end," Justin stated. "High school can be one of the toughest times of your life," Max stated. "Even though our junior year was a lot of fun, there was one thing that was not so fun, and it was our SATs," Justin stated. "But hey, I ended up doing very well on the SATs and got into a nice college," Alex stated. "As a matter of fact, I wouldn't really mind going back to high school and doing it all over again because I am such a passionate learner." Then, we headed to another client, Abigail Carson's apartment in Point Breeze for her Beach Blasters Sleepover. The party room was decorated with beach umbrellas, beach towels, and seashells. Games that Abigail and her friends included Swim, Friends, Swim!, Bouncing Beach Ball, Pass the Life Ring, Surfboard Stunts, and Crabwalk Relay. Activities included Beach Blanket Bingo, May I Have Your Footprint?, and making Rainbow Sand and Zucchini with a Bikini. To eat, there was fish food, which were tuna salad sandwiches made to look like fish, fishy gelatin, and sand pudding, as well as life ring bagels for breakfast the next day. After we finished everything before breakfast, we talked about things that we saw in the ocean and then went to bed. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Good night, guys!" "Good night!"