Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:25:33 EDT
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: Castaway Hotel: Grand Reopening  chapters 25 - 26

Castaway Hotel -- Grand Reopening by BW	
Copyright 2009 by billwstories
Chapter 25 -- Enjoying Virginia Beach.                                 

**Author's Note:** Please read the disclaimer in Chapter 00 before you read
this.

We dressed quickly and downed a hearty breakfast, before spending much of
the rest of the day at the Virginia Marine Science Museum and it was really
quite fascinating.  The exhibits were displayed throughout two buildings
and we were able to view sharks (sand tiger, brown and nurse sharks), sea
turtles (Loggerhead, Kemps, and Green Sea turtles), stingrays (Cownose,
Atlantic and Southern Stingrays), whales (humpback and fin whales),
dolphins, porpoises, harbor seals, river otters, and much, much more.  It
was nearly 2 p.m. when the boys began to complain they were hungry, and
even though we'd all had a good time, I knew I had to feed them before they
started getting really cranky.  As I ushered them out of the building, we
were pleased to discover that the weather had begun to clear and it was
turning out to be a rather nice afternoon.

I took the boys out for pizza, since that's what they decided they all
wanted, and after we finished eating, we went back to our room.  Even
though it was a little cooler than it had been the previous day, the boys
still wanted to go swimming in the pool, and I thought that sounded like a
very good idea.  We all changed into our swimsuits and made the trek down
to the pool, where we quickly discovered that several other guests had the
same idea as we did.  Ricky and Jay were quickly spotted by the kids they
had been making sand castles with on the beach, and those youngsters ran up
to my pair, to say hello.

"This is my brother, Danny, and that's our friend, Brandon," Ricky
announced, proudly, "but he's kind of like our brother too."

"Does he call your dad, Pop, like Jay does?" one young girl asked.

"Yep, I sure do," Brandon responded, quickly.

"You guys are so lucky," she followed.

"We know," Brandon added.

"Pop," the girl began, while looking at me, "can Ricky and Jay go in the
pool with us for a while?"

I was intrigued that she called me Pop too, but that was most likely
because she didn't know how else to address me.  However, I saw no problem
with her request and told her that would be fine, as long as that's what
Jay and Ricky wanted to do.  Both Jay and Ricky grinned when they heard my
comment, because I think they felt they didn't have much choice in the
matter, so they soon were going off with their new friends.  Before long,
we were all in the pool swimming and enjoying a good watery workout.

While we were there, Danny and Brandon also made some new friends, although
a slightly older group than Jay and Ricky's friends.  When the boys brought
the others over to introduced them to me as well, I noticed that one of the
boys was the older brother we'd met earlier, who seemed to have a problem
when he thought I might be gay.  After exchanging 'hellos,' the others
wandered back toward the pool.

Now that we were alone, I explained to both boys about this other young man
and warned them to be careful around him.  I understood they still wanted
to spend some time alone with these other young people and I wasn't about
to ruin their plans, just because of a potential troublemaker.  I felt the
warning should suffice and the boys could still go off and have a good
time.  After they agreed they would watch what they said and did, they also
disappeared to another part of the pool.  .

While the boys were enjoying themselves, I spent some of my time looking
around the area, trying to figure out which adults belonged with which
children.  I did this by observing who was paying attention to whom and if
there were any similarities in their physical features.  After mentally
pairing up a good many of them, I went over to introduce myself to some of
these adults and explained a little about the boys and myself.  I felt this
might make it easier later, if any of these young people wanted to spend
more time with any of my group.  Most of the adults were friendly and we
hit it off fairly well, although there was this one guy whom I'd prefer not
to have to deal with again.  Not only did this fellow come off as a major
braggart and a bore, but he was also rather crude and quite rude as well,
which are all qualities I abhor.

After a couple of hours at the pool, I told the boys we needed to go, so we
could clean up and change for dinner.  Although they didn't really want to
leave the others, they were quite eager to do as I asked, mainly because it
involved food.  I knew they were all probably quite hungry by now, so they
wouldn't be able to resist the lure of stuffing their bellies.  When we got
back to our room, we showered quickly, to remove the chlorine smell, and
then we put on something suitable for our destination.

Without telling the boys where we were going, I drove to a place some of
the other parents had recommended to me, after they heard me say that I
needed to take the boys out to eat.  It was an establishment we hadn't
stopped at previously, and the type I probably would not have selected
without a recommendation.  If I were to judge the quality of the
establishment by just looking at the exterior of the building, I would have
suspected it was a bit seedy and would have kept on driving.  However, this
time we went inside, despite my gut reaction, and were quickly seated.

It was really more of a diner than a restaurant, at least the way I would
have classified the place.  It even had a lunch counter with stools, where
the patrons could sit and eat, instead of choosing a booth or a table.  We
elected to sit at a table, primarily because of the number in our party,
and I was pleased to observe the inside of the establishment was neat and
very clean.  The waitress came over and handed us our menus, told us about
the daily specials and took our drink orders.  She seemed quite sweet, but
she was fairly young and a little flustered.  I wasn't sure if that was
because she was new to the job or if she was attracted to one of the older
boys.  Either way, I felt this might be an interesting ordeal.

The boys decided very quickly what they wanted to eat, so we ordered as
soon as the waitress returned with our drinks.  It didn't take long for me
to figure out why the other parents liked this place so much and had
recommended it to us.  The food was delicious, there was plenty of it and
it was all reasonably priced.  We enjoyed it so much that we even decided
to have our desert there, rather than go somewhere else for it.  As we
finished up, I decided it was time to fill the boys in about something
else.

"Tomorrow is going to be our last day at Virginia Beach," I announced,
while carefully observing their reactions "and I thought you'd probably
like it best if we spent it enjoying the ocean and the beach a little more.
How does that sound to you?"  Without hesitation, they all vociferously
responded in the affirmative, which attracted the attention of many of the
other patrons and staff.  Once the other customers and employees realized
the boys were just excited about something, they quickly lost interest in
us and went back to their own business, which greatly pleased us all.  The
boys went on to tell me that they had been hoping they might get more time
to do what they wanted and they were also hoping they'd be able to spend at
least part of the time with the other young people they'd met.  I told them
I had no problem with this and they were thrilled to realize it was
actually going to happen.

Once we were back at the motel, I found another Orioles' game on TV, so we
all crowded onto the couch together.  Seeing everyone was saying they
wanted to sit next to me, I had to come up with a way to make it happen.
Eventually, I let Jay and Ricky sit on my lap, while Brandon and Danny
flanked me on either side.  Jay and Ricky immediately put their heads on my
shoulders and I put my arms around the older pair's shoulders, so I was in
contact with them all.  I think this turned out to be one of my favorite
nights of the trip.

When the game ended, I had the boys take a quick shower, before hopping
into bed, and Jay made sure to remind me that I was to sleep next to him
tonight.  He got in the middle of the bed and I moved in beside him, lying
on my side, and immediately Jay spooned back into me and pulled my arm
around him and across his chest.  I'm surprised I hadn't realized earlier
in the trip that anyone, other than Ricky, might want my attention.  I'll
just have to be more careful in the future, as I don't want the others to
think I'm displaying favoritism toward just one of them, but Ricky is my
baby, so to speak.

The next morning, after breakfast, the younger pair told us they didn't
want to go to the beach with the rest of us.  They said they were going to
hang back, watch some of the Saturday morning cartoons and then go hang out
at the motel pool.  They said they'd hit the beach in the afternoon and
would see us then.  After agreeing to their request, Salt, Pepper and I
left for the beach and we joked with each other along the way.  The boys
were in a playful mood, so we starting horsing around, and soon we were
punching, jabbing, pushing and even tripping each other, but in a fun way.
After several minutes, we finally made it to the beach, but not until after
each of us had taken a spill or two in the sand.

We were laughing so hard by the time we reached the ocean, that I knew I'd
have to cap it off with something big.  I let both boys get slightly ahead
of me as we neared the water, then I lowered my shoulders and tackled them
into the waves.  We all came up gasping for air and spluttering, but then
they pounced on me, in an attempt to pay me back.  We continued like that
for several minutes, before we agreed to a truce.  As we moved back onto
the sand, Brandon asked if I had brought the sun block with me.  Like a
dummy, I had forgotten it, and when I told him that, he said it was all
right and he and Danny would run back to the room and get it.  He had
already started to burn on our previous outings, so he was worried he might
have problems without it.  I agreed to accept their offer, gave them the
key and let them go, seeing I really didn't want to make that walk again.

When they got back to the room, they unlocked the door and entered, but
what they found there surprised them.  Although the television was on and
the cartoons were playing, quite loudly in fact, Ricky and Jay were on
their bed, locked in a sixty-nine.  They must have been so intent on what
they were doing, or the noise from the TV masked the other sounds, that
they didn't hear the key being inserted into the lock and didn't notice the
other two enter the room.  When Danny and Brandon began to giggle, Jay and
Ricky's heads popped up and their faces turned several shades of red in the
process.

"My, my.  What do we have here?" Danny wondered aloud.

"Looks like these two had more on their minds than just cartoons and
swimming this morning," Brandon added.  "No wonder they wanted us to go on
ahead of them."  The younger pair was extremely embarrassed at having been
discovered in such an awkward and compromising position, but it only made
Ricky decide to go on the offensive.

"So what?  You guys do it too," he challenged.

"I know," Danny answered calmly, and then everyone remained quiet for a few
seconds.  "What would you two think about switching partners for a while
and trying something with us?"  Danny's comment seemed to catch them all
off-guard, so now they began looking at each other, as they thought about
his proposal.  Within a few seconds, Jay nodded to Ricky that he was
willing to go along with it, and Brandon announce he thought it was a good
idea too

"Brandon, you take Ricky and I'll take Jay," Danny suggested, seeing he and
Ricky had messed around a little before.  The older pair tore off their
swimsuits, seeing the younger boys were already naked, but Danny was also
smart enough to go over and lock BOTH locks to the room first.

Jay hopped off of the bed he shared with Ricky and got onto the other one,
so Brandon could move in to join the younger blond.  Brandon and Ricky used
that opportunity to take a good look at their new partner's body, visually
surveying each other carefully.  Sure, they had seen one another naked many
times before, but it was never done with the idea of having sex.  Up until
now, they had just been friends, but this time they were beginning to see
each other in a different light.  Ricky knew he probably wasn't gay, but he
wasn't against having a little fun either, and Brandon WAS sort of a hunk.
Slowly, they moved toward each other and leaned forward to embrace and even
kiss.

Ricky had always sort of looked at Brandon as a slightly larger version of
himself, since they both had very similar characteristics, such as hair
color, skin tone and even had similar looking cut penises, although
Brandon's was a little bigger.  Ricky even hoped that he might look like
Brandon in a couple more years, or at least nearly that good.  After
exchanging a long, passionate, deep-throat kiss, their tongues explored
each other's mouth and tasted the unique flavor of their new partner.  They
were also noticing and enjoying the different boy smells, as well.  It was
like they were doing things they had done before, yet somehow it was still
different.  As they continued to kiss, their hands explored the other's
body, as they tried to tactilely familiarize themselves with every square
inch of flesh.

With their initial exploration behind them, Brandon worked them into a
sixty-nine position, like the one that Ricky and Jay had been caught in
earlier.  Ricky's organ was smaller than what Brandon was accustomed to,
but he thought it was so cute.  Brandon, on the other hand, was larger than
Jay, but Ricky had done things with Danny too, and Danny's penis was nearly
that big.  It didn't really matter that much to either one of them, and
they eagerly swallowed each other's shaft, once the preliminaries had been
completed.

Brandon found that he could do more with his tongue on Ricky and gave his
new partner the full benefit of this fact.  Ricky had never felt that kind
of stimulation on his tool before, at least not the kind Brandon was now
applying.  It's true that when he and Danny had done it with each other,
they were both new at this, and Jay had been inexperienced too, but
Brandon's actions far outshone anything Ricky had experienced up to this
point in his life.  The feelings he was now experiencing were so intense
that it prompted him to unleash six solid blasts of love juice into
Brandon's mouth, before the older boy was anywhere near surrendering his
own load.  Brandon enjoyed the sweeter taste of Ricky's seed, as it was
quite different from Danny's.  It seemed much more flavorful and he
swallowed it without protest.  Even though Ricky had deposited his load,
Brandon continued to nurse on Ricky's wilting boyhood, while Ricky
continued to work on him.

Having given up his own load, Ricky had no distractions to hinder him from
bringing Brandon off.  He had to strain his jaws to work on Brandon's
wiener and discovered he couldn't get more than slightly halfway down the
shaft without gagging.  He did his best, though, and tried to give Brandon
as much pleasure as he had just received.  He even applied as much suction
as he could and worked the bottom half of Brandon's pole with his hand, to
make up for not being able to take the entire thing in his mouth.  When he
felt Brandon's penis begin to expand even more, he pulled his mouth back so
only the head was still in the opening and worked his hand up and down the
shaft, until Brandon's cock unloaded.  Ricky swallowed the five hefty
spurts of Brandon's semen and made sure he had every drop accounted for,
before he weaned himself from the sex teat.  As soon as Ricky pulled away,
Brandon pulled his temporary partner up into his arms, and cuddled him
fiercely, to thank him for his efforts.

On the other bed, Danny and Jay had a totally new experience before them.
Danny had been hoping that someday he might get a chance to explore Jay's
uncut cock, as he had never worked on one before.  He had been fascinated
by Jay's foreskin, as he watched him parade around the various rooms, au
naturel, during the trip and had been longing to be able to explore it.  At
long last, he finally had his chance.  Jay wasn't into kissing, so Danny
let his hand roam down to Jay's groin and he began to pull on the loose
piece of flesh, until Jay's dick became hard.  Besides tugging on the
foreskin, he would pinch it and roll it around between his fingers.  He
even tried to insert one of his fingers into the folds of the sheath, so he
could see what that was like too.  After doing that for a while, Jay's
sausage had become so hard that his loose hood was now straining against
his rigid tool, as the helmet tried to peek through its protective coating.

Jay, on the other hand, had only handled Ricky's smaller penis and this
new, larger prick fascinated him immensely.  As soon as he could, Jay was
working his fingers all around Danny's love muscle, teasing it to assume
its largest possible dimensions.  He was also intrigued with the greater
amount of pre-cum that Danny's cock expelled, and Jay would often scoop up
some of this clear liquid on his finger and bring it to his lips to taste.
Once they had both explored each other in this fashion, they also aligned
themselves in a sixty-nine position, identical to the one currently being
used on the next bed.

Danny played with Jay's hood some more, this time moving it back and forth
with his lips, to let the corona emerge and then disappear once again.  He
worked his tongue over the head, as it played peek-a-boo with him, and
enjoyed the new flavor and smell of Jay's meat.  It was different from
either Brandon's or Ricky's, slightly more pungent, but he liked the
difference and continued to lap at the redhead's hard-on, like a lioness
cleaning her cub.  When he had taken the entire shaft into his mouth, he
worked energetically on it, wanting to have Jay enjoy this as much, if not
more, than he had enjoyed any of his previous experiences.  When he heard
Jay's moaning increasing and felt Jay's testicles pull away from his
fingers tips and move toward his body, he understood Jay's climax was near.
He applied as much suction on Jay's penis as he could, which sent Jay over
the edge, and caused four waves of spunk to ripple up his mast and paint
the interior of Danny's throat.  Danny swallowed everything Jay had to
offer, noting that it had a sweeter taste, like Ricky's, and he refused to
lose even one drop of that precious liquid.

At the same time, Jay had been having fun with Danny's cock as well.  After
licking up the heavy release of pre-cum from Danny's penis, Jay had to
adjust to mouthing the larger tool.  Using a trial and error method, he was
eventually able to take most of Danny's fuck-stick into his mouth and bring
his partner off.  He used his hand to make up for what his mouth couldn't
handle and played with Danny's scrotum and testicles with his other hand.
When Danny finally shot his load, Jay siphoned off every drop and continued
to work on Danny, until Danny's balls were completely empty.  Although not
as tasty as Ricky's deposits, Jay still enjoyed swallowing Danny's abundant
offering.  As soon as he recovered, Danny pulled Jay up to him, positioning
the younger boy on top of himself, so he could hug and stroke him in
appreciation.  The older pair had been in the room for more than a half an
hour by now, and Brandon suggested that they had better get the sun block
and return to the beach, before I came looking for them.  Hurriedly, the
two older boys cleaned up, kissed or hugged their younger counterparts, and
then prepared to leave.

"Jay, I get you next time.  Okay?" Brandon asked, just before he left the
room.

"Sure, Brandon.  I'd like that," Jay told him, while grinning because of
this apparent compliment.  Jay was beginning to realize that he and his
uncircumcised dick were becoming quite a valuable commodity.

Once all four had acknowledged that they cared for each other, nearly as
much as they did their normal partner, they made sure the others knew they
wanted to continue this mutual exploration.  After that had been agreed to,
Danny and Brandon returned to meet me on the beach, while the dynamic duo
went to the motel pool.  When they got back to the beach, Danny and Brandon
told me they had trouble finding the sun block, but I had just assumed they
had just wanted some time alone with each other.  Little did I know that
the older boys had been mixing it up with the younger twosome.

After we helped smear some sunscreen on each other, we settled in to enjoy
our time there.  Some of the kids they had meet at the pool where at the
beach too and one of them had had brought a soccer ball with him.  It
wasn't long before someone came over and invited Salt and Pepper to join in
their little game.  Danny and Brandon didn't seem to want to leave me
alone, but I told them to go ahead and have fun, so eventually they did.
In fact, I think they had a great deal of fun with the others and I know I
enjoyed watching them all play.

Ricky and Jay still hadn't come down to join us by lunchtime, so went back
to the room to find them, but they weren't there.  I sent Danny and Brandon
to the pool to get them, so we could go eat, and when the older pair came
back, they told me that Jay and Ricky weren't at the pool either.  I began
to panic.  Where else could they have gone?  I asked Brandon and Jay if
they knew anything about those other kids Jay and Ricky had been hanging
with, and they responded they only knew a little.  Concerned, I asked them
if they knew any of their room numbers or anything like that, but they
didn't, I wasn't sure what to do next.  Hoping I might be able to spot
them, I went out on the balcony and scanned the beach, to see if possibly
they or their friends were anywhere about, but I came up empty.  I thought
about calling the police, to report the boys missing, but quickly realized
they hadn't been gone long enough for the cops to consider doing anything
about it.  I was just about ready to begin pulling my hair out, when the
door opened and the other pair walked in.

"Where have you been?" I screamed, releasing my pent up frustration and
worry from the past half hour or more.  The boys both looked very scared,
when they heard my voice.

"One of our new friends sprained his ankle at the pool," Ricky began to
explain, "so Jay and I helped him back to his room and took care of him
until his parents got there.  What's the big deal, anyway?"

Slowly, I began to calm down and soon felt bad about yelling at them.  "The
big deal was, I was worried about you two," I confessed.  "We couldn't find
you and I was scared something had happened to one or both of you.  I
apologize for hollering like that, and it was nice of you to help that kid
out, but you should have found a way to let me know.  Is he all right now?"

"Yeah, his dad put ice on it and they said they'd wrap it up in an ace
bandage later," Ricky told me.

"Okay, I just want to apologize to both of you again for sounding so
angry," I informed them, "but in the future, just find a way to let me know
if you're going to be late."

"We would have, Dad," Ricky responded, "but we didn't think we'd be that
long.  We thought we'd get back before you did, so it wouldn't be such a
big thing."

"Well, that's not the way it worked out, but as long as you know what I
expect from now on and will promise to do what I ask in the future, then
we'll have no other problems," I advised them.  "Right now, though, let's
get cleaned up and we'll go out and grab something to eat."

"Yeah, I could stand something about now," Jay added, reducing the tension
level even more.

After lunch, we all went back to the beach and spent the rest of the day
playing in the ocean and on the sand.  During the rest of the day,
including dinner and even afterward, I happened to notice that all of the
boys appeared to be much closer than I had remembered from previous
evenings.  I just chalked it up as a benefit of spending so much time
together, or possibly from our panicked search for the younger pair.
Anyway, when we went to bed, we enjoyed our last night together at Virginia
Beach.  I spent the night sleeping between the older boys again, as I had
decided to alternate my nights sleeping with each group, and then we hit
the road again in the morning.



Castaway Hotel -- Grand Reopening by BW	
Copyright 2009 by billwstories
Chapter 26 -- The Delmarva Peninsula and Baltimore.

We ate an early breakfast and left Virginia Beach, marking the beginning of
our third and final week of vacation.  We began this leg of our journey by
crossing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which covers the twenty
miles distance between the Virginia Beach area and the lower part of the
Delmarva Peninsula.  Delmarva is an abbreviation for the three states that
share the peninsula, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.  Along this
engineering marvel are four man-made islands, which begin and end the
tunnel portions of the roadway, and those two underwater sections, each a
mile or so long, take you under the shipping lanes of the bay.

The boys had their noses pressed against the windows as I drove onto the
bridge, because they wanted to take in the magnificent view.  "Wow, look at
all that water," Ricky announced, impressed by what he saw.

"Yeah, and this bridge is really long and way high up," Jay added, so as
not to be outdone.

That caused Brandon to duck away quickly, which he did a few more times as
we crossed, but I think I was the only one who noticed this.  The others
were too busy looking around and commenting about the things they saw.  As
we approached the first man-made island, Sea Gull Island, I decided to stop
at the rest area, telling the boys it was so they could stretch, use the
toilets, get a drink and check out the view for a few minutes.  However, my
main reason for doing this was to make sure Brandon was okay.

As the others made their way to the restroom, I pulled Brandon aside.  "Are
you all right?" I asked, concerned.

"What do you mean?" he responded, although I could tell he was bothered by
my question and hiding something.

"I noticed your reaction in the car as we crossed the bridge," I informed
him, which caused him to blush and look around, to see where the others
were.

"I'm fine," he answered, although not convincingly.

"Do you have a problem I should know about?" I pushed.  He blushed again.

"The doctor says I sometimes get acrophobia, but don't tell the others," he
quickly added, while looking around again.  "That's a fear of heights."

"I know what it is," I informed him.  "How bad is it?"

"It's not that bad, but it does affect me sometimes," he admitted.  "It's
just that this was one of those times.  It was only because I saw how far
we had to travel and much of that over the water, and then I kind of began
to worry that something might happen, which would cause us to fall.  I know
now how silly I was being and I don't think I'll have any more problems."

As we continued discussing this, he also admitted he'd had a little problem
when we were in the Washington Monument, although none of us had noticed it
at the time.  This was most likely due to the fact that we were all too
absorbed in seeing everything we could at that point.  I asked him if this
was something I should be concerned about in the future, but he assured me
it wasn't.  After promising me that he would let me know the next time it
bothered him, I agreed to keep his secret and not mention it further.  This
seemed to satisfy both of us, so we didn't discuss it in greater detail.

We both set off again for the restroom, when the others came rushing out,
questioning where we had been.  I told them that they had all rushed off so
quickly that I could only point out what I saw to Brandon.  When they
wanted to know what it was, I told them we had seen something swimming in
the bay, but we were too far away to tell what it was.  Immediately, the
others rushed off to see if they could spot whatever it was, as Brandon and
I continued on.  Once we were alone again, Brandon thanked me for providing
that cover story and keeping his secret.

After taking care of my physical needs, I did decide to check out some of
the scenery.  Looking at the bridge from this vantage point was actually
quite impressive.  First, there's the awesome sight of the bridge
structure, as it extends out over the water in both directions, like a pair
of ribbons floating above the vast blue expanse.  The bridge is a truly
breathtaking sight and an engineering marvel.  Seeing how it snakes its way
through the air, and then suddenly dives beneath the bay when it gets to
the island, almost makes it appear as if it's incomplete or has possibly
collapsed.  Then it reemerges on the next island, only to repeat this
illusion at the final two islands.

After getting everyone back in the van, we continued our journey, crossing
the remainder of this extensive section of highway and finally reaching the
mainland again.  As soon as we arrived on the peninsula, we headed north,
stopping occasionally to stretch and look at some of the local attractions.

When we stopped for lunch, I announced we'd be going to a baseball game
that evening.  At first the boys were very excited, but then they became a
little disappointed, after I explained the game would be between two minor
league teams and not their major league counterparts.  With that in mind,
we drove to Salisbury, Maryland, home of the Delmarva Shorebirds. It was a
nice, modern stadium and I had been told everything would begin in the
early evening, which I thought was kind of unusual.  However, I soon
discovered why this game was scheduled earlier than normal.  Unbeknownst to
us, this was one of their promotional nights, where the young people in the
stands were going to be given a chance to go out on the field and show off
their skills.

This competition was open to anyone, ages eight to fifteen, and divided
into age brackets.  Each child would be competing in three main categories,
which included throwing, hitting and base running.  Once the boys learned
about this, they informed me that they wanted to participate too, so I
allowed them to go down to the field and sign up.  It just happened to work
out that Ricky and Jay would compete in one division (12-13), while Danny
and Brandon would be pitted against each other in another (14-15).

The throwing competition was divided into two categories -- distance and
accuracy.  The distance portion was done with the boys standing at home
plate and throwing toward the outfield.  They were given three attempts,
with each throw being marked.  Their best effort was then measured and the
distance was recorded for points.  For the accuracy portion, the boys went
to the outfield and made throws to home plate.  The younger pair took their
throws from just behind the infield, about five yards onto the outfield
grass, while the older boys started about twenty yards farther back.  The
goal was to aim at a barrel, which had been placed on its side at home
plate, with cones placed on either side of it.  The participants earned
points according to how accurate their throws were.  They were given three
throws and scored ten points if their throw went into the barrel, six
points if it passed between the barrel and the cones three feet on either
side of it, and three points if it went between the two sets of cones, with
the outer cones placed six feet from the barrel.

To compete in the hitting contest, each boy was thrown six pitches and then
rated on what they did with them.  They were given one point for making
contact, which included foul balls, three points for an infield hit, six
points for a fly ball landing on the outfield grass, and ten points for any
fly ball landing over a chalk line that ran across the center of the
outfield.

The final competition was the base running, and the boys were timed as they
ran from home plate and back around to home plate again.  They were then
given points for their speed, as judged by a stopwatch.  They could make up
to two runs, if they wanted, but only their best time counted.

After the competition was completed, the boys' totals were read and all the
contestants were given Shorebirds baseball caps, one of the baseballs that
had been used during the competition, a small, souvenir bat (imprinted with
the Shorebirds' logo on it) and a complimentary program for the game.  It
had been quite an undertaking for the sponsoring team, but the effort was
greatly appreciated by the participants, the participant's parents and
everyone else in attendance.

All the boys had done quite well and had a great time, but I was in awe of
what they had done.  Compared to their competition, they were well above
average.  All the participants were also congratulated by the members of
both teams and given a chance to stay on the field while the teams warmed
up.  This allowed them to chat with and get autographs from the players on
their programs.  When they came back to join me, they were a bit winded and
ready to sit down and enjoy the game.

Before they got settled in, however, I took them all to the concession
stand to grab something to eat.  Due to the fact that we had to get to the
stadium early, we hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I let the boys get whatever
they wanted here.  There was actually a pretty good selection and it was
fairly priced, especially when you consider what I've seen at other similar
places, and it turned out to be quite tasty.  We took everything back to
our seats; so we'd be able to sit down to enjoy what we purchased.
Surprisingly, we actually were able to finish our meal before the game got
started, so we were able to enjoy the action from start to finish.

It ended up being a pretty good game and both teams played extremely hard.
To use the word hustle to explain the effort everyone put out would have
been an understatement.  I wondered if the players might have had a little
extra motivation, after watching the young people compete earlier.  I have
a feeling they didn't want to appear as not putting forth the same amount
of effort or being outdone by their younger counterparts.  I know we all
enjoyed the game and realized the boys would have many lasting memories
from this outing, which would make it mean even more to them later.

After the game, we drove the rest of the way up the peninsula and found a
motel across the bay from Annapolis.  We checked in, cleaned up quickly and
then went right to bed, because we were all quite tired from the day's
activities, including the long ride.  The boys were more weary than I was,
because of all the energy they'd expended during their activities at the
ball field, and I'd even noticed them dozing off in the van, before we
stopped at the motel.  I spent the night cuddled up between the two younger
monsters, as they made sure to remind me it was my turn to sleep with them.

The next morning, we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, not to be confused
with the Bridge-Tunnel we had crossed the previous morning, as we made our
way into Annapolis.  This bridge is four-plus miles long and entirely above
the surface, but it also has some breathtaking views, as we drove toward
the US Naval Academy.  I watched Brandon in the rearview mirror, as we made
our way over the bridge, to see if he was having any difficulties.  I was
concerned because we would stay on this bridge for quite some time and it
seemed even higher than the one he'd had trouble on earlier.  To my relief,
and his, he managed to keep his attention focused inside the van and
avoided looking out the windows and suffering through another acrophobic
episode.

Once we arrived on the other side and parked, we began our sightseeing of
Annapolis with a walking tour of the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center.  We
followed this with a visit to the Preble Hall Museum, which contains
numerous artifacts and displays relating to sea power and naval history,
and then finished up this somewhat brief stop with a visit to the Chapel,
under which lies the crypt of John Paul Jones, a US Naval Hero of the
Revolutionary War.

"Isn't he the guy who said, 'Don't fire until you see the whites of their
eyes?'" Brandon asked.

"Close, but no cigar," I teased, although none of the boys got my joke.
"Right war, but wrong branch of the military.  That comment was supposedly
made at Bunker Hill, but Jones' famous quote was, 'I have not yet begun to
fight.'"

"That's right," Brandon agreed.  "I guess I got confused."

"So that's why he's buried here?" Jay wondered.

"In a round about way, yes," I answered.  "Although he was never fully
recognized for his achievements in his lifetime, he was given this honor
after his death, by burying one of our greatest naval figures under the
chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy."

"So they had a big funeral for him?" Ricky asked.

"Not when he died," I informed him.  "He died in 1792 and was buried in
France, but he was moved here and honored in 1913, in a ceremony presided
over by President Theodore Roosevelt."

"I guess it did take them a long time to honor him," Danny added, with a
touch of sarcasm.

After we completed everything we wanted to do there, we stopped for lunch,
before we continued our journey.  During our meal, the boys started
pestering me to find out what we were going to do next, so I informed them
we'd be spending a little time in the Baltimore area, but that was all I
would say.  I wasn't about to divulge exactly what I had planned, even
though they whined, teased, pleaded and even tried to make deals to find
out what we were going to do there.  Although they expected me to stand my
ground, I think they were still a little disappointed when I didn't give
in.  They were well aware that I wanted to keep certain parts of the trip a
surprise, even though I suspected they might be able to guess at least part
of what we might be doing there.  After getting back on the road, I drove
until I reached our next stop, a hotel just south of Baltimore.  It'll be
here that we'll spend the next three nights and two days.

We checked in, unloaded our things and then cleaned up for dinner.  After
we ate, we went back to the room and I made sure we watched the Baltimore
Orioles baseball game on television.  The boys had no problem with that,
seeing the Orioles were playing the NY Yankees, one of their favorite
teams, and they cheered loudly with the action.  All four of them took
their showers during the early innings, so they wouldn't miss any of the
action during the crucial finish, and they were all done in plenty of time
to watch the end of the game.  In fact, the game went into extra innings,
so we ended up staying up later than I had planned, as none of us wanted to
go to bed before it was over.  After the Orioles pulled it out in the
bottom of the eleventh, we turned in, with the boys slightly disappointed.

Tuesday morning, after grabbing a quick breakfast, we made our way to Fort
McHenry National Monument, for a quick tour.  Fort McHenry is a star shaped
fort, which came into existence in 1776, to defend Baltimore from an
anticipated attack by the British.  The fort is strategically located along
Baltimore's Inner Harbor, with water protecting it on three sides, yet it
was far enough away from the city so it wouldn't endanger it, should the
fort come under attack.  It was eventually named after James McHenry, who
served as Secretary of War under George Washington, and the fort was the
key to the victory over the British during the Battle of Baltimore, in the
War of 1812.  It was the brilliant defense of the fort during this battle
that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, the
words to the US National Anthem, which he penned over September 13-14,
1814.

"So he wrote the words as a poem?" Danny asked, as he learned about this
historic event.

"Yes, but it was later set to the tune of a popular English drinking song,"
I added.

"So, he didn't write the music and what we are singing is the music of an
old drinking song?" Brandon asked, surprised.

"Same tune, just different words," I explained.

"And it was written about that funny looking flag we saw when we stopped in
Washington," Jay added, "the really big one with the fifteen stripes and
fifteen stars."

"Yes, that would be the same one," I agreed, impressed that he had put it
all together.

The boys soon learned that the fort never came under attack again, although
it did become a pivotal location during the Civil War.  That was due to the
fact that the Union wanted to keep the fort out of the hands of those who
wanted Maryland to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.  It
remained under Union control throughout the entire conflict and Fort
McHenry remained an active military post or served as a military hospital
until 1925, when it was declared a national park.  In 1933, it was
redesignated as a National Monument and is currently the nation's only
Historical Shrine.

After stopping for a quick lunch, I took the boys to see the Babe Ruth
Birthplace and Museum.  Babe Ruth was a huge baseball star of the 1920's.
He was born and grew up in the Baltimore area, mainly in an orphanage, but
played most of his career for the NY Yankees.  He was someone I knew the
boys would be interested in learning more about, so I made sure to include
this in our itinerary.

"So he was the first real home run king?" Jay asked, in an attempt to
clarify this information.

"Absolutely," I agreed.  "His single-season home run mark of 60 stood from
1927 until 1961, and his career record of 714, which was set in 1935,
wasn't broken until Henry Aaron surpassed him in 1974."

"Look at his bat!" Danny exclaimed, while gawking at one of the bats Babe
used during his career.  "It so big and so dark.  It would be like swinging
a log."

"Yes, it is quite a bit larger, and heavier, than the bats we're used to,"
I agreed, before we moved on.

The museum contained not only items pertaining to Babe Ruth, but also
things related to the Baltimore Orioles Baseball team.  Being huge baseball
fans, we all truly enjoyed this visit, but there had been an additional
reason for them finding it so interesting.  I had actually set up our visit
to the Museum by getting the boys to watch as many of the Oriole baseball
games as I could find on television leading up to this, so they would be
able to identify with the team and appreciate what they saw even more.

We had dinner near the stadium, at a rather nice restaurant, and then I
decided it was time to announce my next surprise.  I reached in my back
pocket, pulled out my wallet and reached inside.  The boys thought I was
merely getting ready to pay the bill, so they were quite surprised when I
held up five tickets for the Oriole baseball game that evening, at Camden
Yards.  I had purchased these tickets in advance and had them sent to the
house before we left on the trip.  They were ground-level seats, just to
the left of the third base or visitor's dugout.  The Orioles were still
playing the New York Yankees, which is the favorite team for three of the
four boys, with Jay being the only exception.  He likes the Pittsburgh
Pirates, a team in the National League.

"We're actually going to see the Yankees play?" Ricky gasped.

"And we're sitting near their dugout?" Danny marveled.

"Do you think we'll be able to get any autographs?" Brandon wanted to know.

"It's possible," I agreed.

"And we might be able to catch a foul ball?" Jay asked.

"That too, but that's why I made sure to get ground seats," I quipped.  "I
didn't want you falling off the upper levels while diving for a pop foul,"
I added, which drew an immediate reaction from all four boys.

"That was mean, Pop," Brandon chided, with the others agreeing.

"Yeah, I thought you weren't going to pick on me about that any more," Jay
added, feigning a pout.

"I'm sorry, Jay," I admitted, "but old habits die hard."

"Yeah, and all of his habits are really old," Ricky countered, which drew a
round of laughter and gave me a shot, which made Jay feel as if he'd gotten
even too.

It was an exciting game, with the Orioles losing by one run.  The Yankees
had managed to score twice in the top of the inning and the Orioles weren't
able to do the same, much to the boys' delight.  It was late by the time we
got back to our room, so I told the boys they could take their showers in
the morning, instead of tonight, and we ended up going straight to bed.

The next morning, after getting everyone cleaned up, we stopped and had a
rather large breakfast, before going to the National Aquarium, where we
spent most of the day.  The Aquarium had numerous exhibits, some which were
similar to things we had seen before, but most of these displays varied
slightly from the others we had viewed.  Throughout the course of the day,
we saw sharks, seals, a giant Pacific octopus, moray eels, venomous snakes,
and a life-size model of a Humpback Whale.  We also 'toured' a South
American rain forest, 'visited' a sea cliff habitat, 'moved about' an
Atlantic Ocean coral reef, spent time in the children's cove, which
contained all kinds of crabs and lobsters, and watched a dolphin show,
among other things.

Following the dolphin show, we decided to walk over to the tank where the
performance had taken place, so we could get a better look at the dolphins.
As we were approaching it, something else happened.  A little boy, who was
about two or three years old, was walking with his parents in front of us.
Suddenly, and without warning, he jerked away from his mother and squatted
down directly in my path.  Instinctively, I tried to avoid crashing into
him, knowing I'd hurt the kid if that happened, and in the process, I
slipped on the wet pavement and ended up losing my balance.  Instead of
landing on the little boy, I careened off to my left and ended up knocking
over Brandon and Danny and landing on them instead.  I didn't actually hurt
either of the boys, but the four of them weren't about to let this slide so
easily.

"Are you boys okay?" I asked, concerned, as I helped Brandon and Danny back
to their feet.

"Yeah, but that was a real swift move, Pop," Brandon teased, as he stood
up.

"And you call Jay clumsy!" Danny added, driving home the point.

"You should apologize to Jay right now," Ricky insisted, trying to make me
feel as if I were being scolded.  "That was worse than anything he ever
did."

"Hey, I was just trying not to hurt that little kid," I responded, trying
to defend myself.  "I didn't have much time to react and then I slipped on
the water."

"Yeah, sure," Danny replied, not buying my excuse.  "Admit it.  You are
just as big a klutz as Jay is."

"Hey, watch it!" Jay protested.  "I only mess myself up most of the time.
I don't usually knock others over or fall on them."  He added, trying hard
to keep from laughing as he said this.

"It wasn't clumsiness," I countered, "well, not exactly.  If I hadn't tried
to keep from bumping into that child, I wouldn't have slipped and ended up
knocking Brandon or Danny over either."

"Yeah, and if it wasn't for that step at the White House or that uneven
sidewalk at the National Zoo, I wouldn't have nearly fallen down those
steps or knocked that trash can over either."

"Touché," I said, seeing Jay's point.  "Point, set and match to
Mr. Curtis."  The boys were all giggling now.

"What about at the restaurant and the blacksmith's shop?" Brandon asked,
referring to the water glass Jay had knocked over and his losing his grip
on the blacksmith's hammer.  Suddenly, the other three boys gave Brandon
dirty looks; to remind him that was something he wasn't supposed to be
bringing up.  Brandon blushed, when he realized his error.

"Hey, that was different," Jay protested.

"Okay, Dad, " Ricky interrupted, in an attempt to draw the attention away
from Jay.  "We won't say anything more about what you did here, as long as
you don't pick on Jay any more.  Right, Jay?"  Jay nodded, happy to go
along with Ricky's suggestion.

"Okay, deal," I agreed.  I would have consented to almost anything at that
point, just to get them to stop ragging on me about what had just happened.

After that little incident, the rest of our day went smoothly and we had a
great time.  In fact, we actually got so involved in the other activities
and found everything so fascinating, that before we knew it, we had missed
our afternoon meal and it was about halfway between lunchtime and dinner.
I quickly decided we'd stop for an early dinner instead, allowing the boys
to fill up before we went back to Camden Yards, for another baseball game.
I figured if the boys got hungry later, I'd buy them something at the
ballpark, but it was too expensive to buy everything there.  This time, we
had seats on the second-level behind the first base or home team dugout,
which gave us a chance to get a little different view of what was going on.
The Yankees put on a hitting display tonight, cranking out six homers and
demolishing the Orioles.  Again, it was late when we returned to our room,
but this time it was because of all the hits and many pitching changes
during the game, so we skipped the showers again and went directly to bed.

The following morning, which was Thursday, I woke the boys early, so they'd
have plenty of time to clean up and eat before we headed off to make our
last visit to an amusement park.  This time we were going to Six Flags.
Once we got there, I was content to let the boys enjoy themselves on their
own again, while I maintained a base location where I would spend the time
I wasn't with any of them.  Of course, every so often one pair or the other
would whisk me away to join them on some ride, and I always honored their
requests.  Not only did I enjoy spending that time with them and watching
their pure delight as we rode the various attractions, but I thought it was
very sweet that they still wanted to make sure I was involved and having
fun myself.  The boys always seemed to want to take me on what I'd call the
thrill rides, where you're either going fast, riding upside, going very
high into the air, being shaken about or a combination of those things.  I
was beginning to wonder if it was so I'd have fun or for them to see how
long the old man could take such abuse.

The four of them went non-stop, from the time we arrived to until the park
closed, with only a few breaks to eat in between.  By the time I loaded
them into the van and headed out of the Baltimore area, we were all ready
to move on.  I had no reservations for a motel room this evening and merely
planned to find someplace to stay along our route.  I was sure we'd be able
to locate something appropriate, even though most of the ride was out in
the middle of nowhere, or so it seemed.  As luck would have it, we ended up
spending the night in Maryland, at an older, but still more than adequate
motel, and it wasn't very far from the Pennsylvania border.  Being quite
fatigued, none of us did much more than take a quick shower before turning
in.


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