A Birth day

Ruby chuckled and nodded " I got that impression and, well I'm glad she didn't pop, I'm not one for that sort of thing myself" she added then watched as the waves rushed past them as he took them back to the island They had, had their honeymoon at.

Aria smiled at Poppy as she spoke "Same here" she said softly to Poppy. Once she ahs shaken her hand she stood up and listened to the others glancing at Marcus as they spoke. "You know Rollercoasters are all good and well but some time on the ground walking some trails will be good as well," she said feeling Poppy was not one for Rollercoasters. " I made breakfast burritos enough for one fore every one as I had ds feeling you guys would be hungry, your dad and I have already eaten, and I found Angus trail mix so we'll have that to snack on." she said taking out the still warm burritos fo every one.

"Well, hopefully she'll hold off on delivering til they get to dry land. I don't think Tyler wants to deliver a strange woman either. Although, he's delivered so many horses that he'd be just the kind to treat it just like delivering a horse. Better him than either of us. Look. That's our island just ahead. We're almost there."

Thirty minutes had them there, and he tied the houseboat to the dock. There was only one dock on the island, and their boat was the only one there.

"So, we have two or three days without anyone else at all," he told her. "Whatever shall we do with ourselves, all alone for a long weekend in the Mediterranean?"

The kids all thanked Aria for making the burritos, and they each took one.

"Alright, Guys, grab your packs, and let's get going," Marcus said. "We're going to port in and pick up the rental van that I've arranged, and then head..." He had arranged a large van with enough room for all seven of them, plus all their gear.

"For a donut shop!" Kai said.

"You'd rather to that than a full breakfast?" Marcus asked.

"We were rather hoping we could talk you into donuts," Zane said.

"Perhaps," Marcus said, not wanting to laugh. He picked up the biggest backpack so that no one else had to wrestle it. "Shall we? Next stop, car rental."

Ruby chuckled and nodded " he probably would" she said and chuckled glancing over she saw the island and smiled " finaly" she said softly " just us two" she added with s mile.

Aria heard Marcus and then heard Kai talk about a doughnut shop and chuckled " your still hungry even after the burritos?" she asked then looked at Marcus " well the tales are true" she joked " kids have bottomless stomachs" she said and chuckled seeing him grab a back pack she grabbed one as well and slung it over her shoulder " okay let get going" she said and held out her hand for poppy to take.

She hadn't answered him when he had asked her what she wanted to do, so he simply made sure the houseboat was good to leave for a bit, and he took a small bucket and decided to walk barefoot on the beach to do a little beachcombing, looking for shells. He didn't necessarily want tiny shells, not unless they were remarkable in some way. He was searching more for some unusual ones.

He didn't walk long before he found a beautiful pearly white oxheart shell, and it was in perfect condition, without any flaws that he could see. And it was good sized. That, for him, was the find of the day. It was not a common shell to find, but this one was laying right on the beach, as if he it had been waiting for him. He found some smaller shells, and then he saw a nautilus being washed back into the sea by the tide. He went dashing out on the surf and took a dive into he water, still hoping to catch it. He was sure he had missed his chance but then, at the very last moment, he wrapped his hand around it, capturing it. He came up to the surface, and came back up on the beach, triumphant. Two great finds in one day. That was one of the advantages of a private island--the shells on the beach weren't all picked over by countless tourists.

Poppy took Aria's hand, and the rest of the kids all hooked up together. Marcus ported them to the little Ohio town where the coaster park was. Marcus had landed them near a muggle internet cafe just next door to the car rental.

"Can you keep the kids here for a little, and I'll go next door and pick up our van. There are supposedly some arcade games, so that might keep them occupied a little," he told Aria. "It won't take me long. Then we can go set up the campsite." He handed her some American muggle money. "I'll be right back."

He went next door, completed the van rental, and when he asked for a map, they provided him one that was in a brochure of the area. They asked him what he was looking for, and when he said they were hoping to do some tent camping and go to the amusement park, the man at the car rental suggested they use the campground on the amusement park grounds. That would give them access to the park for their entire stay. The kids could come and go from the tent site to the rides as they wanted. The man said it was actually a nicer campground than the one Marcus was planning on using. With van keys in hand, Marcus took a number of brochures for the area and then returned to pick up Aria and the kids.

"We've had just a very slight change of plans," he told them. "Apparently there is a campground and a beach and a couple hotels with restaurants on the amusement park grounds. The campground is supposed to be nicer than the one we were going to go to, and it gives us complete access to the park the entire time we're there. What do you say?"

"Nice!" Zane said. "We can stay out all night!"

"Um, no. The park itself closes at eight at night," Marcus laughed. "Nice try, though. Alright, load your gear into the van, and let's get going, shall we?

Ruby went with Angus in teh boat to the beach and followed him as he walked and picked up shells " thsts a nice one" she sid and saw another picking it up she drpped it when legs came out " ow sorymistr crab" she said and let it run ti th water " I forgot some have things in" she said and chuckled.
Aria looked at Marcus and smiled " okay" she said and took the muggle money " so kids want to go on ome games or just browse the internet or even just get some fod?" she asked as she opend the door for them to enter the cafe.

One each was steelted doing what thy wanted she grabbed a coffee and sat watching them including Poppy who ahd found a game she liked to play while they waited for Marcus to return. Seeing him walk towards the cafe she smield " okay kids dads back" she said gathering them all together again. Hearing him mention the campsite closer and beter to the amusment park she let the kids decide " well im in agrement, it does sound a bit better and closr to where we were with the beach and amusment park being closer." she said carring a pack to the car and holding Poppys hand as they walked.

"That's an easy thing to forget," Angus smiled, "but you might find some great shells here because the beach hasn't been all picked over by tourists. Just keep your eyes open for what you like, and if you want the really big ones, we'll have to come out just at high tide. Its a bit limited here since the Mediterranean is almost entirely landlocked, but if we come out when the tide is a bit higher, you might find some additional big shells. I'll do some checking on some of the sea charts and see if they tell me when the tide is over the next couple days."

Marcus and the kids loaded the gear into the rear of the van, and Marcus drove them to the park and paid for park passes and a parking pass. The woman selling the passes directed Marcus how to drive around to the other side of the park to reach the campground. It was apparently separated by a fence and a gate from the main park, but that made perfect sense to Marcus. She also told him that the park opened normally at ten, but for guests of the park's hotels and campground, the park opened one hour earlier, at nine. That would be perfect. They could get the site set up and then hit the park early.

He drove around to the other side of the park, and they were allowed to pick their campsite. Marcus picked a corner lot because it looked like it actually was quite a bit larger. Then he was given a campground pass to keep in the car. He took the car to the campsite and backed it into the parking space and turned the van off.

"Well, here we are, Gang. Now, just a quick reminder. We are in the muggle world. Absolutely no magic. Understand me? None. Our tent is basically an extra large muggle tent that has been enchanted to work as a wizarding tent. That means, no making friends with the muggles enough to bring them into the tent. I would not like to have to obliviate your new friends. There is a camp office with some games and a pancake house. There is a cornhole game, a large lawn chess board, basketball, volleyball, a pool, and, if worse comes to worse, there's always the amusement park."

"Dad," Ezra groaned. "Who wants to play any game with a hole when there's rollercoasters?"

"What's cornhole anyway?"

"Its a sort of beanbag toss game," Marcus said. The twins looked at each other.

"Coasters," they both said to each other.

"Work first, coasters after," Marcus said.

Ruby smiled at him and slipped off her slip-on shoes to feel the sand between her toes " This he heaven" she said and then heard him mention the tides would work if we wanted to swim too" she said smiling at him as she spotted a nice looking conch shell with light pinks and a present shen to it " this is pretty" she said and checked nothing was living in it and breathed in relief seeing that it was empty." phew empty" she said placing it among the ones Angus hand found.

Aria slid in beside Marcus as the kids buckled in behind her. So she retched the entrance to the campsite site she sat and listened to the woman explaining things to Marcus and then he drove to a large plot s they could set up the tent. Slipping out she opened the back of the van for the kids to climb out and stretch their legs. " Well it will be sweeter if you get the tent up quicker, plus I know they have cotten candy and hot dogs too" she glanced at Marcus " The first one to finish decides the first ride and food," she said smiling as she placed down the provishions pack by her feet.

"Well, you know, conch is edible," he told her. "If there had been somebody home, we'd have been able to eat them. As it is, though, the shell is a nice find. We'll have some nice souvenirs to take back." As she was beachcombing, he looked up at a little clutch of trees steps from the beach, and he saw something growing on the side of the trees. He walked up to the trees and took a look at the trees and at the ground around the trees.

"Hey, Ru, come look what I found," he called. He pointed at some fungus growing on the side of the trees. "Know what these are? Oyster mushrooms, and they're huge! We could have some gourmet mushrooms all weekend. And, there's more. See those down there on the ground? Those are some gorgeous wild chanterelles. It might be a good opportunity to make some risotto. Edward has said that he's found some wild greens here, but we might have made the better find."

The kits unloaded the packs, and Marcus got out the tent and the tent stake and tent poles and some guy lines, along with a hatchet.

"How are we gonna put it up without magic?" Zane asked.

"With a little muscle," Marcus grinned, and the kids all groaned. "Oh, come on. It's a good thing to learn to do things by hand. Come on, you guys. Lend a hand. Let's get it done." He laid out the tent, and guided them, step by step, to laying out the stakes and the guy lines and then he hammered in the stakes with the back of the hatchet. "Alright. Nicely done, Guys. Let's get our supplies in and get set up. He put the boys in one of the bedrooms, the girls in the other, and Aria and himself in the third. It didn't take all that long to set up the living room and the kitchen.

"Can we go now? Pleeeeease?" Daria and Ezra asked.

"Yes," Marcus said. When the kids all came out of the tent, he used a bit of slight of hand to set a couple magic spells in place, one to lock the tent, and one to keep it from being able to be entered by any muggles at all.

Poppy shied close to Marcus and motioned to him. He leaned down, and she whispered something in his ear.

"No," he told her, and she seemed instantly relieved. "We can do something else. It's fine. I hear they have a racing carosel."

"What's that?" she asked.

"There are only two of them in the whole US. It's a really fast carosel. It goes 15 miles an hour. Maybe you and I can check those out while the older ones hit the coasters," he told her. She nodded. He looked at Aria. "So what's your speed? Coasters or something else?"

Ruby watched him walk to some steps and then all her over walking over she bent her knees and looked "Oh those look perfect" she said to both types of mushroom " Risotto. sounds perfect" she said and smiled as she moved the grass away from the mushrooms." we could eat for fre all week with these" she said.

Aria once the tent was set up put down the kitchen things and stored the food away so it would not spoil. Exiting the tent she heard Marcus and looked at the kids " well I think the older ones could go in pairs while you me and poppy go on the racing carosel, but I do agree with Marcus, no magic at all, no matter how much your tempted." she stressed to them. " but if you want to cut yor camping trip and time with your dad short, go ahead. you'll be the only one in truble." she turned to face Marcus again " I'll come with you and poppy to the racing carosel." she said then looked at Poppy " it sounds perfect"

"We probably could," he told her, "especially if we caught some seafood off the side of the boat, and, I am sure there would be some chefs in Tuscany that would be green with envy about what we found. I'm just going to wager that if Edward found greens, we can find some too. Maybe I should influence Robert to do a survival weekend here. Wait. On second thought, maybe not. I might want to keep this secret to ourselves. I might not want anyone else intruding here. Let's see what else we can find. I bet we can find greens and some herbs."

Marcus looked at the twins. "Look, Guys, I do not want Daria and Ezra running about in an amusement park in a foreign country alone."

"Yeah, I get it," Zane said.

"I don't expect you to have to have them with you all day, but if you want to go off by yourselves, do not leave them. Here are some maps." He passed out a map to each one, and Daria and Ezra tucked them in the back pockets of their jeans. "So. lets do this in zones. While we're in this part of the park, you lot should hit these rides." He pointed them out to Zane and Kai. His plan made sense to them. "And we'll hit these..." Marcus showed them a couple others that were not coasters but looked like just as much fun.

"I'm going with Dad," Daria said, liking his plan better.

"Not me. I'm doing coasters," Ezra said.

"Do not lose your brother," Marcus told the twins.

"Hear that, Shrimp? You're stuck with us," Kai told Ezra.

"Well, lets go already," Ezra said.

"Do not leave this section of the park. We'll cover this section and then move to the next one," Marcus told them. They nodded, and then they ran off to the first rollercoaster.

"Alright, ladies. Let's go get on that racing carosel," Marcus said. they didn't hae much of a line or a wait either one, and when they got on, the girls ran to some carosel horses, but they were both too short to get on. "Let me give you a hand," Marcus told them. He had to lift each one of them and help them on, but they were elated. There were three horses to a row. Daria had picked a gray horse in one row, and Poppy had picked a white horse in the row behind her.

"Do you mind riding beside Daria?" he asked Aria. "And I'll ride beside Poppy." He climbed up on a brown horse beside Poppy, trusting that Aria could well manage to climb up on a carosel horse.

"Does it go fast right away?" Poppy asked him.

"No, I shouldn't think so. I think it will have to make a couple laps to build up speed," Marcus told her, "but it sure looks like it's going to be fun."