A Birth day

Ruby woke watching Angus dress and head to the kitchen she waited for awhile showering and dressing before walking out to find him on the deck with a coffee. " morning" she said smiling a she too walked out holding a cup of tea in her hands " that was a prfect night lst night" she said smiling a she lent over and kissed his cheek before sitting quietly next to him.

Aria had woken and snuck out changing to her dove form she flew around in the air while it was still dark stretching her wings , seeing Marcus stood outside she flew to a clump of bushes and changed abck to her human form " morning" she said softly " kids still sleeping?" she asked as she walked over to him. " its going to be a beautiful day to day." she kissed his cheek and moved to the camp fire " want me to make the tea and coffee?" she asked as she was fixing the pot she looked back at him " I saw a nice place for breakfast with the kids, its down the road, pancakes, waffles with syrup and full english breakfasts."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Angus told her. "The sky looks better. I'm wagering it will be good weather today. Just judging by what I can see, I'm guessing it might be a little cooler today than yesterday. Breakfast is ready whenever you're hungry. You know, I love the kids, but there is something really nice about waking up to silence. No screaming babies with poop from her toes to her hair. No dog scratching at the door to go out, no crowd of kids pawing through the fridge and arguinng about who gets the last of the cold pizza. It feels luxurious having just two in the morning, rather than a dozen people. Suppose the kids would be miffed if we went away a bit more often?"

"Aria," Marcus laughed, amused, "slow down and get your eyes open first. For someone who likes to be on top of things, you missed the fact that the coffee and the water for tea is already made. The only thing I haven't done is cook breakfast. I am not cooking for seven people. I will be happy to buy breakfast or just stay out of the way for whoever does decide to cook, though. The camp store has a little restaurant and they serve pancakes. I know there are some family restaurants in town that serve breakfast. I don't know of anyone who does breakfast like we do, though. Americans do not understand a lot of things about British food--like beans on toast? That's never gonna happen here." It made him laugh.

"Americans absolutely do not understand beans for breakfast, or grilled tomatoes, and I don't think they'd eat black pudding if someone put a gun to their heads. You will find, though, a good selection of other things--some great eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, fruit, toast, pastries, maybe steak, or oatmeal or something they call cornmeal mush. It's basically polenta that's put into a loaf pan, chilled so that it solidifies, and then, they slice it and fry it and put butter and syrup on it like a pancake. It's actually really good, for an American thing."

Ruby smiled and took a deep breath loving the sounds around her, the sound of the waves and the sound of Angus cooking She smiled and stood up "Great, food sounds great about now" She smiled and stood up and walked over to get some food.

Aria stopped and laughed "Sorry, bird brain right now" she admitted with a chuckle as she looked at him " I don't blame you for not cooking for seven, but haven't you cooked for more, or am I confusing you with Angus?" she said just poring herself some coffee and moved to join him " so were just waiting for the kids to wake? that's going to take till this afternoon." she said and chuckled as she siped the coffee "oh, perfect coffee." she said.

"Come on," Angus motioned to her. "I did enchant the plates and the cloaches to keep the food warm. He went into the kitchen table and removed the cloaches to reveal the eggs benedict. "Obviously I didn't need the fruit to be warm. Tuck in. I couldn't resist something with hollandaise--its one of my favorites."

Marcus laughed when she joked about having a bird brain.

"That would be Angus. I've made eggs and toast for Angus's herd once, I think, and I've made breakfast on the survival weekends. My cooking is edible, but it does not begin to compare to Angus or Michael. The kids don't think I cook at all. Not sure why they think that, but I'm not quite that inept in the kitchen. I don't think the kids will be that much longer. They went to bed right after supper after all. Even they can't sleep that long."

It was only about thirty minutes later when the kids came out of the tent. Kai adn Zane were dressed in shorts and tee shirt with flip flops, and the younger three were still bleery eyed and in their pajamas.

"Do tell us you're not going to try to cook, Dad," Zane rolled his eyes at Marcus.

"Well, I could conjure something, I suppose," Marcus teased.

"Great. Why don't you just serve us air sandwiches? That's about that filling," Kai teased.

"Look," Zane said, "just hand over some muggle money, and Kai and I wil walk down to the camp store and bring back takeout pancake breakfasts for everyone. We can be there and back before these three get their eyes open."

"Well, that's a thought," Marcus said.He looked at Aria. "Does that work for you?"

Ruby smiled and followed Angus She heard what he had cooked and smiled " sounds perfect," she said watching as he lifted the closh from off the food as she sat down to eat with her coffee.

Aria chuckled and nodded "Ah okay, so you never cook for more than four or five?" she said sipping her coffee. " and well best to keep people wondering if you can." she said " I love cooking on an open fire, there's just something about the smell and taste of open cooked food." she saw the kids walk out and smiled at the younger kids. Hearing the older " you can go with them if you want while I get these two dressed." she said to him

"I have cooked for more than that," Marcus said. "I just don't like to. I mean, its edible but it isn't necessarily a strong suit or an interest of mine either one. As for the kids, you don't need to dress them. I mean, they're all in Hogwarts now, so I'm sure they're definitely old enough that they can dress themselves." He got three mugs, put hot water in them and set them in front of the younger kids, along with the tea tin. "Here, Guys. Tea. That'll help you get your eyes open."

He took some money out of his pocket and handed it to Zane and Kai. "Now, don't go crazy ordering breakfast. Seven breakfast entrees of some sort. You can make them assorted if you like. I don't care. You know what everyone eats and what they don't. Aria and I eat pretty much anything. We're not picky. Got it?"

"Got it," they said. "How does this American muggle money compare to our money?"

"Well, as near as I can figure it, it takes about eight American dollars to make one of our galleons," he said. The boys thought it over for a moment, and they nodded and then looked around to orient themselves to the camp office. "It's that way," Marcus said, pointing them westward. "Stay on the road, and you'll run into it on your right. If you get to the lake, you've gone too far."

"So, don't go hunting pancakes in the lake," Zane said with a bit of sarcasm. "Got it." He and Kai headed to the camp office. Marcus glanced at the younger kids who were stirring milk and sugar into their tea mugs and going to sit around the campfire while they drank their tea to get their eyes open. Marcus poured more coffee into hs mug to warm his coffee up. "Warm up? he asked Aria, thinking perhaps she might be ready for a little more coffee.

Angus didn't know which he liked better this morning, the eggs benedict or the fruit. He normally liked eggs benedict better than a bowl of fruit, but he liked the way this fruit salad had turned out.

"I don't have any particular plans for today," Angus told her, "but, if you decide to go swimming, watch out for rip currents. Look out the window." He pointed to something he could see in the water. "See what looks like a stripe of darker blue water just there? That is definitely something you do not want to get anywhere close to. That's a rip current. You don't want to get caught up in that. The rest of it looks okay, but keep well away from that rip current."

Aria smiled and nodded "Guess the bird brain hasn't worn off yet." she said as the younger kids headed back in to dress as he spoke to the older. She chuckled as they said about the pancakes "Yeah, some of us don't like soggy pancakes." she said and chuckled as she saw them trying to figure out which way to go. Once they had started their way down to fetch breakfast she heard him offer a warm-up and nodded " Yeah, guess I'm not myself until I've had at least two maybe three in the morning" She watched as he pored and reheated her cup " thanks" she said smiling at him as she heard the younger ones returning from dressing " so what will we be doing today?" she asked " I saw some trails around the lake maybe we could use some of those?" she suggested " but it is up to you and the kids after all."

Ruby smiled as she ate some fruit salad and the eggs benedict " I think they're both delishious" she said then looked at the ocean as he pointed out a darker blue strip not far from them " I was wondering what that was, but now I will stay away from it" she said, " maybe I'll just swim off the beach."

(did you deliberately send them into dress? I left them sitting at the campfire just starting to drink their tea, so i'm confused.)

"Well," Marcus said, "there are a lot of options. We still have access to the park if anyone wants to hit a few more rides or something. There's a sports center at the park that has an indoor basketball court and a volleyball court. There's always the beach if anyone wants to do that. They also have a waterpark if anyone wants more water rides. And here at the campground, there's a pool, a basketball court, volleyball, cornhole, a life sized chess board--not enchanted, though. And, the trails you saw. So, I don't really have anything structured planned. I figured everyone could sort of go off and do whatever they wanted, so long as they let me know where they're going. I think they're old enough to be on their own, within reason, for a couple hours at a time, so long as they only go where they say they're going and as long as they come back and check in when they say they'll be back. They all already know the trip will end immediately if I can't trust them."

Aria listened to him and nodded as he spoke about the activities they could do for the day. " good reasoning, if they want this trip and time with their dad they have to behave." she said and smiled at him as she sipped her coffee. " oh chess, very tactical." she said watching the younger ones sit down with a cup of tea each.

"The beach sounds good," she said "Besides never seen you in swim trunks, and I want to see what I have been missing out on." She chuckled and looked at the younger ones as they waited for the older ones to return with food for everyone.

Marcus didn't understand what had gotten into his younger kids. They were just settling in with the tea he'd made them and then, when Aria had mentioned them dressing, they'd all just gotten up, gone in to dress and then came back to their tea. That made no sense. When he had taken them camping before, they'd hung out at the campsite in their pajamas until after breakfast. He decided to let it go unless they decided to talk to him about it. Perhaps it was about not knowing Aria very well. He wasn't sure.

Zane and Kai came back with plastic grocery bags with seven breakfasts in styrofoam take out containers.

"Pancakes, sausage, and eggs all 'round. Plastic silverware, pancake syrup, and butter are all in the containers," Zane said as he and Kai handed a container to everyone. "It smelled great down there, and its a good thing we did take out. They were packed. There wasn't a table to be had."

"Well, it worked out well, then," Marcus said. "Thanks, Guys." Zane reached in his pocket to get Marcus's change. He had two five dollar bills and some loose change. "Keep it," Marcus waved it away. "I appreciate your going and getting it. Split it with Kai, would you?"

"Thanks!" Zane said.

"Don't get excited. Five dollars here won't get you a latte," Mracus laughed. "If you go back to the park, I'll give you more to go with that."

"Actually, Zane and I wanted to check out the water park," Kai said. "Looks like they have some really fast water slides."

"Sounds fine to me. Look, I only have a few rules. First--you all take a waterproof watch and you use it. You stay only where I agree you can go, and you check back when I need you to check back. No acting like little heathens in a foreign muggle country. And if you get into trouble, you use the alarm on the watch. It'll allow me to come right to you. Got all that?"

"Fair enough," Zane agreed.

"Did you guys have any thoughts?" Marcus asked the younger kids.

"Well, there are other rides besides coasters we thought we'd like to try," Daria said.

"That's fine," Marcus said. "Aria mentioned the hiking trails. I think they actually go around to the beach and back. Can we compromise? You hike with us, and we'll go back to the park with you guys?"

"You gonna make it a real hike?" Kai asked.

"We can," Marcus said, wanting them to take on a little responsibility. "You guys assemble the lunch pack and the beach pack if we do."

"No sweat," Zane said. "So we'll do the hike and the beach this morning and have lunch at the beach, and then go to the park later."

"That's fine by me," Marcus replied.