I arrived in Point O' Woods on Fire Island around the end of June for another summer working as the Rice family's live-in babysitter. Point O' Woods is simply a place that you can't describe. First of all, there are NO cars... you wanna go somewhere? grab a bike. All the houses, with the weathered, grey shingles, are dispersed throughout the trees and dunes with winding bike paths to take you through the community. There are many different communities on Fire Island and each has its own little niche, if you will. Point O' Woods, however, is the only private (gated) one. It has its own ferry boat that brings you over from Bay Shore, Long Island. If you ever spend time there, its easy to see why the community would want to keep it a secret! The best term I can use is like a summer camp for entire families! The kids shuffle out the door bright and early at 8:30 am to go to Sports Camp, where they get to play tennis, do arts and crafts, go sailing, swim in the bay, and explore the nature of the island. While the kids are at camp the parents play tennis at the huge tennis facility-- fully equipped with hottie tennis pros ;)
The kids typically start camp at age 5 but there is a little "playgroup" for the kids who are 3-4 and I got to be the head counselor of that this summer.
Let me tell you- that was SOO fun. I was a little apprehensive at first, because lord knows that kids can be hard to deal with and 20 of them??? but it was hysterical!! They kept the counselors laughing all morning with the stuff that comes out of their mouths.... anti-american sentiment? underwear contests to win the boy? and little girl/girl action? budding relationships? we had it alll! Anyways, every morning I took Cokie with me to Playgroup while Lila went off to Sports and by lunchtime, everyone was back home and ready for an afternoon of BEACH time!
Night around POW is super fun too!
$1 beer- Monday, Karaoke- Tuesday, Gay Bingo- Wednesday, Margarita Madness- Thursday, and Friday and Saturday there inevitably will be a beach-keg party or some community wide event such as the infamous Lobster party. Take your pick. There is certainly never an excuse to be bored. I already knew all this from last summer, but I was even more excited for this year, seeing as I had already made a bunch of friends out there and my friend and roommate Liz was joining me, nannying for another family, this summer!
I spent the next 5 weeks living on this glorious island, playing with Lila and Cokie and taking in tons of sun! After that I went with the Rice's for another week to Martha's Vineyard, which was really cool because I had never been there before. It was really beautiful and we had so much fun!
After Martha's Vineyard, was my time to depart and go back to Atlanta for the remainder of the summer, but it was ok because I had made plans to head to the lake with Suzanne the weekend that after I got back. We had a fabulous long weekend! skiing, jet skiing, rope jumping, tubing ect... I was so happy that I got to spend some time with Suzy (seeing as she had been gone all summer too, working at a ski camp in NC) While I was there I got an email and the Rices' wanted me to come back to the beach so of course- I got on another plane and took my but back to NYC and enjoyed another amazing week in Point O' Woods! The first weekend that I was back in POW, the Rice's had a cocktail party, so we had the idea to recruit Whitney of Nosh and Tell to come help cook. I was really glad that she got to come out and experience POW too, seeing as she as had to hear me talk about it incessantly for like the past two years! We had such a good time and I think I may have even added another accomplice for next summer's fun!
When I came back to Atlanta the next time, my friend Joe came with me to spend a long weekend. He had never been to ATL before and much less experienced the south so we had really a good time! I took him to Athens for one night to see all my friends at UGA and Joe and I both found in refreshing to be in a college town. We also went to the GA aquarium and tubed on the Chattahoochee River (which ended in slight disaster- since there was NO current that day) It was a good visit and I was really glad that Joe got to come!
Now I am just hanging out at home for another week or so while I get ready for my next adventure... and full semester in Paris!! I cannot wait and I have a lot to do before I leave, so I am sure that the time will pass by quickly.
à bientot!
Hill
