June 2nd 1989
June 2, 1989
It’s official. Destin is the best place IN THE WORLD! Today, we went out on a boat from this cute marina across the street. Mr. Wylie—now he’s officially “Uncle Artie”—drove it out in the middle of the water so we could go snorkeling!
The ’rents (that’s what Tessa calls our moms and dads) stayed on the boat (well, Mama took Crista in the water but she got scared by a jellyfish). But we got to put snorkeling stuff on and go underwater and see everything. It was so cool!
Eli is acting so different. Like he’s Mr. Cool cuz he and Peter McCarthy are fifteen—big whoop—and us girls are only twelve. I was so mad that he got to bring a friend and I didn’t but now I have Tessa and Kate, so who cares?
All Eli does is try to show off. He bet Tessa a dollar that she wouldn’t touch a barracuda and SHE DID. Eli got all freaked out and practically lost his snorkel mask but when they came up all she did was laugh because I guess barracudas aren’t dangerous. (Dad says that’s true.) But Eli didn’t know that and he must have thought she was going to die or something. She’s not afraid of anything.
For lunch we found this completely empty beach near the marina and had a picnic and, of course, Tessa went off exploring all by herself and came back with a coconut she got from a tree! Nobody believed her, so when we got home, she climbed a big tree across the street to prove she could climb anything, or so she said. Eli tried and couldn’t get halfway up, which made me and Kate laugh so hard.
Peter didn’t try because he’s not a complete jerk like Eli.
Kate is kind of shy and quiet, but I like her so much. She’s reading The Hobbit, which is like a million pages long. She wants to be a scientist or doctor or a professor like her dad, who teaches college at some school that Dad keeps calling “an Ivy” like that’s really impressive.
Tessa said she wants to work on cruise ships and see the world! I don’t know what I want to be, but I hope it’s here in Destin because it’s a bazillion times better than Atlanta.
I guess I’m a little jealous of Tessa because I never knew a girl my age who was that pretty and made everybody laugh. She even has boobs, too. Eli just acts stupid around her. Peter isn’t like that, though. He’s really sweet and I think someday I want him to be my first kiss. (If Eli reads this I will kill him with my bare hands.)
Goodbye for now from the Summer House, the best place in the world!
Vivien