Practically Wordless Wednesday

For months, I have been complaining about the weather. That it's too hot. That the humidity is so high my lungs are clamoring for a paddle. That my yard is sauteing in the heat. That I cannot wait for Fall. That I just want the weather to be seasonal. And this morning when I woke up to temperatures in the twenties. Summertime at the beach was all I could think about.

So...what about you? Are you pining for another season? What is your favorite part of each season?

Theme song: Vangelis - Chariots of Fire

Feeding Frenzy

We have gone to the beach. To the pool. In bathsuits, pajamas, and nekkid. Out to eat seafood. Had ice cream. And walked off our scoops. So...what else can we do to entertain ourselves?

We lay out our offering.

And wait patiently. It's not easy being patient. All the other girls went inside to find more interesting pursuits. But not Shannon. She waited. And waited.

And then they came.

And brought their friends.

And their cousins.

And their brother's girlfriend's aunt twice removed.

And they demanded more and more offerings.

And actually had the nerve to drop an offering of their own on Katie's face. And her back.The girls got wise to this. And learned to duck and cover after they threw out a treat.

And when the offerings were gone...They still sang "mine, mine, mine..."

Is this how it starts?

Dear Michael,

We said goodbye to Michelle and the girls yesterday morning. I think we always need to take friends on vacation. They had such fun together. And it certainly kept down the usual arguing. Whining. Gnashing of teeth. Because the moment the friends left, boredom descended upon us. They just wanted to watch tv. Argue. Whine. And they even had the nerve to complain.

And then. Madalyn had a ureka moment. She said that what would make her happy. Make her life complete. Put a twinkle in her eye would be to jump in the pool in her pajamas. Yes, in her pajamas.

I really didn't think it would be a big deal. And if it would pull her out of the grumpies...why not?

So...down to the pool we went. And in she jumped. Hannah Montana nightgown and all.

She declared it the most fun. Evah.

Katie did not want to be left out of this festivale of "most fun evah," so she jumped, too.

(See how her cannonball is improving?)

And then they did it again.

And together.And then I had to put the camera away. The pajamas were confining. Because apparently your daughters are exhibitionists. Or nudists. Or something. And they loudly declared - to everyone who might innocently be walking by - how free their boobies now felt. (Were you aware that they were shackeled before?) And I just can't repeat what they said about their nether regions. Loudly. Because your girls don't know how to whisper.

I think I was just the vessel. Because my girls wouldn't do such a thing. Or revel in it. Stop laughing.

Wish you were here!

Love,

Wordless Wednesday: Sea Oats

Just another day in paradise

We woke up yesterday to gray skies. And what does one do in paradise when one is precluded from having fun in the sun? Read. Eat. Eat some more. Unfortunatley there is no Javier the cabana boy to fetch us fruity drinks with umbrellas. But I suppose that we can all dream up our own vision of paradise.And mine calls me "freckles."

So...we all decided to be fascinated by the weather. We could see it raining over the ocean.

And pretty quickly it was raining on us. And not just raining on us...but the wind! Most of our floats by the pool flew out of the fenced area. Even our beach umbrella - that was down - was blown over the fence and popped open. The girls kept trying to open doors, but the wind would only let them open a bit before they quickly shut again.

The monsoon passed. And rays of the sun dissolved those clouds. And we were at the beach before noon. Katie brought an inner tube to surf the waves. But a gust of wind left over from our earlier weather took it out of her hands...and sent it out to sea. They still had fun body surfing. Playing in the waves. And soaking up the rays.

(the bermuda triangle)

We even saw dolphins. See just to the right of those guys in the water?Look really hard. Maybe if you squint your eyes. They were very close to shore. And I was most relieved that they were dolphins. And not sharks like Shannon announced to the group. And not like the shark Katie found another year when we were here.

I think I'm getting sun stroke. And having visions.

We head back to the pool and rinse all the sand from our suits. And the girls pile all the floats on top of one another. And proclaim themselves Queens of de Nile.

After determining that we are all getting a bit too pink...showering and dry clothes seems like the next order of the day. And then we feast on the culinary delight of hot dogs. The non-organic variety. And BBQ chips.

When you use a shovel as an ice cream scooper - the ice cream stash quickly disappears. So we head out for ice cream. We go to Aunt Ebby's. Where they only serve Blue Bell. And it's on the second story. And after you climb the stairs...this is your greeting.Ice cream must be negative calories because I have to walk down those stairs again. I knew this was heaven.

After buying the requisite Aunt Ebby's t-shirts...we head over to the Bay side of the island to watch the sun set.

Yup. Just another day in paradise.