We awoke yesterday morning to the excitement of the girls spotting Easter eggs that were hidden all over the first floor of the beach house. They were really excited to find additional surprises on the dining room table, a floppy eared bunny hat for each of them, an egg collecting bag, and a baby chick that chirped when you put it in your hand. They loved all three, especially little Hannah, who wore her bunny hat all day yesterday, and held her little “palm pal” in her hand (and slept with it too…causing it to chirp intermittently throughout the night last night.
Anyhow, after having breakfast, we all did our separate things. My main objective was to make sure that I came home with some sort of a suntan. From what I can tell this morning, I think I do…but time will tell when I get to work tomorrow morning. Rudy was busy piling up a big mound of sand so that he could make a sandcastle, my mom, Mickey, and I were all laying in the sun, and the girls were down on the beach having a ball in the waves.
Later on in the afternoon, Sarah, my mom, and I decided to talk a walk down the beach. Mom had picked a landmark to which we would walk, and we headed out on our way. I should have been a little leery about this, mainly because I am not so sure what kind of judgment of distance my mom has. I recall our trip in Hong Kong where she insisted that we could walk from Kowloon to Stanley Market, though it was several miles away by road. This house that we were venturing towards was like Stanley Market from where we were staying on the beach. As we kept trying to walk closer and closer to the house, the landmark kept getting farther and farther away. Finally, I think Sarah and I had enough walking, and we decided to head back. Well, we were WAY away from the house. With mom looking for seashells, Sarah making drawings in the sand as we made our way back, and me having to go to the bathroom, it seemed like we would never get back.
After Sarah got some sand in her eye, mom and Sarah thought it would be best that they walk along the road back to the beach house instead of the beach. After all, the winds were quite gusty, whipping up sand all over the place. I, however, continued heading back on the beach. Upon making it back to the house, I was certain that for some odd reason I would see Sarah and my mom back before me. Since they were the ones with the walkie-talkies in communicado with home base (my brother), I was sure that they would ask someone to come pick them up. As I kept stewing about it more and more walking along the beach, I noticed that my walking pace had picked up quite a bit. My brother commented that he saw me walking back and that I looked like I was on a mission. And I was: to get back.
Well, knowing that Sarah didn’t have shoes on, and that I wasn’t so sure there was an easy route back to the house, I thought it best that I grab the keys to the car, and went out to pick up my mom and Sarah. They were extremely grateful for the ride, but we managed to have a good laugh, as Sarah was very concerned about having to walk in areas where it said “no trespassing” or “private property” and was sure that she was going to go to “juvie.”
As Sarah has been keeping a journal as I mentioned before, the first words out of her mouth when she got back to the house was, “I am going to have a LONG story about this….and it AIN’T gonna be pretty!”
We had supper in the evening, and as we were waiting, the girls came running back into the house saying that there were some young girls smashing their dad’s sand castle. Sarah was all about going down to the beach to give them a piece of her mind. She invited the other two girls, and Becca and Hannah were following behind. Once Becca got into the mix, she was hell bent for leather on her way down, and blew past Sarah. As they got down to the end of the boardwalk, Sarah lingered around having stopped, and Becca was determined to give these “mean girls” a little instruction. Of course, she couldn’t do it without her protector, Hannah, there for support (even though she is the littlest of the three). It ended up to be little Hannah that did all of the talking, and the other two just hung back to watch.
Well, of course the girls were all hot and bothered by the time they came back to the house, and really…the sand castle was more of a big pile of sand that had yet to be shaped into a castle. But they were irritated all of the same. My brother and I got talking about it, and started laughing. These little girls were from the South, having said “y’all” to them. Sarah thought they were from Texas and immediately proclaimed that all Texas girls are mean. I proceeded to tell her that we should just give Texas back to Mexico then. Rudy, on the other hand, said that they should have told them from their actions, “We now know why the North won.” The girls didn’t get it. I almost had wine come out my nose.
After the girls were calmed down, we had dinner, and then got ready to watch “Dancing With the Stars” before going to bed.
I had to get up earlier this morning, so that I would be able to get all of my stuff packed up in my duffle bag, so that it wasn’t all over the house, and then all of my electronics in my book bag so that I can take them home with me on my way back to Wisconsin today. This morning is very cold (probably low 40’s), and we actually had to turn on the heat in the house, as the thermostat said 61.
I have had a great time in Florida yet again, and I think for the most part I am mostly unwound. The good thing is that I only have a short week this week, with Friday being shortened by 3 hours due to it being Good Friday.
I am not so sure I am ready to go back to work, as I really have enjoyed the warm weather, the ocean, the sunshine, and Florida. But, alas, I have to pay for my house and make a living somehow.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Florida 2009 #5
It’s really amazing how when it’s a completely overcast, how one still can get an incredible amount of sun. My face and cheeks are incredibly hot, and I think my kneecaps are on fire. But yesterday, it was very sunny all morning, and then became somewhat cloudy in the afternoon. We took a long walk along the beach, and we found several different shells. We also found a crab, still alive and mostly whole, but was missing the smaller of his two claws. Most of what we’ve found over the last week and a half is dead parts of crabs, mostly back shells and claws.
Coming back to the house, after spending an entire day on the beach, we made (or I should say Grandma made) all of the stuff that one would normally make tacos. Before coming to Florida, my mom and I were talking about what we were going to have to eat when everyone was here. One of the items was to have tacos. Because tacos can be somewhat cumbersome, I suggested we have tacos in a bag.
Yes, tacos in a bag. I would have to say that whoever came up with that idea was a sheer genius. I first came across this idea at work when a co-worker sold these as a United Way fundraiser. In essence, it’s taking everything that you would normally put in a taco, and put it into an individual sized bag of Fritos, and then eat it straight out of the bag.
Anyhow, Sarah had the idea that we all needed to have a picnic dinner on the beach. Luckily with having the tacos in a bag, we were able to accomplish this. At first, Becca insisted that she didn’t want to have them, that she needed to have regular tacos, as tacos in a bag were NOT tacos, and that they would not taste as good. After a little bit of convincing (and telling her they were unconventional tacos), she finally gave in and agreed to try them. Well, they were a big success, even for the grown ups. We then had dessert: a choice of lemon or orange cake from a coffee cup.
It was “Ingenuity Supper Sunday,” as these cakes only took about a minute. Yes, you take a 1/3 cup of cake mix, 3 tablespoons of water, and nuked in a microwave for 1 minute. The cake mix can be just about anything that you want, so long as it’s completely mixed with one box of angel food cake mix. Serve it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and voila! You have dessert.
Again, it was a big hit for the girls.
By the time we got done, it was time for the girls to go to bed. After all, it was a really long day for them considering the late night arrival and beach walk the night before, coupled with the fact that they were extremely excited about being able to be out on the beach early in the morning. Before retiring for bed, my brother, sister-in-law, my mom, and I had a before bed cocktail, and then hid Easter Eggs for the girls to find when they get up tomorrow morning.
It should be really fun to see how excited they’ll get!
Coming back to the house, after spending an entire day on the beach, we made (or I should say Grandma made) all of the stuff that one would normally make tacos. Before coming to Florida, my mom and I were talking about what we were going to have to eat when everyone was here. One of the items was to have tacos. Because tacos can be somewhat cumbersome, I suggested we have tacos in a bag.
Yes, tacos in a bag. I would have to say that whoever came up with that idea was a sheer genius. I first came across this idea at work when a co-worker sold these as a United Way fundraiser. In essence, it’s taking everything that you would normally put in a taco, and put it into an individual sized bag of Fritos, and then eat it straight out of the bag.
Anyhow, Sarah had the idea that we all needed to have a picnic dinner on the beach. Luckily with having the tacos in a bag, we were able to accomplish this. At first, Becca insisted that she didn’t want to have them, that she needed to have regular tacos, as tacos in a bag were NOT tacos, and that they would not taste as good. After a little bit of convincing (and telling her they were unconventional tacos), she finally gave in and agreed to try them. Well, they were a big success, even for the grown ups. We then had dessert: a choice of lemon or orange cake from a coffee cup.
It was “Ingenuity Supper Sunday,” as these cakes only took about a minute. Yes, you take a 1/3 cup of cake mix, 3 tablespoons of water, and nuked in a microwave for 1 minute. The cake mix can be just about anything that you want, so long as it’s completely mixed with one box of angel food cake mix. Serve it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and voila! You have dessert.
Again, it was a big hit for the girls.
By the time we got done, it was time for the girls to go to bed. After all, it was a really long day for them considering the late night arrival and beach walk the night before, coupled with the fact that they were extremely excited about being able to be out on the beach early in the morning. Before retiring for bed, my brother, sister-in-law, my mom, and I had a before bed cocktail, and then hid Easter Eggs for the girls to find when they get up tomorrow morning.
It should be really fun to see how excited they’ll get!
Florida 2009 #4
This morning I was up at about 7:15 a.m. I was watching the news on television, when all of a sudden, I was pleasantly surprised by being awoken by my niece Sarah. Of course it was time to go to the beach. So Sarah, Becca, Hannah, Grandma, and I all got ready. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t wake up my brother and sister-in-law, as they had had a long day of traveling yesterday.
We walked along the beach quite a ways. We did a lot of searching around for shells, and had a nice time enjoying walking along the shore. We were passed by a couple of overly ambitious runners, who looked extremely uncomfortable running along the beach. Perhaps it was that they felt like they were cast members of “Baywatch”. I mean, on television, it looks so easy to run along the beach. From the looks of their strained running, it looked more like death watch. No matter how much they tried to look like they were enjoying themselves, their pained faces, strained expressions, and overheated reddish-tinted skin said otherwise.
Anyhow, we were greeted once again by Buddy the Labrador Retriever puppy (the one I mentioned yesterday who had the affinity for taking his master for a walk instead of the other way around). After greeting us, his master called him back. Immediately, Buddy turned on his heel, and went back to his master. Sarah immediately said, “Dory would never do that. I don’t think we could teach her to do that.” It just struck me funny, as I know for certain that my two hounds upon seeing the beach and especially the ultra-light plane that flew overhead, would be at St. George Island in about 4 seconds flat.
I had some awesome quality time with my niece, Hannah, who has quite an imagination, and was building houses in the sand with chimneys that were about 30 feet tall. She then started telling me (by drawing) how Santa Claus was stuck in this chimney (and at thirty feet with his girth, I’m not surprised), and that Mrs. Claus had to push him out. It was adorable.
I wish I still had that kind of imagination!
We walked along the beach quite a ways. We did a lot of searching around for shells, and had a nice time enjoying walking along the shore. We were passed by a couple of overly ambitious runners, who looked extremely uncomfortable running along the beach. Perhaps it was that they felt like they were cast members of “Baywatch”. I mean, on television, it looks so easy to run along the beach. From the looks of their strained running, it looked more like death watch. No matter how much they tried to look like they were enjoying themselves, their pained faces, strained expressions, and overheated reddish-tinted skin said otherwise.
Anyhow, we were greeted once again by Buddy the Labrador Retriever puppy (the one I mentioned yesterday who had the affinity for taking his master for a walk instead of the other way around). After greeting us, his master called him back. Immediately, Buddy turned on his heel, and went back to his master. Sarah immediately said, “Dory would never do that. I don’t think we could teach her to do that.” It just struck me funny, as I know for certain that my two hounds upon seeing the beach and especially the ultra-light plane that flew overhead, would be at St. George Island in about 4 seconds flat.
I had some awesome quality time with my niece, Hannah, who has quite an imagination, and was building houses in the sand with chimneys that were about 30 feet tall. She then started telling me (by drawing) how Santa Claus was stuck in this chimney (and at thirty feet with his girth, I’m not surprised), and that Mrs. Claus had to push him out. It was adorable.
I wish I still had that kind of imagination!
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