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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Summer

Why is it that two unnamed children think it's perfectly acceptable to lounge on the couches in jammies at 9:30 a.m. watching cartoons on TV while I yell constantly at them to clean their rooms, walk the dog, finish their chores...?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Fun, fun, fun

Alicia has an aversion to the word "fun", which she pointedly mentioned to us after I commented how "fun" lunch had been at the restaurant on the beach.

"Why does everything have to be 'fun'?" she asked. The kids and I just looked at each other.

Okay, I understand that life is more than just the sum total of fun experiences. We all need to learn responsibility and discipline. Our relationship with the Lord is far more important than having a good time. But, I still maintain that all of these things can be fun if you just have the right attitude.

When I was younger, fun wasn't as paramount. But now, as an older mom, I really want life to be fun - for me AND my children.

Lunch should be fun, riding in the car should be fun, being together as a family must always be fun. I'm just sorry for Alicia that she doesn't get this.

Panama City Beach and Shell Island

We had an interesting experience Monday. We were in Panama City Beach, Florida visiting my niece, Alicia, who lives there. Her husband, Randy, has a nice boat and he took the day off work Monday to take us out in the Gulf.

We had the boat in the water and were heading out by 10:15. First, Randy took us to see dolphins. A large group of small boats, mostly tours, had collected in the area where the dolphins "hang out" and people were in the water, hoping to snorkel with the dolphins who were surfacing around them. We decided to move away from the crowd and, when we did, a mother and baby dolphin swam right up to our boat and around us several times. They were so close we could have reached out and touched them if the boat hadn't been sitting so high in the water. The mother actually made eye contact with us. Alicia said she thinks the dolphins like being around people, because they always come near the boats. The baby was beautiful and the mother had a white nose. It was a really fun experience.

After playing with the dolphins for a while (Randy got in the water with them, but none of us reacted quickly enough to do it), we moved the boat right off the coast of Shell Island, a small, uninhabited island in the Gulf, and anchored. The water was crystal clear, a pretty aqua, and the children and I quickly donned masks and snorkels and headed towards the beach. We snorkeled for a couple of hours, finding amazing shells and chasing crab. Alicia and Randy walked down the white sand beach. Deanna filled her bucket with spiral shells. Then Randy took Deanna out deeper and showed her a school (I guess that's what you call them, because they do seem to travel in large groups) of sand dollars. Most were alive and there were a lot of babies, but some were dead and white. Those we collected. I was amazed at how many small ones we found, smaller than a penny but perfect in every way.

The number of white, bleached sand dollars we found made me think about the report Dane did on coral reefs that are dying in record amounts due to global warming. The higher water temperatures are causing a chemical reaction to occur which bleaches reefs and kills them. I don't know if we were witnessing the same effect or not, but it sure made me think.

At one point, we noticed that our feet were surrounded by schools of bait fish. They were nibbling on our pale skin. We tried very hard to discourage them, with no success. Then Dane got an idea. He baited his hook with a small piece of shrimp we had brought along, then dangled his fishing pole in the water. He got lots of nibbles, but his hook was too large for the small fish. Eventually, we got out a net and I worked with him, successfully nabbing one small fish. Dane put it in the pocket of his bathing suit, then continued fishing. (Randy made him release it later in the day. Apparently, they were uncertain if the little thing was going to make it, but it finally recovered and took off.)

After fishing and swimming off the beach at Shell Island for several hours, we loaded back up on the boat and went inland. We docked and walked down the docks to a restaurant, Tacky Jack's, and sat by the pool. We ordered lunch and ran back and forth to the pool while waiting for our food. It was quite an experience. When we were all full beyond belief, we walked back down the dock to the boat and headed in.

The day smacked of our vacation in Hawaii last summer - the color of the water, the snorkeling, the lazy do-whatever-you-want pace. It was truly what I consider A VACATION. And it was totally unexpected. We had gone down to Panama City Beach to visit Alicia; the fact that she lives on the beach was a plus, but we would've visited her anywhere she lived. When she told us upon our arrival that Randy had taken the day off so we could go out in the boat on Monday, I didn't particularly care. I've been on boats lots of times, and I thought this was just another boat trip. Then it turned out to be the highlight of our visit!

It's always good being with Alicia. We've been very close since she was born and have always had a special relationship. She's pregnant now with her first child and seeing her swollen belly and talking about pregnancy woes and childbirth brought more joy that I ever imagined. She and Randy have really settled in. They've found a new church where they're both happy and have done an incredible amount of work on the house, the cottage, and the yard. In the cottage, I spotted the coffee mugs that match my old plates, that I gave to Alicia when Don and I married and he refused to eat off rose-colored glass plates. There was a trivet on the kitchen counter that I gave her years ago. In her house, I found several carved wooden trivets hanging on the wall in the kitchen that had once been mine. I feel like my presence in her home is still felt, and I'm a part of her life, even so far away. It was a wonderful feeling.

So, we're home now, a little tired from the drive, but happy. We had a wonderful time, ate our fill of fresh shrimp, Dane got to fish, we boated, swam, played in the sand, and I read a great John Grisham book. We visited by the hour and watched movies. We played board games and relaxed. I even had wine a couple of evenings. We had a true vacation and enjoyed every second.

Monday, July 04, 2011

Ah, vacation!

The boys and I got home yesterday from two weeks at Grandpa Doughty's. It's wonderful to be home; the grass is tall and very green, unlike the burnt version we left behind two weeks ago and the garden is producing wildly. It's time to harvest my basil yet again and I'll get several jars of pickles from the cucs that were ripe yesterday. I brought fresh dill, corn-on-the-cob, and zucchini home from Grandpa's with me, so I have baking (zucchini bread), cooking, and preserving to tackle as soon as I get my breath.

I SLEPT last night, for the first time in 2 weeks. I don't know what happened to me at Grandpa's, but sleep wasn't one of them. I've always slept really well there before, but this time I had to take medicine for itching and was, generally-speaking, miserable for various reasons every night. Being in my own bed was wonderful.

Seeing Don, being able to really TALK to him (phones are a sorry alternative) and spending time with Deanna after being gone a full week from the two of them occupied the rest of my day yesterday. I have my family together again. The boys are thrilled to be home and can't stay out of the backyard. They've played with their friends until they've exhausted me just telling me where they're at.

But the dog and I are a little sad, as well. Donovan misses Sassy (Grandpa's dog) and the freedom to run outside whenever he wishes. Grandpa has a fenced-in yard and a doggie door and Donovan spent lots of time just laying on the deck outside, enjoying the sunny days. He must've smelled every square inch of yard, decking, and fencing at least a hundred times and barked incessantly (sometimes too much) to the two great danes that live behind Grandpa. Sassy has become really playful with him over the years until, now, she instigates playtime with him many times daily. Grandpa says she's never as young-acting as when we're there.

And I feel overwhelmed by the sheet volume of daily upkeep of my house. Grandpa's house is so peaceful and quiet. It really is a vacation for me being there. No phones ringing, no kids running in and out constantly. We sit as a family for lunch and dinner every day. Here, I'm lucky to see the children before dinner. I read a great book while there and almost finished a second novel. I crafted, canned, relaxed, slept, ran errands, and took the kids to do fun stuff. And there are so few daily chores. I did laundry a few times; that was easy. I set the table twice and day; that was easy. I cleared the table, loaded the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen, and unloaded the dishwasher the next day. It was all easy. Places for everything. No hunting and reorganizing to just be able to put things away.

There's so little "stuff" that we take up there that there's almost nothing to need to put away. Neatening up took 5 minutes. Here, I can work for weeks and never find the end.

I guess I should just be thankful we have opportunities like that last two weeks. It was a wonderful reprieve. But, now, it's time to buckle down, unpack, catch up the laundry, sweep the floors, clean off the counters, and get rid of EVERYTHING I CAN along the way.

Another vacation in just over a week to visit my niece. I've gotta get the essentials done here so I can repack. But homecomings like this one convince me all the more that, come Fall and the return to school, I've GOT to downsize.