Girls at the Beach...day 7

last day, last hoorah

last day of being beach bums

our last meal out

(I was NOT leaving without eating a shrimp poboy)

one last stop at a tacky souvenir shop

......

Girls at the Beach...day 6

tick-tock, our time here is almost over. so sad but we have had such a great week. we were bums all day--lots of lounging on the deck, digging our toes in the sand, and walks along the water. there is something so relaxing about the combination of sun, sand, and surf. it magically turns me into a beach bum and find that I could spend a whole summer here (no need to talk about reality right now).

extra fun today: top toss (pic above), road trip for ice cream, kite flying, napping on the deck

not fun today: Carly getting stung by jellyfish.

Girls at the beach...day 5

There was shopping.

......

Well, actually there was more snowcone eating than shopping.

......

......

There was LuLu's and

some yummy smoked tuna dip and shrimp salad over fried green tomatoes.

oh, and of course fabulous key lime pie :)

Girls at the beach...day 4

Carly has made friends with a little girl in the beach house next door. She is delighted to have a buddy to play with. All us grown-ups can be a little bit of a drag. They have spent hours in the ocean on boogie-boards and swimming. Tonight we have one tired little girl.

......

Girls at the Beach...day 3

.....

We ventured into "town" today to eat lunch at one of our favorite dives -

some of the best shrimp you can ever eat!

(plus the best waitress. really, she was great)

.....

Food is a VERY big part of our vacation. We eat out a couple of times at some of our favorite places, but most meals are eaten at the beach house. We love to fill the refrigerator with our favorites and everyone does their own thing at meal times.

.....

what fills the refrigerator:

chicken salad

pimento cheese

spiral-cut ham

salsa

watermelon

strawberries

cantaloupe

green salad fixings

broccoli cornbread

diet coke

ice tea

......

what would you put in your beach refrigerator?

Girls at the Beach...day 2

my 5 things to do today:

read my book

take a walk on the beach

play with Carly in the sand

play a board game

watch the sun set

take some pictures

......

Girls at the Beach...day 1

{truck #1}

.....

{truck #2}

.....

{before}

.....

{supervising}

......

{after}

we love where we live - our house, our cove, our neighborhood. the only negative is that Interstate 55 is in our backyard.

so we started stage #1 of reclaiming our backyard and making it usable for our family. wednesday, we got 5 dump trucks full of dirt (including the one that they stuck in my backyard) and some dozer work. yesterday, the landscape team showed up and planted 24 trees.

there is a little more work for this summer and stage #2 and stage #3 for the following summers. it is hard to have patience, but we are really excited that we got it started!

wordless wednesday

take me out to the ballgame

The season has come to an end and

we had another good year of coach-pitch baseball.

..... .....

Carly had the chance to play 1st base, short stop and even some outfield.

.....

Daddy got the chance to pass along some of his knowledge.

......

Carly had lots of good hits. She got a lot better watching the ball and making good contact.

.....

Yesterday, in her last game,

she got a single, triple and a grand slam homerun!

.....

After the game, her coaches took them to Sonic for ice cream. They got their trophies and really cute baseball banks with a dollar coin inside.

36 questions

Our drive each morning from home to school takes 30 minutes from loading up to dropping off. Last week, I discouraged Carly from listening to her iPod going to and from school (ok, I just said "no more"). It seemed like a good motherly decision given all the expert opinions are that driving-time is the perfect-time for "talking" with your child. I guess because they are confined and would have some trouble escaping.

.....

Tuesday morning Carly asked

at least 36 questions on our way to school.

......

They started with:

How much is a ton?

How much does your car weigh?

(we called Daddy to look it up on the computer)

How do they know?

How do they weigh it?

What kind of scale?

.....

moving on to:

Why do people drive over there?

Why don't they wait?

Why are they in a hurry?

Why didn't they leave earlier?

......

then to:

Is it going to rain today?

What about tomorrow?

Will we have tennis?

What about Thursday?

Will we have our baseball game?

.....

oh, and:

Is there a wrestler dog?

(I have no idea how to answer this one)

Do you know what dog it is?

Oh, is it a boxer?

(oh, I get it wrestler/boxer)

What does it look like?

Do you know anyone who has one?

......

.....

....maybe I was a little hasty about the ipod

5 for Friday

• beautiful early morning walk - me, my ipod and the sunrising

• manicure & pedicure - relaxing visit with my friend Susan and leaving with pretty, beach-ready nails

• end-of-school party - exciting day with friends

• end-of-the-season tennis party - fun afternoon to spend outside at the tennis courts

• show night at gymnastics - glowing in the spotlight

wordless wednesday

a year of mom & daughter in pics

here's to all of life's little moments.....

.....

shortstop

{charging the ball}

.....

{scooping it up}

{throwing it to 2nd baseman}

{OUT!}

field day

field day started outside at the track.....

..... {hugs for a teammate} {fraternizing with the enemy}

.....

field day was moved into the gym (can you say Advil?).....

.....

{hippity hop relay race -

Carly took them from third to first -

they ended up winning 2nd}

{Carly with her ribbon}

Carly's tug-a-war team won a couple of rounds but ended up in third place. There was a little disappointment because even though other events had third, fourth, and even fifth place ribbons, they did not give out third place ribbons for tug-a-war. what? was that a way to save a couple of cents? All you ask for is consistency.

reading campout

Just imagine being given the chance to stay

in your pajamas all day and read -

not just given the chance but told that is what you are to do today and to be encouraged by everyone to have fun and enjoy yourself.

{all cozy with pillow and pajamas}

{staking out camp out spots - look at all that pink}

{fun day with friends}

{list of things to bring today:

blanket/sleeping bag, pillow, stuffed animal,

flashlight, bag of snacks, and

lots and lots of books}

wordless wednesday

march and april reads

Italy travel got in the way of a book post last month,

so here is 2 months worth of reading....

• Back Spin by Harlan Coben

This is the next in the Myron Bolitar series. I took it with me to Italy mostly to read on the airplane. Light, amusing, fun reading. The back of the book described it as a novel that "crackles with wit and suspense". Okay even that is funny.

• Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansan

Suspenseful and full of twists and turns but a little too much super-natural for my taste. It was about decedents of a medieval family which have "powers" and the bad guy who wants to rid the world of the "freaks" because they "made" his son go mad with their powers. See it even sounds like X-files.

• Tiger Lillie by Lisa Samson

This was a good story with a good mixture of humor, emotion, and a little romance. The story was about 2 sisters, one "Tiger Lillie", whose father is a minister, so there is a hefty dose of religion thrown in. I noticed that another title by this author is "The Church Ladies". Getting a pattern here? Only a couple of months ago, did I start venturing outside my reading "box" so Lisa Samson might be a WELL -known author that I am just discovering. I might try another one by her.

• Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz

I found this novel gripping. I zoomed through it, not able to put it down. I just wanted to know what was going to happen and what had happened because the whole book was centered around mysteries from the past. The book was written with continuously changing narration between the 3 main characters as well as using flashbacks. I really liked it.

• Sweet Potato Queen's Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit by Jill Conner Brown

Laughed OUT-LOUD. It was hilarious. Yes, sometimes over the top and sometimes crass but FUNNY!

• The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Huge hype, lots of awards, bestseller lists - so when I saw it at my used book store, I picked it up. I didn't love it so much. It was okay and I finished it. But nothing to write home about. Like I tell my daughter, that is why there are so many choices because everyone doesn't like the same things.

• Dark Side of the Moon by John Sanford

Vintage Sanford, written much like the prey series but the main character is now Virgil (previously a detective working with Lucas Davenport, the main character in the prey series). Virgil is a cool character that gets a lot "you don't look like a cop". Engaging read with suspense and twists.

guess how many times

we will be stopping by here at this new, very cool playground?

I know today will not be the last time.

.....

{as usual, no fear}

.....

{baseball cleats are not the footwear of choice for climbing}

.....

{"hey mom", "come here", "watch",

"did you see me?", "I bet I can climb this",

"look at me", "mom, this is so cool",

"are you watching?", "see what I can do?",

"it's time already?", "can we come back?",

"one more time"}