Birthday Beach Party

Part of our trip to spend my birthday weekend with my parents had included a promise to Luke that we would take him to the beach. With my grandfather likely to pass at any minute, my parents ended up spending all of July 24 in Waycross with him, which is completely understandable and appropriate.

However, I knew that sitting around a medical compound waiting around for his great-grandfather to die was not the best way for Luke to spend his time. So, with my parents' blessing and encouragement, we stayed and took him to the beach while they traveled to be with Pa-Paw. I hated for them to miss it, since Luke loves the beach so much (and they love watching him enjoy it), but it seemed the most logical answer since we were not guaranteed any time to get to the beach after this point, with funerals and family clearly coming up immediately. We needed to let him have a little fun while there was time.

Unfortunately, the tides were not being cooperative. Melanoma Girl here can't go to the beach except in the mornings or in the evenings. Unfortunately, that coincided with low or lay tide on both the 24th and the 25th. Tides wouldn't be decent until the 28th or so, and who knows if we would even still be there or have time to get to the beach. So we went, even knowing conditions were not ideal.

Look at how flat the water is! It was more like a lake; it was still enough that Luke could actually go out and swim in the ocean, something he had never really done before due to the currents.



He still managed to have some fun, but I know he was disappointed at the severe lack of wave action, and it broke my heart.

My grandfather actually did not pass away on my birthday but on the following day. That gave my parents time to come home and present me with an ice cream birthday cake they had picked up on their way back to the house. I was really touched, since I had expected nothing with all of the chaos of the day. The next few days were wrapped up in funeral arrangements and the actual burial, with lots of extended family in town. After everyone else had departed, we ended up with the evening of July 28th unexpectedly free.

And with high tide coming in and not due until 7, we packed a bunch of leftovers in a cooler and headed to the beach for waves and a picnic.

Much better!

Currently feeling: having a beachy birthday

Wordless Wednesday - July 29, 2015

Currently feeling: catching some waves

May 2015 Reflections

From the 2011 Year of Memories Brag Book by Dani Mogstad

Read, Listened, Watched

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I finally started Hound of the Baskervilles, which I don't think I've read since high school. I'm rereading the entire canon (probably reading some of them for the first time, actually), and I didn't want to watch the Sherlock episode based on it until I had reread the novel, so we've been stuck half way through season 2 for months now. Soon, though!


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New Movies:

• The Avengers: Age of Ultron - Very good, enjoyed it a lot, on the whole; did have a few issues here and there, but any film with this much going on is bound to have some
• Invitation to the Dance - Gene Kelly's personal labor of love; 3 segments of dancing only (no narration or singing), think Fantasia of dance (instead of animation); Ring Around the Rosy segment was my favorite (I love intertwining stories), and ironically featured the least Gene Kelly
• Tomorrowland - It's hard to figure out exactly what to say about this movie, other than it did not live up to its potential. One review said it was "less than the sum of its parts," and I tend to agree. It had all the right pieces, and it had its heart in the right place, but it just didn't really work, for reasons I can't fully articulate.
• Red 2 - We saw the original way back when, and found it a bit disappointing. This one seemed to have tighter writing and more fun throughout.
• Godzilla (2014) -  Eh, it was okay. Felt like it was just sort of there, which is the ultimate sin for an action movie, in my opinion. Was also a bit distracting seeing Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen playing husband and wife after just seeing them play brother and sister in Avengers 2.

Old Favorites: Monsters University, Sky High, Dick Tracy, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, X-Men, X2: X-Men United, Gattaca, The LEGO Movie, Edge of Tomorrow, Robin Hood, The Neverending Story, Peter Pan (2003)

Fun with Family and Friends

The beach was fun, as always, until stupid me didn't put sunscreen on the tops of my feet and got burned. Normally, it's not a problem, but we were there at least an hour later than normal, so the sun was more intense. I just feel like an idiot, since I know better!

And it's summer movie season, woohoo! Here was my Avengers-inspired manicure.

Milestones, Holidays, Special Events

We had a lovely Mother's Day with my mom and grandmother on Saturday. Here's our picture of 4 generations.

DH and I have officially been together for 20 years! Hard to believe.

We visited my parents and my mother-in-law over Memorial Day (see beach pictures above). Luke went fishing for the first time; my parents took him to a party at their friends' house while we went on a date, and they have a small fish pond. Apparently, he loved it. I have NO idea where he gets that from (DH and I both *hate* fishing!).

The Everyday and Routine

"The Everyday and Routine" is over for now! School's out, and none too soon. (And he even grew this year!) We are all quite burned out, especially after such an intense April preparing for a new standardized test. Ugh! Looking forward to some relaxing. (Remind me I said all of this in 3-4 weeks when I'm ready to send him back to school! LOL)

The Good, The Bad, The Unusual

He made A and B honor roll, and we weren't sure if he would given that he had a C for two consecutive progress reports.

He was also named as a 5th Grade Patrol for next year, though he won't serve until the second 9 weeks. He has literally wanted to be a patrol since he was in Kindergarten, so he is very excited!

I had my eye exam and I've changed almost a full diopter in my right eye. I'm trying not to be concerned about it, but that is a pretty serious change. I still need to get new glasses, though (it was a busy last 2-3 weeks of the month!). I had a physical with my regular doctor the following week and everything looked good, including my labs (both cholesterol and triglycerides were down!).

In other news, I now own my first pair of open-toed shoes since before Luke was born, not because I didn't like them but because I couldn't find any that fit! I even painted my toes for the first time in many months just for their public debut.

Progress on Goals

I put a couple of strands in one of the dessert mandalas the last day or two of the month, not really enough to post a picture. I didn't stitch any at all on my Mirabilia fairies. For eating at home, um, er, but, but!!! I have made a meal plan to try to get back on track with cooking, but most of that will take place in June, so I'll report on that next month. I have started tracking my food again, but only for a couple of weeks, so not much progress to report yet. I do have a get-together scheduled with my local friends for June as well! Very excited to see them. I think it has been 3 years since I've seen these ladies.

Prompts by Katie the Scrapbook Lady.

Currently feeling: ready to relax this summer

Labor Day 2012 Recap

Pretty much the standard trip. Visited my grandfather. (Photos by Dad.)



Hit the beach. Built sand castles. (Photos by Dad.)



Admired the birds. (Photos by Mom.)



Played in the water. (Photos by Dad.)



Went to dinner at a new-to-me restaurant (can't believe they've lived there for so long and I'd never eaten there) to celebrate Dad's birthday. Admired the sunset on the way home. (Photos by me.)



Sifted through old family photos at the request of some relatives in Arkansas. Can't believe I was handling photographs over 100 years old! One was mailed in this envelope (only a name, city, and state as the address). The stamps dated to 1903, per this link.



We had a few negatives that had been made from the prints. Most had corresponding prints, except this one. So I took a photo of the negative held up to the light, and inverted it. We believe this is my great-great-grandmother.



And I acquired way too much nail polish (and lip gloss). But you don't need pictures of that! LOL Hope you all had an excellent weekend.

Currently feeling: last beach visit for the year