Gifts From The Sea

The waves echo behind me.

Patience - Faith - Openness, is
what the sea has to teach.

Simplicity - Solitude - Intermittency...

But there are other beaches to
explore.

There are more shells to find.

This is only the
beginning.

-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From the Sea

Alas, our time at the beach has come to an end as we pack up and head out tomorrow. (I am writing this on Saturday night)

We are officially sun-soaked and fattened up. Oh my, we've had some great food down here. I think we have had enough shrimp to fill half the ocean.

My 4 year old is officially a big shrimp fan - he wanted it at every single meal - and not fried. Peel and eat.

Except that he can't peel it, so guess who had that fun job.

Oh, here's a funny story with the shrimp and Bubby.

On the second or third night we are at the beach we usually head to the local fish market and get some fresh shrimp for dinner. We do a typical shrimp boil and just stuff ourselves on this yumminess.

So, on with the tradition!

I guess my son is not old enough to really remember that we do this and I suppose we don't really have shrimp boils at home.

So, we load his plate with the shrimp and I tell him, I will peel his in a minute.

He tells me, "it's fine, Mom" and proceeds to eat an entire shrimp with the shell and tail!

No choking (thank goodness) and just swallows the thing whole. Crazy kid.

Hubby says, " Well, I think that is the first time I have ever seen someone eat a shrimp - whole."

Yes. Yes, indeed.

Safe to say, we quickly peeled his shrimp because this kid was obviously not into waiting on us to eat them.

That is just one of the fun stories from this great week together as a family.

I really am not quite ready to go back.

I love being on vacation.

I love the downtime.

I love to eat like I am not gaining a pound.

To have cool fruity mixed drinks on the beach before 5:00. Okay, its 5:00 somewhere, right?

I love the quiet evenings alone with my hubby after the kids go to bed.

Speaking of Hubby - he is working like a madman to finish a puzzle right now. He loves to work on a big puzzle the whole week. This one was especially hard because there was so much sky in the picture and all these very close but slightly different shades of blue.

He will often walk away from the puzzle muttering, " It's all just shades of blue."

About 2 days into the puzzle, while we were having dinner one night, my son knocked the puzzle right off the table. It was like a slow motion part of a movie as we all watched it crumble to the ground. We quickly recovered it and all was fine. Of course I took a photo for you to see. Hubby really was not excited about us memorializing his puzzle on the ground, but at this point he is starting to understand that our life can become blog fodder at any time!

These are the last photos I took yesterday.

It was just before I dropped my fairly new camera in a fake blue water stream to retrieve my daughter's ball at the local miniature golf course. (Oh, she is a ham for the camera, isn't she?)

Yeah, it's a goner. Thank goodness the memory card was okay.

And this, people, is why I do not own a camera that costs more than $100.

Actually, this one did, though! I had to beg hubby to spend $150 on this one and it was seriously marked down right after Christmas. He did not want me to buy this camera and really wanted me to buy a cheaper one that I could throw in my purse. But this one had a cool zoom lens and looked more like a real camera! So, he caved and let me have it. I was relieved that he did not remind me of this yesterday, but he did remind me of my history with electronics.

So, yeah.

I have a history.

This is why I don't own a camera over $150. Or an iphone. Or any electronic that I could drop, lose or break in some way. It is shocking, really, that he lets me have access to this laptop.

I do try to be careful.

Really I do. (I am pleading my case right now, so I can get a new camera.)

The strap on my camera just came undone. Seriously, it slipped right out of the little plastic strap holder thingy and fell right into the water.

Big sigh. I would so love it if Kodak found it in their hearts to send me a new camera. It would be the perfect ending to an otherwise perfect vacation.

Well - more packing to do. Last night to sleep to the waves crashing. But on the bright side - I miss my dog terribly and can't wait to see him tomorrow!