The Beach Vacation!

It's been a wonderful vacation simply because we are all so excited to just "do our own thing." Strangely enough, most of "our own thing" is shared. It's been fun. Desperate weather coming in. It was torrential downpours for six solid hours. The insane stop and go of a toll road system did not grace the highways, but disgraced it. We must have stopped eight times, and the toll was $1.00!

The condo is really nice. There is plenty of space and there's a deck with a view of the ocean. The first day it rained a lot. Miss Molly was very disappointed, but today it was rainy but with long periods of sunshine. It's cool enough that Miss Judy continues to wear a sweater.

Terry and Anne and I went to the book store today, and no, they didn't have my book, but Anne got a book on the Balkans, and I got two wonderful cookbooks with a lot of neat things for the kids.

Molly and Anne and I went souvenir shopping and got fun stuff.

Lots of pelicans. Yesterday I was privy to a lot of bird life. We had pigeons, egrets, two species of sea gull, several fine pelicans, a red headed vulture, and sand pipers all in one beach. The bird drama was delicious. One sea gull named Oscar was overseeing the romance of two pigeons named Tutor and Beck. Beck was then immediately courted by another fine bird named Tortellini. I watched as Hope, a lovely pigeon came very near hoping for food, but alas, I didn't have anything for her. Then the fight broke out among Oscar and his friends or enemies. Sea gulls can be vicious attacking one another, but be assured I put them all in time out!

This morning a dead sea turtle lay on the beach. She was obviously very very old. She went back to the sea.

We have also had a lot of jelly fish. I had to reassure my family that they are harmless.

As for the human life, the boys are having a lot of fun in the pool and in the surf. Robbie has been re-christened "the screamer" an has finally made friends with the waves that seem to have this overwhelming desire to knock him over.

Bill has taken to the ocean like an old sea horse. He is in love with everything out there. He loves the water, the sand, the animals, and is charmed by everything he sees.

Jack is more quiet, but he has the most adventurist spirit on this trip. He has boogied, swum, wave dived, and just about every ocean play you can think of.

It's a joy to be here with my boys. Robbie continues to fall asleep in my arms, and the boys are delighted by grandma's snacks and games, and that warms my heart. We will celebrate Robbie's birthday tomorrow.

It's still the wrong bed, the wrong bathroom, the wrong towels, etc., but it's been a lot of fun.

Terry and I are thinking about driving up to Savannah on Friday when the boys go to Disney. I'm not a park person. So we will probably drive up to the Shrine at St. Augustine and then on to Savannah for the day and then go home.