Back to the beach

With the first full day at the beach comes setting up tents, slathering tons of suntan lotion and parking the buttocks for fun, sun, surf and people watching. I'm very happy to report no thongs this year, but we did have a very dramatic water rescue to spectate. OK, it wasn't really dramatic, but it did involve 3 different sets of rescuers trying to help peeps who got knocked off their kayak in deep water. I'm happy to report the story had a good ending with all making it safely to shore. And all our kayakers did a good job of going out and coming back with almost no mishaps. But more about that later. But as I stated each day while there, personally I'm always looking for "pool like conditions" in the gulf, cause I hate getting the crap kicked out of me by heavy waves. Because a crap kicking wave reminds you who's in charge....just in case you forget. Many times during the week as I was almost out of the water a wave would sneak up behind me and kick me in the rear as if to say, "TAKE THAT!!" It annoyed me every single time. Especially in my weakened condition due to surgery. OK, that phrase may have been overused a bit during the beach vacay as well as maybe yesterday. Anyway, a group of 30 people on the beach can make for quite a crowd and chair stealing.

Settling in for the day.


Austin and Jared got Billie to the beach in her big wheels. She was very pleased.


Billie's personal assistant must be looking for something.


Can't live without those Maxine glasses. She's transformed every time she puts them on.


Those are baseball glasses doubling as beach sunnies.


Loving the hat on the Magster.


Emma looks cute in her dinner plate sized glasses.


Looking good in that orange hat Carlie T.


But Willie D wins the prize for the cutest hat and sunglass wearer.


I mean really.


Hanging with the Grampers.


Until he got tuckered out and had to enter his little tent for a nap.


Safe and secure from sun and sand, even though a huge crab got his tummy.


Alls I got to say here is OLE!


Joe never had a drop of gulf water on him.


Girlies chillin by the seaside.


Connie loved the beach. Jim? Not so much.


Just some of our peeps. And you can't tell here, but the sky was growing dark over there.


See? The wind picked up and our tents got busy in a hurry flapping and going and blowing. But doesn't the water look fantastic here?


But the storm did pass and we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.


We already know Carlie's committed to making the weird face. At least here she's trying to make William smile. I know I'd be laughing at that. BOO YA!


She seems to have discovered something puzzling.


Awww cute of dad and daughter. However, no one ever successfully stole that hideous shirt from him. His name must be Jethro or Bubba. Gots to be.


Then Austino took a turn to entertain. Looks like he hit paydirt with the Willie boy.


Cute pic. But Emma those glasses could serve a 10 course meal! They're huge!


Aww cute of mom and daughter.


Walkers walking. Maybe the first recorded photo of Mollie unaware of a camera focused on her. It's as rare an occurrence as a bald eagle in my back yard.....I don't know. This is hard people!


Aww dad and daughters by the seaside.


Sissies.


Grumpy old men.


Someone's missing.


And as the sun set on our first day, we had yummy enchiladas for supper.


And Bill gave a two big thumbs up for the successful baby bjorn sacking up of the wee babe.


But there was more to come later that night. What happened when John went fishing? Since I already screwed up the suspense by posting a pic of his catch, there will be no big reveal. But y'all come back anyway.

Night nappys.

Putting off beach posts

Well the uploading process is ongoing and taking lots of time to complete. It's so difficult to pick the right pictures so as not to post 7oo photos! I'm only through beach day one.....and I'm not even kidding.

Last night the family was almost torn apart by a supper of pork chops, new potatoes and broccoli casserole. It was a HUGE controversy. Caitlin stated at the dinner table, "It's just weird knowing I'm eating a big slab of pig." Well yes, when you put it that way. I think I'll avoid all slabs of pig in the future.

Owen and I went to see his guidance counselor today and mapped out his last two years of high school. I CANNOT believe he's halfway through high school! It's unbelievable how fast life is going by. I've got to figure out how to make time slow down as soon as possible. If I come up with a formula, I'll let people know.

This afternoon we got an email from Lindsey with an update about William regarding his first cold, poor baby, and Emma said, "Every time Lindsey sends an email about William I expect a picture with it. I don't want just words." And I agree.

This week's Olympics holds much less interest for me since swimming's over. Track and field just isn't where it's at for me. I shall miss the games with rings when it's over.

Thanks to Lindsey, Emma got a 4 day babysitting job at the beach, so she'll be leaving on Thursday to take care of cute kids. BUT, she's never officially met these people. So when I asked Olivia if she wished she was doing it she said, "That's my worst nightmare." Meaning, traveling with strangers.....even if they are headed to the beach.

As I'm writing this, Owen and I are watching Dance Moms and although he thinks everyone on the show is nutso (and they are) if I start watching it while he's in the room, he becomes entranced in the craziness. It amuses me greatly.

And finally for the day, does anyone remember this awesome picture I drew a few months back? Let's just admire it again, shall we?

Well, a scandalous thing occurred while we were in Florida. When I found this in a gift shop. Coincidence?

I think not! Somehow, someone broke into my drawsome, looked through all my awesome drawsomes and stole my fantastic mermaid drawing! Thievery at its worst! I'm really quite upset. I'll eat my hat if it doesn't look just like mine. It has the EXACT same junk in the trunk as mine. I'd sue someone if I knew who to go after. I'm really very very upset.

And with that disturbing news, I'll end this post having successfully wasted time writing this and not working on Flo Rida pictures.

But for an added drawsome bonus, I've included my fantabulific Adele drawing.

I even amaze myself.

Maybe later today there will be another beach post.

But for now, I'm out sleepy sleepersons.

Some fishy photos

Each afternoon we were at the beach, a school of ladyfish swam past jumping as they went. So I decided to try to catch some of the jumpers. Those fish get a lot of air, but they are quick little buggers! So what had happened was, I got lots of water pics. In all I took 31 photos with only 7 having actual fish in the actual photos. But I like the waves in some so it wasn't a total epic fail. Have a look.

Love the waves. There are a couple of fish too.


Just waves....but there are fish under there!


A little better.


Ehh, it's OK.


LOVE this one. The side torpedo jumper going back in with the splash off to the side. I consider this success.


And two with tail swishes to the side adding a little flair. Like this too.


But fish don't pose.


But they seem to enjoy a ride on a wave.


For a first effort, I was happy with what I got. But I don't think National Geographic will be calling any time soon.

But I'm really OK with that.

The end of a fish tale.

Beach arrival

When the mad dash to the beach trip was over and we arrived at our houses, the first things to do was unload cars, assign rooms and then make a beeline to the beach. Feet met sand between 3 and 4, and then the only thing to do was soak in as much of the rest of the day as possible. It's a good feeling knowing you are as far from leaving as you can be on that first day. And this year we had 8 new people joining us for the first time. Here's hoping we didn't scare them off. Let's see if anyone was happy to be there.

Carlie continued her streak of goofy faces for the camera.


Emma and Olivia decided to go boogie.


This was a dry run for the first full day on the beach.


Randy looks beach ready doesn't he?


Taking all the sights and sounds in.


The book club meeting.


Caitlin B will love this when she sees it.


Looking good J Dub.


Mom and Wills came for a little bitty.


And he was tickled to be there.


Peeps hanging by the sea.


The Willster with the Dalester. William almost looks like he's flashing the peace sign, must be an optical illusion since I don't think he's very political.


Me trying to get a smile out of Mr. stone face.


ALL the Williams....including Bill. In case Lindsey forgot her husband was also a William.


Getting a sugar from the Gee.


Sewing circle....I don't think any of these people can sew. Which means I should be welcomed in this group!


Some of the boys.


Mary joined us on the beach.


Sunset time is coming.


But Willie D wasn't the least bit interested.


He was just taking it all in.


Then he blew an Olympic worthy bubble. Well done William!


But he wasn't impressed with himself because he felt he could do better.


Whitney and the wee babe.


Checking out the surf to see if he was gonna go get his board and do some waves. He decided to wait til next year.


It was Mom's idea to make him wait. He was a little bummed.


But by that time, John had trudged back to the house to get his fishing stuff. And I do mean trudged. It was a trudge all week for me. Trudging is a very weird word when used this many times.


Maggie and Olivia were anxiously awaiting a caught fish.


As were Carrie and I.


He caught a ladyfish for bait. It's a brutal process, one fish giving its life so someone can catch a bigger fish. I'm not a tree hugger, although I love trees, but I don't want to see a fish give its life in vain. But it makes other people, namely John, happy.


This is staged and fake.


And then as the setting sun prevented more picture taking, John settled in for an attempt to catch a shark in the night. This night he was unsuccessful. But stay tuned to see if he prevailed.


Then peeps headed to the house to shower, relax and hang with the Gmaw.


For some crossword puzzle time.


It was a good first day and by the end of it, all 30 of us had arrived safely with Liz and Ila flying in as the last arrivers.

So now for the numbered car and whose was what. Keep up people.

Car number 1: Swanders because they left Friday night to get a head start with William. We were told he made it a VERY loud and interesting ride.

Car number 2: Herrocks because we said we were leaving second.

Car number 3: Walkers because they said they were leaving third, but they actually left second but we didn't stop, erase and renumber.

Car number 4: Turners because they had Billie and felt she might slow them down. No offense Billie.

Car number 5: West Texas Walkers, who aren't west Texas people anymore, but are easily identifiable as west Texas Walkers. West Texas Walkers include Gallaways in this car. It takes too much time to say west Texas Walkers and Gallaways, so I shortened it on our travel day so I could tell my peeps who I was talking about. This explanation has now moved on from not only confusing, but also ridiculous.

Car number 6: Fords and Carrie. They were number 6 for obvious reasons that I won't go into here. But Carrie would attest to the numbering of this car to be correct.

Lauren and Austin, coming from Lafayette, weren't included in the numbering. Sorry guys.

So here's the order of arrival.....exactly as the cars were numbered.

Suspenseful and riveting wasn't it?

Next up, a fish tale.

You'll see.

But first, high 5 for USA swimming and Olympic Gold!

Woo hoo!

Some Olympic observations....and some other stuff

Let me just say the Olympics are wearing me out! I can't take the agony of defeat for my peeps! I want golden tickets for all American people. Jordan Weiber? UGH. But it's almost halfway over. What are we gonna do when it is? Ugh already. Some commentators are awesome, Rowdy Gaines...others, I could punch in the face.

All of my girls are Olympic nerds and bought USA clothes to wear for the next 2 weeks. Emma's wearing of this the other night didn't keep the USA swimmers from getting beat by the Frenchies. GADZOOKS!!

Swimmer's bodies are A mazing. It's like unbelievable. If an Olympic swimmer knocked on my door, the first thing I'd say would be, "I'm gonna need you to take that shirt off." Moving on.

The other day Caitlin and I were watching 2 girls from the USA who'd won silver metals in synchronized diving. As the interview was ending the commentator said to them, "You went out with a splash." And one of the girls said, "But not a big one." Get it? Very little splash? Brilliant subtle joke.

The uploading process of vacation pictures has begun, and therefore I'm in a bad mood. OK, that's not really true. BUT I hate the uploading of it all. Choosing the pictures and editing the pictures and uploading the pictures. Only to have to delete some pictures because I picked too many pictures...it's a process.

It makes perfect economic sense to go to the store and take so long that it's too late to make supper and you go out to eat instead of cooking from your newly stocked pantry. This may or may not have happened here today.

Word to the wise: don't poke Olivia in the side while sitting next to her, due to the fact that her reflex could take a person out. This may or may not have happened to me last night.

Schools' coming like a freight train and there's nothing to do but let it run us over. We will be talking about Christmas presents VERY soon.

The other day Addy was in a mood, so I photo documented it. First, roughhousing with the O.


Then trying to be all prissy.


Finally stealing flip flops. She's quite the character.


Gots to go to beddie bye.