Relax and Unwind

I think the beach is probably my favorite place to be. And, when surrounded by great friends, it's just unbeatable! We've made it a sort of bi-annual (sometimes tri-annual!) tradition to rent a beach house for a few days with some friends, and I always come back feeling happy, content, refreshed, and a little tired. :) This trip was especially fun for me because my sister, Michelle, was able to come with us. I'm pleased to announce that I didn't get a hint of sunburn (or, unfortunately, an ounce of color...) - turns out sunscreen really does work!

Well, without further ado, I'll present the picture-log of our fun vacation to the beach:

One potato, two potato, three potato, four......It didn't take long for the kids to stake their claim on the room with the television! Couch potatoes all lined up on the beds watching cartoon after cartoon after cartoon. I found it funny that it was sometimes hard to tear them away from it to go to the beach! Ahhhhh - vacations!



























Once again, I didn't get a family picture at the beach...whoops! But here are some singles (and, by the way, thanks to a friend who recently blogged about how much she loves to take self portraits, I had no shame as I took my own. That happens when you're the only one in your family concerned with getting pictures).










We've learned from experience not to let the kids into the hot-tub unless we wanted to relax in warm, cloudy, yellow pee-water for the last half of our stay. So, the Becks brought a little inflatable pool that Merrill filled with warm, siphoned tub water from their bathroom. It turned out to be a fantastic idea! The kids thought it was great that they had their very own 'kids-hot-tub'.











What's a good beach trip without a little football in the water?! I think the top-left picture is Brian, Aaron and Paul...but I could be wrong about that one. The bottom picture was taken when the guys decided to go for a little late-night game of 500 in the ocean. Natalie was the only smart one to bring her camera...so I stole this picture from her blog...I hope you don't mind, Natalie! Judging from the picture, they were all pretty proud of themselves for braving the waves with only the light of the moon to guide them!

Now, if any of you know me rather well, or if you've been following my blog for a while, you've probably gathered a small bundle of evidence that would suggest that I love the beach. Whether you've read my Hawaii posts, (part one here, and part two here), my emerald isle posts (here, here, and here), or have just simply heard my love expressed through my mouth, it's not hard to figure out that I have a mild obsession with the beach. Given this obsession, it's rather quirky that I'm actually terrified of the ocean. Oh, don't get me wrong - I love to look at it...but getting inside it is quite a different story. I like to play in the waves...but I simply cannot get past the squeamishness I feel when I think of the creatures swimming all around me. Even as a child, I would feel uncomfortably anxious when I'd swim in Lake Powell and catch a whiff of that disgusting fish smell. That same anxiety is only magnified by thousands when I think about sea creatures - especially those that are able to inflict pain or (gulp) death on a human. And so, it took hours of persuasion and courage mustering for me to finally consent to walk out into the ocean with my sister. The water was warm, and it was kind of fun to scream as the waves hit into us...

It was fun, that is, until we both saw a FIN swimming TWO FEET AWAY FROM US! I am as serious as I've ever been in my life - Michelle and I both saw the fin at the same time, screamed and ran back onto the shore (thankfully we were only about thigh deep - so running was still a possibility). We could have TOUCHED it, it was that close. It is still to be debated whether it was a shark or a dolphin...but either way, I was terrified and made no further attempts that day to get into the ocean. Can you even imagine!?

At random times throughout the next two days, I'd finally be ready to try again when sting-rays made their presence known. A fisherman about 30 yards away from us caught one and let it go back into the ocean. THE SAME OCEAN I WAS JUST ABOUT TO GO INTO, might I add...Megan felt one swim between her legs while she was jumping in the water with Harrison...and Michelle stepped on one, slid across it's back, and felt one of it's 'wings' flap up onto her foot.

So, now I will show you these next two pictures...and I want you to praise me, encourage me, and be impressed by the triumphant amount of will I display here:










Was it worth it? Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Maybe just for the sole purpose of bragging on my blog. :)

I loved this picture of Carson and Brynnlee. The kids had so much fun - watching multiple movies a day, gorging on snacks, soaking each other with water, running from the waves...living the kid dream. :) Here are three more of my favorite 'kid' pictures...and, of course, another 19 pictures in the slide show...just in case you haven't seen enough already.