An Update (Long)

Things have been very busy around my house. Work was busy, and then we were getting ready to go the beach, and then we went to the beach, and now we’re recovering from going to the beach. LOL

We drove down to see my grandmother last week, and it was interesting. We got there on Wednesday, and just walking into the house, you realize that there is an animal that isn’t potty trained. It’s gross. Her stupid little dog has probably never been house trained, so her carpet is atrocious. I tried to keep the girls from playing on the carpet and tried to convince them that blocks worked better on the tile (my grandmother has a woman come in and clean her house, so I know the floor probably gets mopped). It’s hard to do things with family (especially my family) because everything is “play it by ear.” That phrase annoys me to no end now. When we were eating dinner, I was asking my parents if they were going to the beach with us on Thursday, and kept getting, “Well see what we can do. We’ll have to play it by ear.” Apparently, this was no vacation for them since my grandmother had “chores” for them like mulching and doing some sod work and stuff. Hubby and I opted out of that since, well, this is our vacation, and she has a yard guy. Pay him a little extra to do that stuff.

So, Thursday, we went to the beach. It was a fabulous day to go. It was warm, but not too hot, it wasn’t windy. It was just perfect. We got there, and got our stuff out of the car and put it on a picnic table. Then we took a few things down to the water with us. Hubby was doing some surf fishing, and Miss Priss was actually in the water (I was shocked), and Baby Boo was collecting shells (she was very good at it). Hubby decided to walk down the way to a jetty. Within about 15 minutes (enough time for me to put a lot of the stuff from the picnic table back into the car since we didn’t necessarily need it), I got a call asking me if I would be willing to load everything up and move down the beach. Okay. So, since Baby Boo was getting ancy and upset, I gave her some crackers to munch on while I finished packing things up. I was trying to get Miss Priss to come out of the water without having a fit, get things packed up, and then I turn around when Baby Boo started screaming. She had dropped the crackers, and the seagulls (who think that anything on the beach is theirs to eat) had swarmed around the poor little girl. I grabbed her up. She was really freaking out, and Miss Priss was having a fit, and I was trying to calm them both down while still trying to gather our stuff up before the birds crapped all over it. It was not fun. We eventually made it down the beach closer to Hubby. After playing for a while, he decided to drive to the local town to see if they had any deep sea fishing boats going out the next morning. The girls fell asleep on the drive. After securing a spot on a boat, we went to a nearby pier where he could fish, and I could sit in the car with the sleepy girls and read my book. After that, we headed home. That night, my uncle and his family came over for a while, and it was great to talk to them. My uncle, as usual, pissed my grandmother off. He’s a perpetual teenager sometimes when it comes to his mother.

On Friday morning, Hubby left early because he had to be to the boat for the “safety briefing” by 7:30. It was very windy, so it was a rough ride out. Fortunately for him, Hubby doesn’t get seasick. Or at least not when he takes something for it. He always takes something, so I don’t know how he’d do without. In the end, he caught a lot of fish (and had to throw some back since they weren’t in season until this week), and he almost caught a shark. It bit through his line while he was bringing it in. He could see it. He was very disappointed.

While he was out having fun, the girls and I stayed at my grandmother’s house, trying carefully to avoid any stains on the carpet (not an easy task). When Baby Boo was down for her nap, Mom took me to buy some shorts and shirts. When we got back, Dad and I took the girls to a playground so that they could run off some energy. They were all over the place, and this was a huge playground, so there were several places to disappear. I’m glad I wasn’t there by myself with them. I also checked Hubby and I into our hotel for the evening. When he got back, he showered, and we left the girls with my parents and had a night out for ourselves.

On Saturday, when we got back, my parents wanted to go the beach. So, we went. And it was windy and cold. So, we stayed less than 30 minutes. Then we went souvenir shopping for a while. My cousin Tara had driven in to see us, and it was wonderful to see her.

We left on Sunday morning and made great time coming home. And back to work on Monday. Now my next vacation isn’t until July. But that’s a nice long vacation. And that’s with Hubby’s family, and they’re more sane than mine.