Back to the old grind

Well we're back from vacationing at the beach. We've managed to unpack, get a start on laundry, begin mowing the lawn and went out for berry picking & grocery shopping today.

I've gotten some of my pictures downloaded and have lots of work to do on those. There has been a considerable delay which can be fully blamed on my dear sister in law Karen! She gave me the longest book I've ever seen in the smallest font used in the publishing world I believe. Anyone familiar with Diana Gabaldon??? Holy addictive! I've done hardly anything else in my free time the last few days! Last night I stayed up til midnight and had to tear myself away from the pages, only to toss and turn as I pondered the plight of the characters. Finally around 3AM I turned to Gravol for some much needed drowsiness and stayed in bed til 10! (thank you Murray for getting up with the kids!)

I'd seen this author before & had a bad feeling& avoided her til now but since KAREN recommended it, I thought it was worth a try and although I was riveted the whole way through, I don't know if I can stand another one. I'll have to wait until I'm a lady of leisure and can afford to bury my nose in a book for 2 days straight without having other obligations. Any guesses on WHEN that will be??????? LOL It was a pretty intense read and I'm dying to know what happens next but I think I'll look for a Cliff's notes version! : ))) (or maybe Karen's notes...)

Our vacation went pretty well and all too fast! We've been going to the same 2 cottages since we were kids & Murray's parents rented the one next door to where my family was staying. (this is where we met when we were 12 or 13 yrs old). Every summer we look forward to "The Cottage" and so far we've had incredibly good luck with weather. I can't remember a miserable rainy week although we've occasionally had an overcast day or a shower or two.

This time, it wasn't warm and sunny every day, of all the nerve!! It was overcast, cloudy & windy more than it wasn't. We had 2 really nice sunny warm days and that was about it. We stil went down to the beach every day but the girls usually only lasted half an hour or so before the cool breeze put an end to sandy fun. Once they got wet, that was it & the shivers would set in and we'd have to go up. I did get in swimming a couple times though, played tennis twice (lost badly to a different opponent each time!) and ate verra well the whole time we were there. So all in all it was still a good vacation! The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves, but there were a couple days where I didn't know if I could stand one more bit of whining or defiance!!! I couldn't believe how rotten they were and then it seemed to improve and the rest of the week was more tolerable. Our last day brought the nicest weather & we decided to stay the full day and enjoy it. We took the kids out for some touristy stuff in the morning and went down to the beach for a good part of the afternoon. We flew the kite, buried Uncle Paul's legs and Lovey & Sweetie threw themselves in the water repeatedly and had a great time. Honey never got past her ankles I don't think. She needs to work up to things like "swimming" and since it was too cold to go in the water most days, she never got much of a chance. Maybe next year!

Murray's busy making his strawberry jam (I helped wash & cut up half his berries though) and I'm going to try and get some sleep!

Beach Bums

Got to have a little photo shoot with A&M while they were here & got some nice shots! and learned how to make a fancy matted frame around the picture. Pretty swanky huh?
Here's the birthday boy, enjoying a beverage! Happy Birthday Rick!

Quality control pronounced this one realllllllllly red & juicy!

Half of our haul, mmmmmm

We're on vacation! A week at the beach, our usual spot on the bluff and we loooooooooooooove it here! The girls are enjoying themselves most of the time.

I'm not sure if it's just my imagination or that I'm worrying what everyone around is going to think, but they seem to be misbehaving WAY more than they do at home! Lovey is acting up left right & centre as far as I can tell. She deliberately pushed Sweetie off a chair today, got a time out, then just smirked when it was over and we asked her to say sorry. Back in time out & had to wait before going to the beach while everyone else went ahead. She has crapped her pants more in the last 2 days than she has in the last month..... the list goes on but you get the idea! Soooooooooo frustrating when this SHOULD be a wonderful week! She's not alone either, Sweetie's whining has been ramped up to a whole new level and Honey threw a huge fit today after the bath when I didn't have enough dry towels and needed to share hers with her sisters. All 3 of them were whining and screaming and the next thing I knew, I whipped open the bathroom door and pushed out whoever was mostly dry, Honey, I think. Those sitting in the kitchen got a good chuckle out of that but I just couldn't stand the noise another SECOND! I'm sure they're tired from all the extra activity & people around, and they first couple of nights they were late settling down to sleep but last night & tonight were more reasonable so hopefully that'll help.

The weather has been a little disappointing, we've had such good luck in the past so maybe we're due for a crappy week. Even when we do get a bit of sun, it either doesn't last long, or it's accompanied by a cool breeze. The kids want to go down to play on the beach but inevitably they get wet and then as son as the cold air hits them, it's game over. They'd play down there much longer if they weren't freezing to death!

To try and keep freak out fits, fighting and whining to a minimum we've been trying to get them out of here so we've visited the playground a couple of times and one morning we took them strawberry picking. The trip to the U Pick was a big hit and they did a really good job! We didn't get any berries in our basket that weren't mostly red. They sometimes forgot to check the bottom before taking them. We got quite a bit picked before the farmer came over and told us that the girls should be doing some sampling for quality control. They would eat a bit & then pick a bit but eventually it shifted so they were just eating so we decided to pack it in at that point. It was a couple of days ago & we still have lots left so hopefully that means there's strawberry shortcake in our near future!

We still have a few days left so we're hoping for a few improvements weatherwise AND temperament wise!! Wish us luck....

Also, we're on dial up so updates & new pictures are a little tricky at the moment so I don't think I'll be adding much more before we get home. Sorry blogfans!