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!