Just Another Day at the Beach!

Do you know how frustrating it is to fix a broken shock cord in a tent pole?



Well as soon as I recover from the one I had to fix for our sun shelter I will tell you. I may or may not have said a few Bozo-No-No's in the repeated attempts to get the stupid cord to stay taped to the wire as it was being snaked up the pole segments. I bet I had to throw away ten little pieces of used duct tape after it was all said and done. Please pray that the other two poles don't break thier cords before we leave here, because I don't think my mental health can handle another round of "fixing the pole".



Other than that, the day at the beach was really nice, even with the sea weed that looked a lot like little green puff balls floating all through the water. (It stuck like glue to the angelbaby's body too, which was really funny because she swore up and down that she didn't need to take a shower until she got home, took off her suit and saw all the little green puff balls stuck all over her abdomen and back.)



We even learned a new trick today. We went to tbe beach with our friend who has an umbrella, and the umbrella kept getting caught by the wind and blowing over. A nice lady sitting very close to us came over and showed us how to anchor the umbrella by rocking the base back and forth in the sand before setting the top on and then angling the top into the wind. After that we didn't have any trouble at all with the umbrella. You learn something new all the time when people are willing to share what they know.



I am off in a few to get some items from the store so I can cook meatloaf and mashed potatoes for mrangelmeg for dinner. I know, maybe somebody needs to check my temperature to see if I didn't get sun stroke while we were at the beach, only I volunteered to make the meal before we went to the beach, so I'm guessing I am really all right. He just deserves a little pampering.



Pax

Togetherness: Too Much of a Good Thing

It occurred to me today that I have eight more weeks of time here in almost paradise with my three beautiful daughters and mrangelmeg when we get to see him. Don't get me wrong I love being here, but I don't know if I can take this much togetherness.

There isn't anywhere for me to go to get away from the girls. I could walk to the store, but I am not really a shopper. I could walk down to the pool, or (as I do every other day, to the gym for my workout for about forty-five minutes) but even then they are still right here in the building.

What I really miss is being able to call up my friends and go out for a cup of coffee, or just go out, away by myself for the afternoon. I really miss having someone besides the girls and mrangelmeg to talk to, not that they aren't great fun to talk to.

This week I am going to venture out to one of the nearby nail salons for a pedicure, at least I can do that without taking the girls. If I am lucky, the person who does my nails will be able to carry on a conversation in passable English, and I will have had an hour away.

Oh well, everything will work out. By the end of the time we have down here we will either be a very close knit family unit, or we will have driven each other insane.

I am hoping for us growing closer.

Pax

Maybe, Maybe Not . . .

The angelbaby tried out her new boogie board yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico. I only let her get in with me right next to her and I was thigh deep in the water, so she really wasn't in much danger of getting caught in a riptide or having anything else hazardous happen (or so we thought, but more on that in a bit).

She was only about 30% successful at catching waves with her board. As the time progressed, she got a bit more skilled at choosing which waves would be good ones to try for, and how to set her board on the crest of the wave. All in all she had some really sweet rides.

We got out to reapply sunscreen and take a break, and while we were out of the water a young man and his dad who were body surfing right near where we were caught sight of a shark just below where they were swimming. Having seen the movie Jaws, I decided that we were done swimming for the day. The angelbaby, who hadn't seen the movie, wondered why I was so concerned about being that near a shark. She had seen a shark before at the zoo. I reminded her that in that case there was a large pane of plate glass between her and the shark.

I still have nightmares about seeing Jaws when I was 15 and living in Hawaii, and then snorkeling off the beach at Makaha and running into a hammerhead shark in the wild with nothing between us but a few hundred yards of ocean. It was the most frightening experience of my young life and one I don't want to re-experience, thank you very much.

Anyway, we came back to the suite, which was probably a good thing, because two of the girls got a bit too much sun. We ended up with the bonus of getting back before mrangelmeg had left for work for the evening (we had originally thought we would stay at the beach long after he had to go to work) so that was a nice plus.

We are still feeling our way down here, and will probably not go to the beach today to give the burned skin a day of rest. I am still trying to get used to the slower pace. Not much is expected of me besides knowing where the angelbaby is when she is in the water (whether it is in one of the pools or the ocean) or trying to determine what the two older girls needs are, and they aren't very demanding. Even keeping the suite clean isn't all that hard, although because we didn't bring all that many clothes I seem to be doing just as much laundry down here as I did back home.

Life is funny like that.

Pax

White, White Sand and Wild Blue Water

We took a quick trip to the beach today. We only spent about an hour because mrangelmeg had to go to work later and we had misplaced our only bottle of sunscreen. I was absolutely amazed at how white the sand was and how blue the water was.

We are learning how to navigate here too. We have decided against an umbrella (we forgot the one we had at home, so that was probably a blessing) after seeing how horribly they get whipped around by the wind. We will most likely invest in a little mini shelter tent. We are also learning about the threat level flags. Today was a yellow flag day, which means mild conditions. Mild water conditions were so strong that the angelbaby couldn't go any deeper than her ankles. Anything higher than Yellow and we won't even be going near the water.

Tomorrow we intend to go back to the beach for a longer visit, equipped with sunscreen and a tent/sun/wind break. We are going to pack a lunch and stay for a few hours.

Pax

My Morning Devotion View

For the next nine weeks this will be what I will see as I do my morning devotion. This is a picture that mrangelmeg took off of the balcony of the suite which he stayed at last time he was down here, and where we are currently residing.



Not a bad place to be, even if I have to cook meals, do dishes and clean the suite (the trade offs we gave for staying here instead of in a hotel for nine weeks -- we got two bedrooms two bathrooms and a full kitchen for mrangelmeg's per Diem.



The girls and I spent the day today at the pools (there are four actually, a children's pool, the one on the picture, a lagoon pool, a heated pool, and a hot tub) It was a really nice day. Tomorrow we plan to venture over to the beach on the gulf.



This is going to be a quick message because I failed to pack the power cord to my computer, and my oldest daughter had to mail it to me. It should arrive some time tomorrow. Then I will have more time (and power) to blog.



One thing though. The elevator has an animated voice that we have dubbed Sarah. There are times when she has just about as much attitude.



I am reading a very interesting book called Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King. Having seen The Agony and the Ecstasy I knew some of the story, but there is so much more to how and why the Sistine Chapel Ceiling became the obsession of a sculptor rather than a painter. I promise to write more later.



Time now for bed.



Pax