7-31-14

Last full day at the beach. 

Sigh. 

The weather was pretty horrible - overcast all morning turning to stinging, pelting rain by midday turning to a torrential monsoon-like downpour for over 3 hours this afternoon. Cuh-razy weather. 

We built a magnificent sand castle this morning with first, second and third lines of defense. I don't have a before photo, but after the monsoon rains, the castle was still standing, although it was a little worse for the wear.  Solid construction on that baby. 

We spent a lazy afternoon reading and napping during the downpour, which produced some of these types of landscapes:

When it finally cleared, a few of us took a nice final walk on the beach and a few of us swam in the pool. 

7-30-14

More beach, more boogie-boarding, more sun. 

Today was also the annual crabbing trip. We only caught enough for light appetizers but there's nothing better than eating crabs that were swimming in the ocean an hour earlier.  Oh, and there's nothing better than seeing dolphins playing in the river just feet away from where you're crabbing. 

My cousin Julie, aka the crab whisperer. 

Crabbing selfie #1

Crabbing selfie #2

7-29-14

Another beautiful day with lots of family and friend time. 

We ended the day with a hot dog pool party. We've got a lot of kids between us!

7-28-14

The horrible, tornadic, windy, hail-producing storm never materialized so we enjoyed a beautiful and full day on the beach and at the pool. 

7-27-14

A day full of boogie boarding, ocean kayaking, sand castle-building goodness. 

7-26-14

With the exception of a little noontime rain, it was a beautiful day on Folly. 

7-25-14

Today is the start of our family beach week. We got to Folly Beach around 3, just in time to experience this crazy storm!

My favorite photo is the panoramic below. The clouds just marched forward to finally cover the ocean. 

Here's hoping that the clouds clear and we have a mostly rain-free week. 

7-24-14

I am sitting in the car place, waiting for the oil to be changed and the tires to be rotated and aligned on my little car. 

It is an assault on my senses, and I'm slowly going insane. 

ESPN SportsCenter is on for background noise. This is the least of my concerns as it sounds like I'm at home. 

There's a very overweight man sitting two seats down from me, who sounds like he's smoked 6 packs a day for the last 48 years. He's a mouth breather in a sleeveless shirt with hair coming out of the shirt around his neck. He's also angry because they ordered the wrong size tires and now he's going to have to come back. His muttering under his breath is like an elephant trying to sneeze quietly. Impossible. 

Across the way is a toddler who has shrieked about every 22 seconds for the last 30 minutes. 

There was a man directly across the waiting area from me who felt it necessary to play music from his phone without the benefit of headphones. He finally left. His seat and the one next to it have been refilled by a middle-aged woman and her older mother. The younger is showing the older what sounds like homemade movies on her phone. At top volume. 

I'm sitting next to the tire rack and it smells like my head is stuffed inside a tire. Eau de rubber has given me a massive headache. 

I'm thankful that I don't put many miles on my car and don't have to sit through this often. 

7-23-14

Gigi replaced her 10 year-old desktop computer with a sleek, big-screened all-in-one desktop. 

She got rid of all this nonsense:

to have faster, bigger, better with this:

No CPU, no speakers, no cords and wires connecting everything. Just a monitor, a slim little wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. 

Technology is a wonderful thing in cases like this. 

7-22-14

We gambled on the weather today and won!  Mac, his friend, two cousins, Gigi and I went to the water park. We didn't intend to stay longer than 4 hours anyway but it looked doubtful on the drive there that we'd last 30 minutes. 

Mother Nature was on our side, though. Dark (DARK!) clouds were all around us but we only got about 6 raindrops and they never closed the park. We made our 4 hours and came home happy. 

7-21-14

Today I took Mac and two of his friends to a Charleston River Dogs baseball game. It must have been a rain make-up because who schedules baseball games for noon on a Monday?  

There was nobody at the game so we spread out and stretched out. 

I eventually moved up higher to get in the  shade. I halfway paid attention to the game and halfway paid attention to Facebook and emails. 

At some point, I noticed the mascot Charlie walking up the aisle towards me. 

He stopped right by me and motioned that he wanted to come past me on my row. So I stood up to let him pass by and he sat a seat or two down from me (with that green bag). 

I tried to make one-sided small talk with him but he was soon swarmed by children who were climbing on and around him. I imagine Big Bird has the same problem if he ever walks away from Sesame Street. At some point I noticed that the lady with the video camera was standing there. A lightbulb went on and I realized Charlie wasn't just hanging out in the shade to cool off. The children were trying to get into Charlie's green bag, but the camera lady told them to not touch it, that it was for a promotion. A big lightbulb went on then, but I couldn't excuse myself to go to the restroom without looking like a spoilsport. 

At the next inning change, I heard the announcer say "Now it's time for the Joann Fabric Sweetheart of the Game. Let's look for Charlie and see who he's chosen as his sweetheart."  

Oh Lord, help me. 

I didn't need to look for Charlie because he was sitting right next to me making beating heart hand gestures. So I made heart gestures back at him and he slid over and put his furry arm around me. I believe it was at this point that I realized the lady was filming and that we were on the big screen. It was also around this time that Mac realized it was me on the screen and he came running up the stands to say "Charlie, that's my mom!"  

So I came home with a goody bag from Joann's and the memory of making the Jumbotron. All the stuff in the bag screams middle-aged woman, which is why I'm sure I was selected. A younger woman wouldn't have been nearly as excited about the fabulous sewing kit as I was (really it's the most comprehensive sewing kit I've ever seen and sure beats my ziploc bag of sewing supplies) and an older woman would've been insulted that the yarn was "super value", ie not the best quality. 

It was a fun day!

7-20-14

Mac and I spent the afternoon with my college BFF and her family. It was a perfect and relaxing time of catching up and delicious food. So thankful we had this opportunity. 

7-19-14

Because every bow needs a quiver....

 Duck tape to the rescue!!  

It's perhaps not a great enough arrow-holding device for that fancy bow, but It gets the job done. 

7-18-14

Mac and his grandfather built a homemade bow today. Mac loved doing the project and he loves the end result. Thanks Papa!

7-17-14

Today Granny felt well enough to get out of the house so we went out for lunch and a 2.5 hour drive.  If you're in the real estate market in the Summerville, SC area, I drove through lots of new neighborhoods  and can direct you to various price points in the market. Lots of time in the old Corolla today. 

My gorgeous lunch date. 

I'm so grateful for this time at home that I can spend with my Granny. 

7-16-14

It was a chicken pot pie-cooking kind of morning around here:

It was also a peach cobbler-baking kind of morning. 

But I forgot to take photos of all the steps (except the one above) and the finished products. 1.) The cobbler was delicious. 2.) Failure to take photos and, more specifically, failure to take good food photos in the right light and setting are why I'm not a food blogger. 

It was also a banana nut bread-baking kind of afternoon. There are no photos except for the final products. See note 2 above. 

And now with Mac spending the night with Jimmy's mom and my mom working at her church's mission project, it's a do-nothing, be-quiet sort of evening. 

7-15-14

Mac went for his 6-month dental cleaning and check-up. He had a great visit. The dentist declared that I should take a very nice vacation with the money that I won't have to spend on orthodontia. Hurray for that picket fence grin Mac had with his baby teeth. And to all those more experienced parents who told me years ago that I should be thankful for those enormous gaps between his baby teeth, you were right.  I worried for nothing. 

To celebrate the good visit, we went for wings at Home Team BBQ. Well, Mac went for wings and I got salad. But he enjoyed the wings enough for both of us. 

7-14-14

Easy Dill Pickle Making, recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.