Sandy Thoughts
Some thoughts on the trip to Fort Morgan, AL with Juannie and the family...
-I met my newest nephew, Mats, and he is definitely my brother's child. He is as fond as his father is of pooping, sleeping and eating. (See his picture below.)
-The Gulf of Mexico water was unbelievably cold yet refreshing. It did take a little bit of getting used to the first few times I went into the surf.
-I always forget how much I love the beach when I am apart from it. I can still see the waves crashing when I close my eyes.
-I had such a good time body surfing and boogie boarding with my oldest nephew, Ian. (See me in action below.)
-Ian called me from the road to ask if the house everyone else was staying in had bunk beds. It did not. A few minutes later he called me pretending to be Bob Marley, all the while using a funny accent, and asked if I wanted tickets to his beach concert that night. I said that I did. (My nephew's very cool for a nine-year old.)
-We were constantly seeing porpoises swimming up and down the beach. At one point, they were probably only 30-40 yards from the shore. My sister-in-law, Renee, and I hopped up and down like little kids cheering our heads off because we were so excited to see them so close to us.
-Juannie and I almost died driving on the very curvy Fort Morgan road back to our hotel room on Saturday night. The local police were in a high-speed chase with a moron riding a crotch rocket and the motor cyclist almost crashed into us as he (I am making an assumption here) weaved in and out of the cars going in the opposite direction.
-The twins, Hayden and Ryker, call grapes baby apples. (That's just too cute to not share.)
-The Easter Bunny brings the goodies in a carriage that he pulls himself. It's covered in pretty flowers and can hold candy for every kid in the world if needed all at one time. (My four-year old niece, Mia, shared this cool vision of the Easter Bunny with all of us.)
-Juannie does not ever get a sunburn. He gets a "Savage Tan". (He cannot be convinced otherwise even when his skin is bright red and painful.) I, on the other hand, always freely admit when I have a sunburn. And I definitely do. Wearing a bra really hurts.
-A friend gave Angie, the new mother, a shirt for baby Mats that says, "Dingo Food". When my brother, Del, read the shirt he laughed and told Angie that I would definitely think that was hysterical. And I did! After that we all walked around imitating Elaine Benes saying, "Maybe the dingo ate your baby" in bad Australian accents.
-I have to say that even though we have had some tough times over the last months, my family is amazingly resilient and we have all kept our senses of humor. All weekend, I laughed until I cried and couldn't breathe at the goofy stuff everyone was coming up with as we enjoyed each others' company.
-Juannie and I are going back to Fort Morgan in the fall with Bess and Rocky.
Boogie Boardin'
Baby Mats