Terrapin Station

Seen on the Kitchen Counter

Early this morning when I came down in search of coffee. 

Many seashells spread out on paper towels, with three notes on top, to wit:

1)  Very Important Shell Collectors note!  Dear Everyone, I stayed up extremely late last night (11:00!!!!!! to be exact) cleaning these shells!  Please DO NOT TOUCH!

2)  Especially the clamshells!  DO NOT TOUCH!  OR PICK UP!!

3)  LOOK AND POINT!!   : )  Thank you very much, Mallory

Naps

The beach makes me very, very sleepy.  I must nap every day. 

Could I BE any luckier?

Heard at the Beach

asked of 7 year old nephew, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"A white receiver."  (ie wide receiver)

Earlier in the day same child told me he wanted to be a lawyer.  "Like your daddy?" "Yeah, I want to be exactly my daddy for my whole life."

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Much shrieking from 18 month old

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Very many bad jokes at dinner table

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"High/low" at the dinner table.

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Planning extra meetup with Cathy so our mommas can meetup too!

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Plans to meet Cousin Grace in the Old Episcopal Cemetery at 3:45 tomorrow afternoon to look at family graves.  How gothic is that!?

Vacation Day 2

This morning I woke up before the rest and sat in the big rattan wing chair to say my prayers.  I decided to pray for each of us individually. 

When I got to my nephew Saxon, the tears began to flow...of joy and gratitude.  He has Asperger's Syndrome and is a perfectly delightful fellow.  He has a way of saying the most observant and intuitive things.  Later this morning he said to me, "Auntie Mary Beth, I think you are a really good sister to my mom and you help her with lots of things.  I think that when you were my age, you were probably really nice to her, too." 

This is his way of checking out the sibling fusses and rivalry he has with his brother and sister.  I had to confess that no, actually Nancy and I were pretty mean to each other when we were that age, but that the ensuing years have showed me that she is actually one of my best friends in the world and I am so lucky to have her. 

He considered this seriously, as he does all things. 

God teaches me something every day thru Saxon.

At the Beach

I'm here!  I had a good and easy trip and had the most fun and hilarious afternoon with Cathy!  We ate an awesome lunch, visited an Episcopal bookstore, and drove around having old home week.  And we talked, talked, talked.  What a hostess she is!  Don't tell, but I'm going to ask her to be my new sister!

My parents arrived later in the afternoon and I picked them up at the airport.  Daddy's checked bag got lost, which is extremely unfortunate as all of his medicine was in it.  Including the insulin.  :P  Hope they get it here soonest. 

So here we are, in a gorgeous beach house on a private white sand beach.  There are 7 adults and 5 kids.  Gorgeous seafood dinner and now we are sitting around talking about higher education (?) - I am pretending I can't hear.  This is vacation after all. 

My toenails are OPI "Cherry Pie."  I have a week at the beach coming up.  None of the children here are my responsibility.  I'm having another beer.

What more could I ask for? 

How about blessings on you all?  Sweet dreams, folks.