a watermelon and shark kind of weekend ;)

and here's the shark. Maku told me this morning the shark looked like it was five years old and that he would never swim in shallow waters without his mommy if he was a five year old shark.

i tried to capture the children's fascinated faces knowing my friends will take loads of pics of the shark. this is the best i could do, my camera battery wasn't cooperating.

and the shark went weee! weee! weee! all the way home. :)

my bff Marlen

my friend Marlen and I made it to the beach at 8:30 this morning, greeted by seagulls and freshly raked sand.

no toys, no trucks, no dolls and no shovels just peanut butter sandwiches and bananas in our beach bags.
i've known Marlen for two years now and she has become more like a sister to me than just a friend --or should i say more like a mom. she prepares our beach snack, she delivers black beans to my home every week, takes my avocados out of the fridge, honks my car horn for me every time a car gets in my way, and look at her here -setting up camp.

she is so proper, and fancy, and organized
she didn't get a speck of sand on her body this morning -- which explains her deep even tan while mine is ten different shades of brown
we are such complete opposites yet we get along so wonderfully

she had major trouble with our umbrella this morning, i laughed at her seriousness and determination for not wanting my help cuz "i"ll just mess things up"

we chatted, we swam, we walked. she told me about these really nice shoes on sale that were my size. yup, she even browses size 5 1/2 shoes and i know there is no way she'd fit in one.

we spent five hours together just the two of us, without the kiddos --and it felt like such a short time.
yay to friendship! and to our umbrella staying up!

this is a bit bizarre..

there was a crowd on the beach

Snow and Maku were not running all over the place

they paused and posed for a pic (a very rare occurrence)

and godzilla simply walked by and left this structure untouched

what odd things a coming storm can bring

just me and myself

it has been almost a month that both my little ones are in school full time. i've been busy getting to know myself, meeting up with friends nearby, yapping on the phone with ones that are far away.

i've been txting like a fool, dancing like a fool, taking pictures of myself like a fool. life is good and it gets even better when they get home at 3 o'clock and we get to do the fun little things we always do together..


and it feels just a teeny-tiny bit more special since we've missed each other all day.

and I end this post with one last photo of me, looking so refreshed and loving this new routine. :D

a hanging bridge

inspired by the Bunlap tribe of Vanuatu.

oh. okay.

it's not the first time i've heard it. so, okay, i grind my teeth and talk in my sleep. i like tulips and lilies...those are beautiful things :)

beach hopping

For the rest of the summer, the children are determined to hit every public beach access in our area. We started with this one, one we've never been to, since it has one of the longest walks from the parking lot.

To our delight, it was where catamarans go home. :)

And even more delightful, we were invited to sail. Thank goodness there was a storm coming in...I have motion sickness issues.

We helped take the sail down instead. It was my job not to get it wet - a very difficult task for a short girl like me.

I tried to help do this too but I wasn't strong enough.

We had lots of fun and like always we stayed until the sun went down. We'll be visiting another part of the beach soon. I'll let you know how it goes!