Action Packed

We've been having a great time at the beach. There is no sign of oil (yet) and the water has been crystal clear. We had a big storm last night so quite a bit of seaweed moved in but it was pretty easy to swim out past it. Today I've been playing around with the "continuous shot" setting on my camera. I think I captured some pretty good action shots. If these pictures don't make you laugh, I don't know what will.

We'll start with this sequence of four innocent girls just laying on the beach...

And have you met my Baywatch husband?

We also had some fun in  the pool this afternoon. Doc showed off his front flip.

I just did a regular ol' cannon ball.

But then Antonio did a cannon ball too and he got a lot more height on his than I did.

Mary Elizabeth did a perfect dive.

And Matt gave us "The Michael Jordan." (Watch for the arm cross...it provides an extra boost.)

There was also a little bit of air-guitar...

...and jack-knife 180s.

And now, I really need you to pay attention to these last two sequences so you can decide who is better.

Boys doing toe-touches?

Or girls doing toe-touches?

Please leave your vote in the comments so we can know who gets the bragging rights. Be sure to consider things like height of toe-touch, pointed toes, and overall synchronization of the group.

Dad's Day

Doc here with another post: A Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.

Lucy and I are blessed to have two great men in our lives that serve as support, role models and friends to both of us.

My dad and I have shared so many diverse experiences together - things that are emblazoned on my memory.  I remember when I was young learning to love and respect nature - whether it was fishing, camping or walking through a landscape job site.  I also learned about sacrifice and love of our wonderful country - raising the flag at our house, singing the national anthem (loud) at ballgames, and watching the tears in my dad's eyes as we visited "The Wall" on the lawn of the National Mall in DC.  I learned the value of hard work and the need to balance all aspects of my life.  He also taught me not to take things for granted, to respect people and to be thankful for all that we have been blessed with in our lives.  He has been and continues to be a great father to me!

Lucy's Dad is pretty cool too!  He and I have fostered a great relationship over the past several years.  I greatly appreciate his patience with my golf game, I enjoy our time together working on "Lucy's" projects in the shop, and I value his advice and perspective on work, family, and life.  Getting to know him, I can see how much of himself he has put into his children, and his relationship with his 3 kids is something I truly admire.  He has many talents, one of which is highlighted in this picture.

Both of these men have taught me lessons about how to be a good father - something that I continue to work towards.  I am not sure that I will ever be as good as they are to Lucy and me, but with them in my life I think I will be ok.

Ice, Ice Baby

For those of you who don't know, there's a new "game" sweeping across the South. It started, I think, by a group of college guys that created the blog "Bros Icing Bros." (The website has now been shut down.)  The main idea of the game is that you want to "ice" any of your unexpecting friends. What does it mean to "ice" someone? You present them with a Smirnoff Ice and they have to take a knee and down the drink right there. There's a Washington Post article that quoted the rules:

• You cannot refuse an Ice. If you refuse to drink the Ice, you are instantly excommunicated and shunned, and thus can never Ice another bro or be Iced. If you are Iced by another bro, you can Ice block. When presented with an Ice, you can pull out an Ice of your own and reverse the Ice on your bro. The ultimate Ice insult.

There's also a New York Times article here that talks about the game. Two things to note: Smirnoff did not create the game and does not support it, and Smirnoff Ice is a very sweet, very carbonated drink.

Doc and I started hearing all about this Icing game a couple of weeks ago. Some of my friends on facebook have been busy icing their friends and it was a hot topic on the radio one morning on my drive to work. Doc heard about it because one of his coworkers iced a bond salesman in the middle of the trade floor at 9:30 (!) in the morning. The iced coworker was a good sport - he took a knee and finished his drink.

So what does this have to do with us being on vacation in Florida?

You guessed it. Doc and I decided it was finally time to ice some of our friends. We bought our ammo at the Publix grocery store as soon as we got here. I chose the strawberry flavor over the green apple.

And then, five minutes after everyone had made it to our beach house and unloaded the cars, we brought out the six-pack of Smirnoff Ice. Of course, only a couple of friends had heard of the game so we had to do some explaining, but they were all good sports and took a knee!

I think Stephanie may still hate us for making her drink the super sugary drink.

This proves that our friends are rockstars. They all finished their Ice!

It's safe to say the trip has gotten off to a fun start. Can't wait to see what the rest of the trip has in store for us! I have a feeling I may need to go buy another Smirnoff Ice to carry around with me in case any of my friends decide to get revenge.

Road Trip

Today marked the beginning of beach trip number 2 for us. But before we could get on the road, we had a very important stop to make. First, we made a quick pit stop to get a bag of fresh donuts.

And then we headed to the kids' house to see how their week at camp was.  Anna came out and greeted us in her pajamas.

We sat on the curb and chatted.

After a few minutes, we learned that sleepy Wyatt didn't want to walk outside so we went inside and brought the donuts to him. The kids both had a great time at camp. They told us about sleeping in the cabins, swimming, what they made in arts and crafts, the dance they went to, and something about snakes but I had to tune that part out. I think they're excited and ready to go to their second camp this summer!

A few minutes before 9, Doc and I were finally on the road and headed to the beach!

Unfortunately, we had to drive through a lot of rain.

The ride was long so we did a lot to try to entertain ourselves.  We put the iPod on shuffle and it did not disappoint us. We heard everything from Taylor Swift to Jay-Z, Counting Crows to Flobots, Britney Spears to Eminem.

As the driver, Doc got to be the lead singer.

There was a brief period were I got a little bored and decided to play "Watch Doc Eat the Cars."

It starts like this:

Wait for it...

And there it goes! Yummy!

When that got old, I decided to start smocking. I have lots of friends having babies this year and a baby shower is coming up soon. I need to make good progress this week.

The small problem with getting started was that I forgot to bring scissors. It's hard to cut thread without scissors. But Doc came through for me and handed over some nail clippers. Saved!

Oh, I forgot that we ran into these girls at our lunch break. It was good to see them.

And finally, after we crossed into Florida, we got our second wind and car dancing ensued.

We have awesome moves.

So now we're here! The first thing I checked was whether or not we had internet, and since we do, I'll be able to update you on all the fun we're having!

Doc and I had a surprise to pass out once everyone arrived and go unpacked. Stay tuned to see what it was...

BIG Scare: Hindsight

OR "What's Funny Now But Wasn't At The Time"

1 - Doc's butt has been hurting for days. We have decided this can only be from the hour and half he spent riding on Anna's bike looking for Minnie. Anna is nine and rides a small pink, white, and green bike. Doc is 36 and has a big bottom and even bigger legs. While Minnie was lost, it did not even phase me that he was on her bike. Of course he should be on her bike. But now, four days later while he's still walking funny, I wish I could go back and get a picture of him, headlamp and all, perched on top of Anna's little bike.

2 - When Anna and I pulled back into the garage after scouring the neighborhood in my car, Wyatt ran out wearing an inside out pair of way-too-big socks with his flip-flops. I know they were too big because the grey heel was up around his ankle. Anna took one look at him and said, "why are you wearing socks with flip-flops?"  I remember her saying that because that's what made me look down and see them for myself. His answer was that he didn't want to get anything on his feet. At the end of the night, as Doc and I were getting ready to go to bed, I asked him if he noticed Wyatt's socks. "Yeah," he replied. "He asked me for a pair of socks so I just threw him a pair of mine and ran back out the door. I have no idea why he wanted them." "Oh, I do," I told him. "Why?" he asked. "Because of the frogs." And then we laughed.

Here's the thing - we have realized lately that Wyatt is terrified of frogs. Now, I know everyone has their own little irrational fears, but for some reason this fear is completely hilarious to me. Maybe it's because I played with them all the time as a little girl and thought they were so cool. Maybe it's because my five-year-old nephew, being the boy that he is, goes on hunts in the backyard specifically to find frogs. I don't know what it is - I just think it's funny that our ten-year-old boy is completely scared of them. And so, during our panic-stricken, two and a half hour hunt for Minnie, he took the time out to run inside and put on a pair of his dad's socks with his flip-flops so that "nothing could get on his feet."

When we finally found Minnie and were walking back to our back garage, Wyatt was standing in the garage pointing to the driveway and warning us about the frog sitting there. "Oh, I'll get rid of it," I said as I gently nudged it to move with my flip-flopped foot. That's when he lost it and ran inside.

3 - "Breed: Black Wiener Dog" ....still makes me laugh every time I see the flyer on the kitchen counter.