Back From Vacation

Thanks to my lovely in-laws, we enjoyed a three-night, four-day beach vacation with them.

An all-time, world record for changing into swimsuits, in less than 1.613 seconds, was set by the boys as they hurriedly raced to get to the beach. We spent the late evening floating on the waves in the Gulf, lulled by the gentle rocking as we lay on neon colored inner tubes. Eventually this turned into a game in which we were trapped by the Legion of Doom in the ocean. We were to frantically call for Superman to come rescue us from our evil captors. Meanwhile, we had to battle it out, ramming into each other and splashing one another with our salt-water death rays. Yes. With boys everything becomes a battle of immense proportions between the powers of good and evil.

In all the fun, I forgot to bring the camera and missed capturing a stunning sunset.

The next morning I crept into the boys bedroom at 7:00 am. They were already awake, of course, ready for the next adventure. I suggested we sneak down to the beach, before everyone else was up, and go for a walk. In our pajamas. The Rationalist replied,"That's crazy!" After much wrangling he decided to humor me and he accompanied me down to the almost empty beach. We watched the tiny coquinas being swept here and there by the waves, digging themselves back into their sandy habitats when the water receded.


The Rationalist, fascinated by the tiny animals, put a kabosh on the walking part of the adventure. Instead, he tried to save stranded coquinas by picking them up and tossing them into the water, or poking them down into the sand with his finger. I had to tell him to stop helping them, or their tiny shells might be crushed. "I didn't know that," he said matter-of-factly.

Once again I had left my camera behind and missed the opportunity to photograph an enormous rainbow over the Gulf.

The most exciting part of the trip was the mastery of the boogie board and wave surfing. Intuitive Monkey seemed to grasp the intricacies of finding the perfect wave, at just the right time, to obtain maximum force and longevity of ride. With his blond hair, he looked like the quintessential surfer. He was a natural.


Surfers in action