Great waves

The waves were amazing. I'm not sure you can see it in the pictures.

Michael and Michele trying to get further out to catch a "big one". Someones head bobbing about behind them. I think it's Evan.

It was hard getting out past them.

The whole gang. Some pretty good waves in this one.

Lots of fun.

Beach therapy

We all love the beach, but Aaron seems to thrive there. He seems more at peace and comfortable there than any other environment we've seen him in. Of course, I guess most people find a certain therapeutic something about the sand and ocean. What's not to love? Well there was that sunburn thing, but I'm blaming that on sunscreen failure - or maybe ozone layer failure? Not sure, but I'm ramping up my SPF factor next time.

He'll just lay in the sand and let the sand and water run through his fingers for ages.

He loves to lay right at the waters edge and let the surf wash over him.

And the day's not complete without a sand castle.

And a sand angel.

More waves, etc.

I'm doing these in stages and in order which will make it appear backwards to you who are reading them from the top. I'm too tired to do one long one and fight with it or do them backwards so they go in order for you all. What?!? Anyway...... Back to the beach.

Michael teaching Aaron the finer points of surfing - well not actually surfing, really, but we called it surfing. Boogey boarding? Not sure. It was fun though.

The board kept getting away from him at first.

Almost!

And he made it.

Mo-om! Yes, I'm taking another picture! So Smile!

Okay, I have boys wanting computer time, so I'll let them on and try to post some more later.

Let's go surfin' now

The boys

Various kids trying to catch the perfect wave.
I'm not sure if any of the pictures do them justice, but the waves were crazy.

Turtles, Turtles, Everywhere

Our first full day, we decided to start with the NOAA Sea Turtle Facility. We knew we wouldn't want to leave the beach, once we got there, but thought the turtles might be fun to see. If you're not familiar with it, it's basically a facility whose function is to rebuild the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle population which is the most endangered species of sea turtle in the world. They had a barn full of turtles ranging in size from a few inches to a couple of feet long. They were very cute. Most of them looked like they'd really like to get out of there though. It's hard not to feel sorry for the little guys, but I guess the alternative is extinction, so I suppose it's a good thing.

Evan standing by one of the medium-ish guys (girls?)

Aaron and Evan giving a size comparison to the skull of an adult sea turtle.

This one wanted out more than any of them. He just kept crashing into the wall of his little "cell". He never stopped the whole time we were there.

My poor kids posing for yet another picture. The younger boys with their swimmer-bedhead hair-dos. Two out of four with decent hair in that sea air is pretty good. There will be no picture of me as my hair went totally whacko. Not a pretty picture at all!

One of the little ones. Very Nemo-ish.

BEACH!

We've arrived and are now hoping everyone else is leaving. It was soooo crowded when we got here. Of course I know it's a major holiday, but the beaches were all wall to wall people - yuck! We were spoiled the last time we came in early May. It felt like we were the only ones here. I really am hoping everyone has left by morning - and yes, I mean everyone - I really would like to have the entire island to oursleves - not too much to ask, is it? And we're hoping the weather holds. The reports keep changing - from mild and sunny to thunderstorms. I needed the get away just to rest, but I was hoping it would include several days of sitting on a beach, not looking at the beach through the rain out our living room window. And my allergy/migraine/whatever is now trying to turn into bronchitis. I'm hoping the sea air helps - can't hurt, certainly. I'll try and keep you posted on the (leaving) people, weather, illness and all other manner of drama and mayhem my bunch seems bent on inflicting on me - they all seem so LOUD, but maybe it's just the fifth day of a bad headache talking... Mark and the kids are playing poker in the living room with doritos and Aaron is singing "Pinky and the Brain" in Spanish beside me here in the bedroom. I think I'll take some more medicine and go to bed. I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow.

Fun stuff

I found a fun new widget for all of us that love books. You can't see it if you're just popping in to see if I've said anything new because it's down on the page a bit, and since I have nothing of interest to say, just go see my new bookshelf. There's a link if you want one of your own, because I know you all have so much spare time (like me), except here I am blogging about my cyberbookshelf, so obviously, I have my ways of squeezing a little fun into my otherwise boring workday. When I was building my shelf, I didn't know you could have layers of shelves, so I was just trying to pick a selection of my favorite authors and some of the books my kids loved, plus I wanted to get it on the blog and see what it would look like. I'm sure I left off some great ones, so I'll be adding more when I get time. And it will work on facebook too - and it can all be done by clicking buttons - no fancy coding stuff required. And now I'll stop rambling about it so you can go see it.