Sun, Sand, and A Weird Mommy

This morning I lay snuggled in my pillows, eyes half open, feeling the warm breeze from the window blow over me. The house was quiet, the fan hummed, I was alone in the bed, the sun was shining, and - and - it sort of felt like I was on vacation. :) I pretended I was. Let's see. I would lie here a little longer, and then get up when I felt like it, and after I got dressed, I would go to the hotel restaurant, and maybe have some sort of pancakes with fruit on them. Or crepes or something. And then I would walk to where all the shops were and browse through them, enjoying the mountain air. Or I would go to the beach and lounge about. I wasn't quite sure which vacation I preferred to be on, while I was having the option. Actually, I might go for a massage after breakfast, and then off to my activities. I nodded decisively in my mind, as I was not about to expend such energy in real life, sprawled lazily in my comfy hotel bed, summer air blowing the curtains. (Yes, I am weird, thank you very much, but I can't help it. And at least my vacations are free... :))

Mondays are Tim's day off, since Saturdays are often busy with sermon prep, and Sunday's are super busy for him. This morning the house was quiet because he had gotten up with The Dude who had decided to rise and shine before 6 AM, after I got cranky enough about being up with him. :) One boy was already outside, the other was playing the newly discovered and vastly beloved Nintendo 64. We had already decided to go to the beach today, so after I peeled myself off the bed, I also demanded that we breakfast at IHOP to prolong my full vacation experience.

After enjoying my strawberry-banana pancakes with whipped cream, OJ, and coffee (drool of remembrance), we jetted off. It was a gorgeous day, the water was cold, and the beach was mostly deserted. Gabe was in his element. Israel, on the other hand...
The beach is mostly distressing to Israel. He does not like his beloved family members to be so close to all that big scary water. He has no desire to go splash in the big scary water himself, unless he is tightly held by Mommy or Daddy. Then there is the pesky matter of that wind, that blows stuff away, like the umbrella fabric (which he considers his kite), and leads to more screams of distress.

There was a helpfully distracting and friendly dog available to help out.
And Israel was also busied with digging, which was mostly all he did while we were there.
This was Zion's first taste of the beach. He liked it all.
He finally fell asleep on our blanket that we moved into the shade, a cinnamon-sugar doughnut of a boy, covered with sunscreen and sand. :)
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh. What a great vacation day. Hopefully we can repeat it before too long. I gotta say - I like this beach proximity mucho.

Alrighty. Now I am going to go shopping by myself for several hours in the beach outlet shops located directly outside my hotel, with the many extra hundreds of dollars I have available to spend in my altered mental state. Ha. Maybe I better go get another massage while I'm at it, since I'm so worn out from all this thinking. I would nod decisively, but I'm awfully busy watching cable TV. Till later...