Friday, July 27, 2018

Fun in the Sun

Thought for the day: If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in water. [Loren Eiseley]

There's something about the beach, about its salty scent, cawing gulls, and constant soothing rhythm of the waves that centers me and gives me peace.

There's also something about our grandchildren, about their boundless energy, giggles, smiles, and overall silliness, that does the same.

Put them together and you have a little piece of watery heaven. If only I could bottle that feeling... I could call it... Happiness.

Our long weekend with our older son and his family was absolutely glorious, albeit much too short. The Gulf Coast was oppressively H-O-T, but the water... aaaaah... the water was perfect. And therapeutic. We spent most of our time playing in it, but I did came out long enough to snap a few pictures when they started playing in the sand.


 Aaron is our unabashed Sheldon Cooper-like smartie. When we were back at the house, he and I played some of the new games purchased at the going-out-of-business sale held by Toys r Us. The games were new to him, but he learned them quickly, and had absolutely no shame about beating his poor grandmother.
Kymber's a girly girl who has already been in a beauty pageant. (Once was enough for her, though. She's done with all that, she says.) She's a smartie, too, and very wily. Definitely knows how to get her way.





Smarticus... the biggest kid of all.


Looks like Jaiden is about to run back into the water. No surprise there, because he's quite the waterbug. That little cutie to his right is Devyn, who's the youngest of the crew, but also the boss of 'em all. She's going to rule the world someday, the little stinker.
 Here's Devyn again. I reckon she was probably ordering the water to Calm down! Even the smaller waves had a way of catching her in the face when we were out in it.

Smarticus grabbed the camera and I grabbed Devyn so we could get at least one pic... almost... of her face. You'll have to trust me. She's adorable. Not that I'm biased or anything.


Our son and his lovely bride. (He's got a helluva lot of nerve having gray hair, doesn't he?)



Our son scooped up a small jellyfish in a bucket so the kids could get a closer look. In the bucket, it wasn't nearly as menacing-looking to them as the ones we encountered floating in the water. This little guy's tentacles were very short, too.

That's it. That's all the pictures I took this time around. What can I say? It's a lot more fun having fun than it is to waste time recording it for posterity. HA! Profound, eh?

P.S. The header picture was from an earlier visit, when we went to the Gulf so Grandma could get her feet wet. The kids got soaked. (Not my fault!) So we had to buy them all dry outfits before we could continue on to the museum in Pensacola. Lesson learned! We all wore bathing suits this time around.

                                     Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

39 comments:

  1. From half a world away and a different season all that happiness is infectious. There is a huge smile on my dial.

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  2. Grandparents are absolutely allowed to be biased about their grandkids! Looks like you all had a wow of a time. It's still very hot here, so I'm missing beach and sea etc. Have a great weekend, hugs, Valerie

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    1. Good thing grandparents are allowed to be biased, because I definitely am! We did have a wow of a time. I'm sorry it had to end so soon.

      You have a super weekend, too. Hugs back atcha.

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  3. Mmmmm, ocean......if you feel a "presence" standing by your side as you paddle your feet, it's just me, wishing myself there. Beautiful photos of a beautiful family in a beautiful location.
    My son has some grey hair too! Very distinguished grey from the temples back to above his ears, I wasn't expecting to see that! but he is 43.

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    1. Oh, so it was YOU??? :) (You could've at least said hello...) No matter where I am, part of me is always longing to be near the water, so I totally get it.

      Both of our boys have gray hair, but they're a little older than yours. The son we were with last weekend will be 47 next week. (Unbelievable!!!)

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  4. What a precious time you had with your precious family, friend Sue … Thanks for sharing … smiles … Love, cat.

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  5. Sure looks like all kinds of fun in the giant litterbox haha Grey hair sure gets us all in the end. Much more fun to actually have fun then snap pictures all day indeed.

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    1. HA! Only you would think to call that beautiful white-sanded beach a litterbox. :)

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  6. too fun. I love the beach!!! Glad you had such a grand time. AAAH....water!

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    1. Me, too!!! Yes, AHHHHH... water. Cool water, anyway. Our DIL said she only likes to get in the water if it's as warm as her bathwater. Not me! The water in our swimming pool was so warm one summer, it wasn't the least bit refreshing. Kinda like yours now, huh?

      Have a super weekend.

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  7. Your family is beautiful, Susan, and your pride in them and your happiness at being with them at the beach came through loud and clear in this post. These are more wonderful memories to add to the albums and to your heart.

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    1. Thanks. Yes, I'd much rather keep my memories stored away in my heart than try to organize them into picture albums. (Which is painfully clear if you ever saw the bazillions of photographs stuffed into boxes that have never quite made their way into an album...)

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  8. Now this makes me want to head for the nearest beach! (LOL, being that I just returned from Tampa/St. Pete last week … but didn't go near the water.)
    Your grands joy practically leaps off the page (er, my monitor) and your DIL is stunning. Thank you for sharing them with us!

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    1. Yipes! You didn't even go NEAR the water??? No matter where we go, if there's water in the area, it's a must-see for me. (Well, actually a must-get-into for me...) Did you go to the Salvadore Dali museum when you were in the Tamap Bay/ St. Pete are? Last time we were down that-a-way, we tried to go, but it was closed that day.

      Yes, our DIL is beautiful, and extremely photogenic.

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  9. Beautiful pics, gorgeous family & fantastic beach--it doesn't get any better than that!!

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  10. Nothing like a day at the beach. I was lucky enough to spend my summers at the beach until I was about 17. I can tell you many stories about jellyfish and how I miss the ocean.

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    1. I spent most of my summers at the ocean until I graduated from high school, too. Glorious days! I will always long for the ocean, but the jellyfish? Not so much.

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  11. Hi Susan - what glorious pictures of the eldest and his crew and beautiful bride ... and obviously amazing fun you had with them. I bet you've got lots of happy memories stashed away ... those are the best ones - but it's fun to share the happy and glorious days ... while water is such an essential to calm our souls ... love the sea and being near water. Actually always drinking water too ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Hi-ya, Hilary. Yes, it was marvelous. I love the sea, too, and just about any other body of water. Drink a lot of it, too. (And it doesn't always have a tea bag in it, either!)

      Cheers back atcha.

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  12. Nothing like grandchildren to equal happiness !
    I miss living by the ocean.
    Granddaughter is flying in for a month with her tall person. We will have fun. But going to a Japanese school she has homework (she finished that already) and projects to do.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. Abso-doggone-lutely!

      A whole month with your little cutie! That's fantastic. I know you'll have a wonderful time.

      Cheers back atcha.

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  13. Aww...cute photos! They all are so lovely and I hope they had a great time too!

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  14. Susan, I really screwed up my previous comments with typos. Sorry about that!

    I especially like the photo of the jelly fish (but it brings back memories of getting stung by them!).

    When I lived in California the beach was my greatest solace. I went there constantly just to relax, soak up the sun, and listen to the eternal music of the waves.

    I also loved going in the middle of the night. I would sit on the pier and watch the soothing waves for hours (that was a long-ago time when it was still relatively safe to be on a pier at night).

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    1. No problem. I deleted them into oblivion, so it'll be our little secret. :)

      I've got lots of memories of getting stung by jellyfish, too, but their tentacles were a lot longer than the ones we saw last week.

      YES! That's exactly how I feel about the beach. I've walked there in the moonlight, too, but never in the middle of the night, and no matter how much my cousins tried to get me to go for a swim after dark, I was always too chicken for that.

      By the way, it's good to hear from you again, cowboy.

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  15. There's something about getting a whiff of salty air that will set things right with your world! Glad you got to spend time on the beach, and with your family there, too. My older two sons would probably be glad to have grey hair - they're both bald.

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    1. Yes, absolutely. There's just something about that air... those sounds... (sigh)

      HA! I reckon it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? So far, our boys' hairlines haven't shown signs of receding. Smarticus' forehead, on the other hand, extends across the entire top of his head. (Just more face to wash!)

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  16. Wonderful collection of photographs.
    Thank you for sharing such happy moments with us :)

    All the best Jan

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  17. Great photos! Definitely looks like you all had fun at the beach...

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    1. Thanks! It was definitely fun. It's hard not to have fun when water's in the picture. :)

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  18. Your quotes are always great and this one is equally if not greater than the others :-). I am a water sign and water is my element. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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    1. To tell the truth, I didn't know what kind of sign I was, so I looked it up. Says fire is my element. Must be a screw-up somewhere, because according to the descriptions, I'm much closer to water than fire... and I definitely like it more. :)

      Greetings back atcha.

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  19. What wonderful pictures! I'm glad you got to enjoy time with family and time at the beach. Sounds like the perfect vacation!

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