Born to Boogie

Olivia loves the ocean. She spent nearly every possible moment in it. No exaggeration. She'd go in by herself when everyone else was oceaned out and swim, jump waves and boogie board.

Her beloved board. Even more beloved because it once belong to Scott. Scott, isn't it nice to know your board has a happy and well loved home?Paddling.Caught one!Don't you just want to pinch 'em?!Oh how I love my boogie board...

Wild Dunes - not so much and oh so much

Our annual Behringer/McMullen vacation took us back to the Charleston, SC area but this time to a resort a little north of Isle of Palms. We stayed at Wild Dunes. And the poor economy allowed us to stay in a gorgeous, spacious condo...reeaalllyyy nice.

The interesting thing about Wild Dunes is that it's not so wild. Well, except for the weather, but more on that later. The dunes have not only been removed but replaced by a golf course. Yes, a water hog golf course on top of sand. Can you imagine the amount of water needed to keep it green? And without the protection of dunes it is constantly exposed. In fact, while we were there they were repairing one of the holes that had been damaged by a storm last year.

However, did I mention that it was a reeaalllyyy nice place to stay? It was and I'd stay there again, for sure.

Olivia and Popka relaxing and enjoying the view. It only rained the day we arrived and the day before we left.Grant and his truck.Grant and his humor.Olivia and her friend.
Each year she meets a friend. Usually she plays with them all week but this year it was for just one day. I don't think this little girl liked to swim or boogie board which is ALL Olivia wanted to do. So, a lasting friendship was not meant to be.Ben and his sports.
Ben and certainly Uncle Matt (aka "PPLC" - Pied Piper of Little Children) were very patient in allowing Grant to "play" paddle ball, football, baseball and every other type of ball that Ben was into. Often, he best served as ball boy...Sand Castlers:Full View. Matt and I put in our time as well, digging those moats and channels. But apparently there was some hierarchy in place where we were labeled lower tier sand castlers and I believe that did not allow us to be photographed.Nate's Castle... just before Ben knocked a wall down, inciting a small brawl.We all know the beach wears kids out. Little ones especially.But they each took their turns to just relax.

Ben and Olivia preferred towels and shade.Nate preferred the surf at his feet.Grant preferred a hole.Ouch! And you should have seen it the next day!!Our last beach day proved to be the most eventful. It's late afternoon and most of us were in the condo finishing up lunch, leaving Mimi and Popka to enjoy some quiet beach time. On our way back out, we noticed the big beach tent had toppled over and tumbled down the beach. And there was Popka on his knees looking dazed and confused. Apparently a gust of wind had picked up the tent and slammed him, on the face! As some were inspecting the wounded, others were collecting the tent.

But it turns out, it wasn't over yet. Just as Popka and Mimi started heading in, the winds picked up again. And we aren't talking just a slight breeze -it went from 0 to 15 then immediately 15 to 60. Our stuff started blowing everywhere. Tubes sailing down the beach in a blink of an eye, rain falling, sand whipping our legs and faces and worst of all, drinks spilling. Mimi and Popka started herding kids to the walkway while Don/Matt/Donna and I started collecting our things. No one could grab much because of the sand blowing in our eyes and mouths but I grabbed Olivia's beloved boogie board and Grant. The other kids made it to the walkway, but not him. He seemed frozen in place. So just as I had him secured behind the boogie board, I heard Matt yell "WATCH OUT FOR THE UMBRELLAS!" We all turned to see 4 -5 beach resort umbrellas (those big ones attached to chairs that people can rent) tumbling at us. It was a bit like being in a live video game, dodging them as you didn't know which way they would spin or turn as the wind moved them. They had literally snapped off and were flying at us.

And just like that, it was over. The whole event felt like it lasted for 10 minutes but it really was only a minute or so. And there we all stood staring at each other - covered in rain and sand, Popka dripped in dried blood, standing in a graveyard of limes.

Epilogue:
Popka got several stitches and a sticker for being a good patient.

The rest of us enjoyed a gorgeous remaining afternoon. And we even found an unclaimed boat that blew our way. So the PPLC and kids enjoyed it...

...for only a short time. I looked up one moment and saw Olivia far down the beach. As I went to retrieve her, she hopped out of the boat and started to walk in. But as she grabbed for the rope, the boat blew away from her and tumbled away. Maybe it is sailing with the lost inner tube somewhere.

Nacho Cheese Behringer

Somehow I sweet talked Don into a cat.

We acquired Nacho a few weeks ago from a colleague of mine. Due to her husband's job taking him all over campus, and his soft heart for cats, he rescued a litter of feral kittens found by a sorority house. She recalled a comment I made about liking orange cats and mentioned they were harboring two of them in their bath tub at home. I was sold immediately - on both of them.

Now, when I say "sweet talked" Don - not really. He is a sucker for cats. It's just that he is highly allergic to them. Wait, no, how did the allergist put it?? Oh yes... "I've seen more people allergic than you are, but not many. You are extremely allergic." Like, off-the-charts-allergic. I guess the "sucker for cats" part won over the "extremely allergic" part because it really didn't take much convincing. So needless to say, I had to compromise and only get one kitten. We agreed that he will be part outdoor cat once he is old enough. Good thing too, because it turns out that Grant is allergic too.

Meet Nacho.Could she be any happier? When we picked him up, Olivia didn't realize we actually were keeping him. I was trying to capture her reaction on video and she wasn't really reacting like I thought she might. Just a bit too nonchalant. She held him, pet him, cooed over him and then as we were leaving she handed him back. It appears she didn't hear me (hmm, imagine that) tell her "he is yours." So I repeated it as I re-handed him to her.

I captured the afterglow of her realization. It think it's pretty obvious she is in love...Other name considerations:
Mr. Whiskers
Tiger
Catty Me-a (Grant's contribution)
Mango
Cheeto

Nacho won the family vote.

Love the extended claws on both paws.His play house purchased to help occupy those claws.Who me? I would never claw up this one beautiful piece of furniture you own.The life...Next up... a dog.

A Memorial Weekend in Georgia

We spent memorial weekend with the Parks at their cabin and when we arrived, we were greeted and treated to some of their home grown produce. YUM!

Farmers Scotty and Dary:This very well may be the first time we hiked without rain... it sprinkled, but no downpour. YAY!

We hiked a trail at Lake Conasauga...Lots of beavers in the area...Jack in the pulpitFun in the creekPost hikeWe also spent some time at Scott's mom's house and in the stream that runs through her property.
Olivia, not surprisingly, the first brave soul working up the courage.But pretty soon, they were all in.Seriously, does it get any more wholesome than this?Even Riley got a little wet. Don't you just want to give her a hug?Shoreline stabilizersPretty mountain azaleasThese daisies made me smile.Some interesting arthropod finds:

A centipede...A millipede...Olivia and her salamander...Closeup

Second Swim Meet

Olivia competed in her second meet in May. As seasoned veterans since her first meet, we knew what to expect this time. Except this time she was to swim 50m races and dive off the blocks.

Turns out the diving off the blocks part wasn't so bad and these blocks are much higher than the practice blocks. But swimming 50m was a different story. She crushed the breast stroke and survived the free. We only entered two events this time since Grant was along for the ride. There was no way he'd survive a full meet in the hot sun.

Hanging with the coaches...Just before a race...Nerves of steel...And she's off...She placed second in this heat, but you can't see her because I snapped the pic when she was underwater. She is in the "empty" lane...Is this meet over yet!?!Hanging with Allie...Tips from Coach Mike...The girlz...