Beach Week - Pictures From Other Phones

I'm normally the picture taker, so I don't show up in most of the pictures here. Which is fine. "He must become greater; I must become less," (John 3:30) is one of my recurring life verses. "He" is Jesus, but in my teacher it relates to my students and with my parenting it relates to Shane. I don't feel like I'm called to be the center of attention.

I loved that Ka caught this pic, though.

Which gave me the idea to have a separate post of all the pictures I didn't take. I'm using mine to try and piece together a narrative before too much slips from memory. Pictures from other sources don't always show up until later. Typically, I don't revisit old posts, because I have to keep up with the current ones!

Beach week is over, but this extends the fun for one more day, too. We all had to clear out Saturday by 10 AM.

I was normally around a lot of the action even if I wasn't center stage. It makes it easier to record and help manage things. The name of the game I play at the beach is "Vigilance."

Pop normally took the shore and took the deeper water.

Another day, Kathleen caught B standing on my shoulders in the ocean. He saw Shane clinging on to my back like a little lamprey and wanted a turn.

I helped in the pool day one. Stu was the main pool dad after that. He'd even swim laps.

Electronics consumed all of the kids as the week progressed, but there was a small, shining moment when I taught B "Don't Break the Ice." B (3.9), Cole (6.1), and Shane (7.5) are spread out in age. They get along well enough playing goofy games and on electronics, but they're not in the same space for anything competitive or 'measured.'

The ice blocks were all over the house for the next couple of days. B loved to run around with the pick. He applied it to Play-Doh, toys, and his cousins.

This picture was from Ka's phone, but I took it. It was our last night together at the beach!

We ended Thursday night with a pool party. This time, Nana was taking the pictures.

With a whole pool to swim in, everyone crowded together in the deep end. Go figure.

Shane kept squirting and Indy jumped in. Carrie's paranoid about Shane in the water, but it was the dog that needed saving.

Indy was only in the water for a second. I was texting Carrie, "Yes, I'm keeping an eye on Shane," when Nana screamed. I dropped the phone, dropped to my belly and pulled her out. The concrete scratched my knee and belly up a little bit. Nana wanted a picture of my battle wounds.

This was my reaction.

I hadn't realized how well my farmer's tan was coming in until I saw the picture.

I had a chance to even it out Friday morning. Ka, Stu, and crew had left, so I needed to be more entertaining. Shane went out early and when I was near the end of my sunlight resistance B came out and wanted to join in.

The sun wasn't out for most of the time, but it still got me some across the shoulders and neck.

Shane's a fan of rough-housing. B was a little bit of a fan, too! I got him to take a deep breath and threw him up a little. His head submerged on landing for half a second and he was none the worse for wear. If we were shaded and Shane wasn't crawling up my back I may have tried to work with him on blowing bubbles.

Shane and I left Saturday at 8:09 AM. We got home at 11:54 AM. We managed to get through the tunnel without issue. The traffic started around Busch Gardens.

Loading the cars was interesting, because the yard was flooded. Pop designated a trail for everyone to follow.

Nana gave Shane ice cream for breakfast, but we didn't leave without him brushing. That's one thing you don't have to worry about under Nana's eyes.

Small aside: My mischievous siblings were too busy to notice something with their parental duties. The lock to Shane and I's room was on the outside. We could have easily been locked in. I saw it day one, but knew better than to mention it.....until now!

We made it home without event save the traffic.

Carrie was glad to see us! She's been playing a lot of Portal while we've been out. She bought the original Portal for $0.79 on her steam account. She played through the whole thing in an hour and thirty eight minutes. There was a Portal musical, she recorded herself singing "I'm Still Alive," and I played some co-op Portal 2 with her a couple of nights, as well! It was Portal-mania to keep her from missing us too much (well, that, horses, and work).