My beach trip was WONDERFUL! I had a great time and did practically nothing. I arrived in Maryland on Sunday, and Ma picked me up from the airport. We got back to the house and immediately headed out to Nathan and Andrea's for Ethan's birthday party. This was also to celebrate Alec's birthday, so there were adults there. They went all out -- a huge jumping castle in the shape of a firetruck, complete with dalmation dog on top, and the local firemen came by with the truck and all the kids got to sit in the front seat! The firemen also turned on the lights and sirens and the kids got to try on the fire gear. You can imagine how Ethan and Cullen felt about that! Cullen was in the jumping thing the entire day -- I think he came out only twice while I was there. He must have been exhausted by the end, but even on the way home, you could tell that he was refusing to fall asleep. He finally did, but it took a long time.

We got home from the party and I headed out to the Tastee Diner to meet some friends. We had a terrific time and talked and talked and talked. It is strange to think about because in some ways, things haven't changed at all, and in other ways, things have changed tremendously.

Karen picked me up Monday morning at 7am and we drove over to Riki's to get going to the beach. WHOOOHOOO! We had fantastic weather, though it was a little hot, but there was no rain, and it was gorgeous beach week! We spent a great deal of time just sitting on the beach talking and reading. Our oceanfront suite at the hotel included a free umbrella rental which was great since the sun was beating down all the time. Here is a view from the balcony of our room:



I read several books and usually finished one and half books a day. I stayed on the beach for as much time as I could -- usually from first thing in the morning, until about 6pm every night. I would have my chair under the big umbrella (so would the other girls, since we had two umbrellas every day), and just rotate with the circle of shade throughout the day. Since it was so hot, we all went into the water fairly often. I spent quite a bit of time in the water up to my chin with my hat and sunglasses, just floating vertically. The water was between 70 and 75 degrees every day and was perfect -- no critters, seaweed, or sea lice. We didn't have great waves, but that is ok.

One of the things I had thought about doing while I was at the beach was practicing my open water swimming. As you remember, I did have a small problem during the Sahuarita triathlon with the lake swim -- it kind of freaked me out. I got disoriented and even had to flip over and do backstroke for awhile. I found this very disturbing since I have never felt afraid in the water before. I can understand now how someone can be overwhelmed in the water. So, since I was at the beach, I figured it was a prime opportunity to try to fix this problem. Wednesday afternoon, I borrowed a pair of goggles from Karen and headed out. I felt pretty good! I managed to swim from one jetty to the next with no panic problems at all! You can see in the picture from the hotel room one of the jetties. There was about 200 yards between jetties.

So I am swimming along, feeling good and feeling relieved that I don't feel a panic welling up from my toes and suddenly, I stop. It turns out that I was about a foot from the jetty. I found this out because the lifeguard came out to get me. Yup. According to Karen, it was the whole deal -- the lifeguard was blowing his whistle at me and then, when (of course) I didn't hear him, leaped off the guard chair and ran into the water at top speed with his floaty thing and swam out to rescue me. Oh, the humiliation. At Rehoboth beach, the lifeguard racing in to get someone is a big deal -- the entire beach population stops whatever they are doing and watches. He asked me if I was ok, and I said yes. He made some comment about the waves sweeping you in before you even realize it. I apologized for disrupting his afternoon and we both went our separate ways. How totally embarrassing. I am glad, however, that I didn't run into the jetty.

The next day, I headed out to swim again, this time with Riki keeping an eye on me since I decided to swim before the lifeguards were on duty. I headed out again and felt great -- I am so glad I did this! I feel so much more relaxed about swimming in open water now. Riki, however, wasn't so relaxed because as she watched, I headed right out to sea. I managed to correct my course, but went far enough out that she was a little concerned. Because of this, Riki walked at the water's edge for the rest of the time I was swimming. This was a prime seat to see what happened next! According to Riki, I was swimming along and came up to breathe and right in front of me, breathing at the same time, were 3 dolphins!! Riki told me that they were right in front of me about 25 yards ahead. She told me all of this when I got back from swimming. After she told me about it, I did remember seeing a patch of black fairly close by, but by the time I came back up to breathe again, it was gone, and I told myself it was nothing. Pretty amazing -- I don't know if I am glad I didn't see the dolphins or not. I don't know if I would have freaked out, or just stopped and watched them.

We went out to one fancy dinner just like we always do -- but this time, we actually got pictures. We look marvelous!! We had a terrific meal, and finished up with a peanut butter brownie with bittersweet hot fudge sauce. Whoa. Worth every calorie!! But there weren't even that many since Karen and I split it. Here we are looking fabulous --- Riki, me, Mary Anne, and Karen.



We headed back to Maryland on Thursday. I met my friend Joanne for dinner at a local pub and then I headed back to my parents' house. I was so tired -- and it was really late, so I didn't get to see anyone from my mother's group -- this was the only flaw in the trip. Ma drove me to the airport Friday morning and I headed back to Tucson. Re-entry into real life is very difficult. The guys are doing great and I am adjusting slowly. I was supposed to get up early this morning and go for a bike ride, but when the alarm went off, I didn't feel very good, so I canceled. Any other time, I would have ignored that I didn't feel so hot and gone riding anyway. Today, I just couldn't face it. After a week of doing nothing, it is hard to get back on the bike...

Real life is now up and running and this week is going to be a doozy. I am planning on baking cookies to take into the guys' new teachers on Wednesday, since they start school on Thursday (if you listen closely, you can hear the Hallelujah Chorus). Andy and Benjamin and Ron start football Monday night at 4:45 -- they will have practice every day from 4:45 until 6:15 until September 1, when they will drop down to only 3 practices a week. I did haircuts for everyone this morning, and we have new shoes, backpacks, lunchboxes and school supplies ready to go. I think we are all set and ready for the new school year!!