this, friends, is the life

cruising.

the view from our hotel room

our room :)

our teeny yet shockingly efficient bathroom

loving life, and we haven't even moved yet

ahhhhhhh

ShuaCam time

ha!

double ha!

making "feetprints" on the balcony

my gentlemen

ShuaCam: Dada

ShuaCam: Vacation Foot

magen's bay, st. thomas

no, no... we didn't love it at all

i mean, how could we? LOOK at the place!

i remember doing this! he loved watching his hands disappear.

bus ride back. sandy. tired. mildly cantankerous.

docked next to a disney boat. shu still calls it "the weweey woud one."

balcony. food. husband.    goofy grin.

on the top of the glass-bottomed boat

diver feeding fish under the glass-bottomed boat

our All-American Boy. angry birds on the shuttle through an island filled with mountains, wild goats and crazy drivers.

and, scene.

shu and The Nana

joshua's been the lucky recipient of Time with Nana lately.

on and off, i join them in their escapades.

this particular time, i was seated on a bench with Boompa and The Great Nana,

marvelling at how my son can throw rocks into the lake. over and over.

without a break, without an end.

escaping the heat

sometimes you think

cramming a handful of cousins

into varying vehicles for a Free Summer Movie

is a pretty genius idea.

until you get to the theater with 5 minutes to spare

(see earlier "cramming" and "handful" and "cousins")

and get turned away...

No Room in the Inn Air Conditioning.

but we kids can find joy and festivity elsewhere--

even when slightly overdressed for the party.

i beg you to click and enlarge this picture. my brave boy :)

madi tries to encourage the shu

steven

starting to enjoy himself

steven, of course

our little logie

miss madison

logan bobby, afraid of no thing

this is the bean in a nutshell

there you go, buddy. its meant to be enjoyed, not endured.

lessie

the crew, minus one pair of shorts.

ah, sunny florida

you know your Weekend Away was excellent
when you come home with 5 pictures.

these five:

my husband, rescuing my hat.

the boat-accessed dog beach. (heaven!)

the good captain.

the beach stroll.
(thanks, amy. without you, there'd only be 3 pictures.)

the disgusting thing.

which, in case you're interested, is a SEA HARE.
only took me a handful of hours to find after
googling: "sea snail...Estero FL... ewww!" repeatedly.

and yes, virginia, its as gnarly and squishy against your leg as it looks.
did you hear me? i said "AGAINST YOUR LEG!"

MY LEG.

once back on land, i sent a picture of this little beast of the sea to kim
knowing full well how much her boys would love it.
follow their subsequent story HERE.

so, thanks,
sister & boyfriend & niece.
(that's RIGHT!)

seal, revisited

the more we watched this video, the harder we laughed along with shu.
i hope his giggle comes through the speakers well enough to infect you, too.

shua, meet seal

we found a sprinkler today. a seal one.
the shu-man wasn't sure at first, but as you'll see,
he made friends pretty quickly.
he even introduced seal to his car shoe.
(righty. who, when not underfoot, can be found in hand.)


the last picture says it all--

its just me and you, seal.
we got this.