The week that was

Last week was our annual family vacation at the beach house. This year was special, because my parents tore the thing down last summer and built a new one - our first night in the new house was last Friday. When we visited the place over Memorial Day weekend, I was certain that we'd be lucky to sleep there by Labor Day, at best, and my sister concurred having seen the pictures.

Oh, but we forgot about my mother - and trust me, the house was done, decorated, and fabulous. I'm so proud of her and what she accomplished, and I'm still amazed.

The weekend was beautiful, marred only by the fact that Mr. Mac had to return to ATL for the week to be in court for his summer job. Good for him, but I sure did miss him. So did the kids, as they told me pretty much every day!

The Fourth is just a fun time for us all - we relax and play, and then we get on each others' nerves around Thursday or so, fight, and have so much MORE fun that by the weekend, we're sad to leave.

This year, we didn't have any sunburns, because I was there the whole time and I slathered my kids with Bullfrog every couple of hours. We seriously went through two bottles in a week. The only injury of consequence was that Little Miss S got a black eye in a mid-run collision with her cousin M&M. Baby J was just a doll - he's pulling up and crawling, and his main source of upset was that he couldn't keep up with all the little girls. Miss M found herself a friend on-island, and so the kids were all happy.

I sat around studying for the bar while everyone went to the beach.

Here is the bulleted list of the ups and downs:

* The baby sitter my mom hired (who's sit for us in the past, so we knew what we were getting) was even more omnipresent and obnoxious than before. The woman abhors silence, and she won't shut up. She also makes crap up about her life to make herself somehow seem more glamorous. It's sad and pathetic, and I generally just don't like her being around my kids unsupervised. So, she ends up taking care of my sister's kids while I take care of mine while my sister takes care of my mom, so it all kinda balances. At the end of the day, she will do anything for the kids, and she does take excellent care of them as far as seeing to their physical needs, even if she is a bit indulgent with the cakes and Dora. One night, Mr. Mac, Miss M, Little Miss S and I were all in my bedroom, relaxing together while we got everyone settled for bed. Babysitter comes in to say goodnight, and proceeds to hang out for a good half hour! Mr. Mac went and got his night clothes on, as did I, and she still didn't leave. Things like this make me worry.

* Internets, you won't believe this, but the boat broke down. I know! Like that never happens with a boat! This time, we were off to see "Monkey Island" (a colony of monkeys on an island in the marsh), and the boat alarm kept going off after we bottomed out when my dad tried to take a short-cut across the marsh (well, it was a VERY high tide). At the end of it all, we ended up anchoring at a public boat ramp and eating our picnic while we waited for Babysitter to come get us in the largest vehicle available (my sister's Suburban). Add it to the long list of stories about the boat breaking down, stranding us in the middle of the marsh or just offshore until we get rescued. No 3 hour tours for us, I tell ya!

* Little Miss S decided to develop a deeply-felt fear of water that began about the time her dad left the island, and didn't go away until he came back. I had to take her to the pool, shower her in my shower because she wouldn't go in the bath, and generally deal with her being a giant pain. I complained to Mr. Mac about it, and when he comes back - POOF! Phobia lifted. All done. Sighs.

* Miss M was an angel, as she always has been, and I think she had a wonderful time. She found a new friend on the island, who lives relatively close to us and whose mom is a friend of my sister's and mine. So we are very excited about that.

* The golf cart parade was fabulous. Miss M was miffed she didn't get to enter one this year, but I think she had fun in the end getting to watch. The little girls were enraptured, and even Baby J was just thrilled for the first 30 minutes, after which he took a nice, long nap. The fireworks were very nice - we can see them so well from the porch of the new house! Fortunately, there's also a sunroom off the back, so Little Miss S could watch them from inside. Fireworks are SCARY! :)

At the end of the day, the whole week was just great. Now, it's back to the grind for me, and Miss M leaves tomorrow for two weeks in Ireland with her grandmother seeing all sorts of aunts, uncles and cousins. She should be completely rotten when she returns, which she deserves. I have two weeks until the bar, and Mr. Mac is awaiting verdict on his trial. In another month, I'll be working, Miss M will be back at her mom's, and Mr. Mac will be gearing up for another year of school. The summer will be over, and I'll be sad. But it's been a good one, to say the least!