JWalking: The Blog

W armest water at the beach so far this week. Too bad I was too tired to fight the waves today. But, as you can see, there was much fun to be had hanging out in the sand. If you remember from yesterday, we're still working on "48-hour Family Restaurant Challenge." You could feel it was boys day today, as Grandpa sent the guys to the beach in the morning, so they would be ready to cook in the afternoon. The attack forts and safety moats went up quickly! RJ2, meantime, was enjoying a sand bath! R and I got to go on a lunch date. The "Tailgate" dinner the boys prepared was a lot of fun and crazy delicious! (Even gluten-free breaded chicken! My family is spoiling me with gluten-free entrees and specials this week.) Kids finished out the night drawing chalk pictures on the driveway. CJ went out shopping with the girls this morning; brought home a sweet bracelet (and some kind of tattoo!) RJ2 lost a tooth! She was so proud to celebrate. "Everyone, give a hand!...

I f you have read my beach posts before, you know my family is pretty creative when it comes to having fun at the beach. (I know. As if the beach isn't fun in and of itself!) We are playing "48-hour Family Restaurant Challenge." A bunch of Food Network fanatics we are! This isn't a competition, but the exhibition is just as exciting. Grandma took the girls and Grandpa took the guys. Each team of kids is to create their own restaurant--complete with decor, staffing and, of course, menu items for dinner. They have to cook and serve! The girls were on tonight. We all enjoyed dinner at "The Salty Dog Cafe," and the service was terrific! (CJ opted to write a review of the dining experience; perhaps we can post that later.) Otherwise today, one crew went off crabbing while the rest of us went back to the beach for an afternoon of excellent boogie-boarding. (I took one wave all the way into shore, baby--yeah!) Kids got ice cream off the truck. A morning shower was...

M y brother-in-law started the day with homemade French toast and bacon (not that I could have the French toast, but it looked great). He and my sister finished with these amazing kabobs! The family food has been marvelous. The weather is crazy warm, but the breeze kicks in every now and again. Tuesday will go down in my memory as the day I rode the boogie board for the first time! It wasn't the old raft that we used to take to the Jersey shore in my pre-teen days. But, the technique is all the same, and it really did all come back like riding a bike. I had the best time!! As I was bringing the board back in, R asked, "Had enough?" I said, "Well, actually, it's kind of addictive." I'm hoping to venture back out into the waves tomorrow. Freeing and fun!

The water continues to be warm and the surf continues to be vigorous for excellent boogie-boarding! Discovered that we can watch the family's surfers in the ocean while eating lunch at the counter in the home kitchen. Excellent! Hot-tubbing and a storm today. More warm water on the way!

G olly, is it beautiful here! Water temperature is perfect, which is good since every kid seems to be further and further out to sea! Growing up and playing hard!! It's fun to watch. Lots of swimming, too, and another fantastic sunset. Looking forward to more of the same for Monday....

M y anklet is securely fastened. Trip down went great. Beautiful house with a marvelous view of the ocean. Kids went night swimming--all 9 of them! Can't wait to feel the sand and surf in the AM!

B est blueberry picking ever! 20 pounds in about 45 minutes. Really superb crop (at Swift Creek Berry Farm) and good-enough conditions (as in, not sweltering!). My niece has just finished up baking two blueberry pies as I'm writing this. Gluten-free blueberry coffee cake (a la Chatty Kelly) tomorrow morning. The cousins did a great job. We had a water break at the car before heading off for something really cool.... No waiting at the Short Pump Sweet Frog. Everyone enjoyed some yummy treats. And, we found out that frozen yogurt places seem to be sweeping the country, with everyone mentioning the name of a different place! Bring it on--more places to visit, in more places! Today was the very, very last day of Wild and Wacky Waterworks. CJ was invited to come back to help next summer as a junior counselor. She'll have this lovely photo to remember her experience..... Note the special jump rope they gave her. Not sure how I'm getting today's spitted dirt out of h...

T ime's up! Company's here!! It's been a long day. Started out great. RJ2 was feeling super-responsible. "Mom, can you take my picture while I'm brushing my teeth?" What? You're brushing your teeth?! Yeah.... She was such a charmer this morning, carrying on lots of conversation over breakfast with a newly-come-home R. She knew company was on the way, and she couldn't wait! I was wrapping up lots of things. Trying to make as much room as possible for guests' things. (The Expander is about half capacity right now. Gotta crank it up tomorrow!) Ironed up my niece's gift so she could open it up tonight. This was not an easy shirt to make! The fabric was perfect for the application, but I am obviously not used to handling anything outside of cotton! It was very difficult to make it behave. It should be really comfortable, though. And the colors remind me of her. CJ was back at water camp for day #3. They shot "stuff" out of super soakers. S...

G ee.... What happened to that rainy Monday we had? I looked at the internet weather, and it said there was an advisory. I was hoping for a morning T-storm or something. Nope. One of those "bad air" advisories. Don't go outside because it could be bad for your health. OK. Got lots to do inside. (Although CJ still had water camp today. Lots of water, she said.) RJ2 is keeping her wake up-and-play schedule, beginning some time after 6 a.m. Today, she went for the kitchen chalkboard and wrote out the alphabet, erasing tonight's dinner plans. That was OK, because CJ was integrally involved in dinner-- Spaghetti sauce is definitely her specialty, and she cooked up a fresh batch today. While she was chopping, sauteing and simmering, I started in on a new cookie recipe. It's a Family Fun recipe for Orange Cornmeal Crisps. It's not a very appetizing name for a dessert cookie, but that it's mostly made with cornmeal--masa harina--is appealing as a gluten-free trea...

W e've been on Summer Vacation since last week, and it's felt like summer--on and off--for the past several weeks. Still, stop by that calendar and look, and it shows you "First Day of Summer." A lazy, hazy, crazy one at that. Hmmm.... Not too crazy, though. RJ2 is getting up regularly in the 6 o'clock hour. But, I applaud her for waiting until a minute or two after 7 to come into the bedroom to wake me up. As suggested in last night's posting, the day started with French pressed special roast, waffles and fruit. Yeah, it's like eating at The Jefferson every morning around here...NOT! The shared literature would probably have Tom heading out the door to his crops. But, I love it when RJ2 brings in a book to present and then changes up the whole thing to feature extended family members. "What a sad day Uncle Dave had!" She's looking forward to seeing family. Speaking of books, had to laugh out loud when the phone rang and it was the library. R...

R ainy days and Mondays. Always get me...wet! The weather played a little havoc today, in that it caused CJ's "Wild and Wacky Waterworks" camp to be cancelled?!!? Due to it being "too cold" for the activities?!!? Even CJ said early on in the day that it would ruin the shaving cream to have things be too wet. (Yes, they throw shaving cream!) In the end, though, by afternoon, the sun had finally broken through for good and things warmed up nicely. Oh well.... If anything, there could have been a lot more slipping than usual. So, she has a make-up session on Friday afternoon. RJ2 stayed content by orchestrating field day for Princess Dora and the other subjects of the Crystal Kingdom Castle. She trode the wet Croc-kets (tee-hee...that's for R) out to the sandbox and unearthed the Barbies from their overnight sand wraps. They are now sitting around the completely sand-filled pool (nevermind that I emptied it yesterday), chatting about Ken, Brad and Rick and, som...

I t was not the most pleasant of days--warm and muggy here in Central VA--but we enjoyed a late-afternoon short shower, which was a welcome visitor. Before the clouds turned dark, I grabbed some "outside" Barbies (as opposed to those Barbies that will never know what it's like to have sand stuck in their joints and forever clung to their strands of hair) and headed for the sandbox. RJ2 was right on my heels and plopped herself right back into her dune from yesterday. I watered a few flowers and bushes before making my way over to the sandbox with the hose. "Can you put water in it, Mom?" Oh, yeah!! Blogger is not letting me post the video tonight. But, if you could hear the sound of the hose dripping water into the pool, it would sound like my one and only trip to the spa. If it didn't cost money and involve electricity, I would install one of those recirculating water fountains. I finished watering the rest of the backyard and popped back to the sandbox...

O K...I'm sure I'm setting myself up for failure with that title, so I should just stop it! Ha! Ha!!.... * * * " M om. Maaaaa-om. Mom?" Wait. I've heard this before. It was 2-something or 3-something this morning, but it was much more panicked. Why is it that the only word RJ2 can say between bedtime and wake-up time is-- "Hi, Mom." She walked into the bedroom at 6 on the dot this morning. Saturday. No school. ( Sigh .) This, after that earlier wake-up--due to rowdiness before bedtime and staying up too late [Called it!]--which put her right back to sleep again and me up for an hour or so. Needless to say, as she went to play "Curious George" on the computer, I went back to sleep on the sofa. Turns out, I would not be the only one going back to bed today. The door to CJ's bedroom remained closed between 9:45 and 1:30. Apparently at last night's lock-in at church, she "forgot" to sleep! Managed an hour of sle...