It's my blog birthday! Today, mymegaexcitinglife is one year old! I know because I posted my first entry from my family's beach vacation not knowing if it was something that would "take" or not. I guess it took because I've posted almost every week since then. AND, if you've read this correctly you'll correctly deduce that....
it's time for another family beach trip post!
l-r: friends shon, chris and cj gilmore, uncle tony and aunt suzy deaton, first cousin once removed andy terry, first cousins greg and jennifer terry, first cousin once removed spencer terry, uncle ronnie and aunt lianne venable, moi, mr. smith, friend kristina canan, friends matt and jenny mowrer with their youngin's, lottie sue and rowdy, nephew max with mama and daddy who is holding lucy.
Whew.
And of course... you know it...
we all go CRAZY!!! check out my backbend, yo...
Oh and before we get into it, let me share with you my FAVORITE PHOTO OF THE WEEK:
i call this my angelina jolie shot. my aunt and uncle (the actors) pointed out that a real actress would NEVER cover her face for a close-up like this. i lobbied, unsuccessfully, for a re-shot but as it turns out i am NOT angelina jolie and never got my take two. i also totally side-belly flopped an instant after this was taken and nearly drowned.
Anyway - we decided this year to break the drive over into two parts and spend Friday night with the Gilmores! Yea!
I'd never been to their house, but felt right at home when I discovered their workout room.
i ride the ellipt-ey in neyland stadium
jenny opts for the nautilus in neyland stadium - on a game day no less!!
there was a power t on the ceiling and everything. attention to detail, check!
We begin having fun immediately upon arrival.
jenny snuggles cj
then kristina does while jenny gives him a big ole smoocharoo
we played pool
and darts, but mr. ocd matt mowrer decided where chris's toe line was was incorrect and remeasures for accuracy
peek a boo!
The next morning we make a quick (ha ha) pit stop to Costco to lay in potato chip, beer and mayonnaise supplies for the week, then we HIT THE ROAD!
and we're off!
we caravaned with the gilmores (black car) and mowrers (blue car)
We finally get there! Lemme tell you, this house was TIGHT. It slept all of us (17 adults and 5 children) and had nine bathrooms - the owners knew how to do it RIGHT for that size group of people. There were two fridges and two dishwashers, a clothes washer and dryer, etc. HOWEVER. Anyone who has been to a rental house knows that the kitchenware sucks. I went through three knives the first night before I found one decent enough to cook with - and the clothes dryer took three cycles to dry one load of clothes, the icemaker billed in the house amenities was just the icemaker that was inside every fridge in North America, and one dishwasher fell out every time it was opened because it wasn't bolted in, and the other dishwasher had to be pried out a bit every time it was run because it was pushed in too far to latch properly. All of that was fine and cope-able... but the real zinger was discovered on the first night when....
Everyone got hungry for supper but no one wanted to leave the island and face the Saturday traffic of everyone getting onto the island (there's not much on the island but rental houses, and only one way off and on the island. Saturdays are crazy traffic-ey, but the rest of the week is calm). I offered to go to the grocery store and buy frozen pizza! No takers. I offered to go to the grocery and make frozen lasagna! No takers. Salad? Nope... I broke down and offered to make shrimp creole. YEA YEA YEA SHRIMP CREOLE!
i made shrimp creole for 25 people in this industrial size pot
I mentioned that the knives sucked? When it came time to open up the cans of tomatoes to go in the creole we discovered that it did not work. LITERALLY, did not work. So we improvise!
ronnie opens up a can rambo-style
jennifer gives the rambo-can a whirl
here are the sad little cans of tomatoes having been rambo'ed open
The next day we discovered a perfectly fine electric can opener in one of the gagillion cabinets in the kitchen. Oh well. We all learned a new skill set. But I am shocked no one lost a finger in the process.
Before we get too far into the blog post, you should know that this trip was, in fact, quite a dangerous week chock full of many other frightening, painful and/or near-death experiences. For instance, the trip started off with a bang at Costco when I bumped into these little babies:
geese are seriously starting to freak me out. they have it in for me or something...
lottie sue scared the pants off dipsey and uncle A LOT. mostly with poopie pants, but still
Papa Tony spends a lot of time working on his grill in order to get it heated up into the "ideal" zone.
excited because the needle is moving in the right direction....
but not quite there yet...
He doesn't often succeed because he drilled about a zillion holes in it in order for it to "catch its breath."
stand back, please, the smoke needs plenty of air...
One night the smoker wasn't getting hot enough, so once the grill was finished being used, its hotter than the surface of the sun charcoals were loaded up into the smoker. It was a very sensitive and hot process:
loading out...
and in! i'm glad they decided to play with fire after about four cocktails apiece.
tommy got light sabered by the four and under crowd. he lost his legs AND his arms! don't worry, they grew back in a starfish-esque fashion.
i think the kneeling in the gravel hurt worst
i got light sabered too!
apparently though, i'm impervious to light sabers
kristina almost cracks a tooth with a pellet in her game that daddy brought and jenny photo bombs in
Our house, for the first time ever, was ON the ocean. We always stay on Second Street, but as First Street (on the water) erodes, Second Street becomes ocean front. Our pool backed up to protected dunes (i.e., don't walk on) but we kept dropping stuff over the railing and having to go sneak down and retrieve items. I dropped a towel and after hearing it rip on sand spurs when I picked it up, we collectively decided not to go back down in the dunes. When the best pool ball got pitched over the side (I accidentally was responsible, whoopsie!) we had to improvise.
Tommy and Matt quietly discoursed, then Matt yelled out to my little cousin, Andy. My always-perceptive Auntie Suzy (Andy's grandmother) immediately sniffed out Matt's plan and without being told what they'd planned to do with Andy, told Matt and Tommy in no uncertain terms that they could NOT lower Andy by his heels into the dunes. Matt eyed me up and I hastily reminded him that I had a good twenty-plus lbs. more on me than Kristina.
Kristina's always helpful.
and down....
and up...
and success!
auntie grew into a giant and feasted on a human-sized pepper!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!
an infant, rowdy, attended his first underwater meeting!
One day in the pool, I discovered that you could shoot low-flying pelicans and gulls with one of the million water guns we had lying around. It quickly became quite the challenge.
kristina, me and jenny keep the skies safe from bird poop
matt and andy are hunting wabbits
And also, children were hurled skyward to absolutely no end.
max catches air with dipsey doodle
i pitch lucy toward the heavens
Ok where was I? Oh yeah, we got to the beach!
First things first: unpacking. I don't. I live out of my suitcase. Which Jenny found horrifying. So she unpacked for me.
she also walked in her sleep the first night and when i woke up to her going through my closet i thought in my sleep-induced haze she was just looking for something she'd left in there in the middle of the night HAHAHAHAHAHA
Next, presentations! As Auntie Suzy was crowned the Queen of Ocean Isle Beach last year, I thought it might be nice to make things official and have her sign a beach resolution. She was amenable to the agreement.
taking care of business first
BEACH RESOLUTION
Between
OCEAN ISLE BEACH
And
THE QUEEN OF OCEAN ISLE
This Resolution regarding Beach Behavior (“Resolution”) is entered into by and between The Beach of Ocean Isle (“Beach”) and The Queen of Ocean Isle (“Queen”).
WHEREAS, in July of 1985, The Venable Family (“Venables”), began convening annually to engage in fellowship;
WHEREAS, The Queen has remained the primary organizer of these conventions;
WHEREAS, from July 1988 until July 2010 there has been only one hiatus of these annual conventions;
WHEREAS, the consensus among Venables remains that these conventions are enjoyable and pleasing and should continue ad infinium;
WHEREAS, these conventions have grown to include other families besides Venables (“In- and Out-laws”);
WHEREAS, the consensus among these In- and Out-laws remains that these conventions are enjoyable and pleasing and should continue ad infinium;
WHEREAS, The Venables, The In- and Out-laws and The Queen maintain these conventions remain at The Beach;
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties mutually agree as follows:
v All those over the age of 21 (or close enough) shall not draw a sober breath unless they can provide medical dispensation. Video cameras will be made available to record what happens.
v Keeping oneself is optional, but it is highly discouraged.
v Bathing attire shall consist of dental floss and postage stamps.
v If during the course of public sing-alongs Broadway musicals are initiated (specifically from the musical “Hair”), the offender shall be subject to flogging.
v Body weight shall not be mentioned at any time, for any reason. Offenders shall be subject to food from the Fry Daddy.
v Dessert, preferably cream, shall be made available for all meals.
v Gluttony shall find favor in our sight.
v Man Time is to be recognized daily at the grill. Those may enter into Man Time by:
» Eating fish
» Learning to swim
» Public urination
v Man time may only be attended by women if they are bringing food or beverage to the men, and they are exempt from public urination.
v If during the course of the convention week conflict should arise, resolution to said conflict shall be determined via underwater meeting. If no resolution can be reached, winner of water balloon battle shall prevail.
v Lighthouses and battleships are right out.
v Consumer of the last of the pimento cheese is responsible for cleaning the pimento cheese vessel and not merely faking attendants out by putting the empty vessel back into the ice chest.
v Voodoo medicine shall not be prescribed.
v This Resolution may be amended by mutual agreement of the parties in writing.
I confirm this agreement with my signature and date to this Resolution below. Signed on this twelfth day of July in the year of our Lord two thousand and ten and of the Beach Convention twenty three.
Suzy Deaton
Queen of Ocean Isle Beach
Next, Auntie presented each of us with a custom selected t-shirt!
much hilarity ensued
mama models her fine shirt
greg's was oddly appropriate as he forgot to bring his glasses to the beach
tommy's says "art for god"
the little girls both got hannah montana shirts and despite the fact that neither of them knew who hannah montana was, they barely got out of them all week
mine says tootie! it's funny 'cause it's TRUE.
dipsey's says "sin kill." he's trying to make me toot in this photo.
The Mowrer/Smith clan put together a presentation to America's newest hero: Tony Deaton. It was an infomercial about the incredible power of positive thought Papa Tony has and we called it Deaton the Odds. We discussed and decided not to post the whole video to the interweb, but don't worry - it's mostly full of inside jokes that would be lost on the viewing audience (all three of you) I have. But it was comedy gold - it was viewed nightly and came complete with Lance Armstrong "live strong"-esque bracelets that said "Deaton the Odds." It was HILARIOUS.
What happens during the week mostly goes like this for me: get up, have coffee, go for a run, go to the beach, go to the pool, go in for lunch, go back to the pool, clean up, make something for supper, have man time at the grill, eat supper, go back to the beach, go back and have family hour, go to bed, repeat. My goals for the week were to: not wear makeup (Tommy shamed me into it for my family's Christmas photo once), not wear shoes (besides running shoes; I did go to the grocery store once and put on flip flops for that outing ONLY), and to eat bacon everyday (success; I cooked two pounds of bacon everyday for BLTs).
One of the first days we were there, Mama was explaining to Lucy that her "goggey" that she carries around everywhere was my "goggey" when I was a little girl. Lucy totally comprended that and:
gave me back my goggey. i called it 'bb' as a child and refused to sleep without it. i remember the first trip it was forgotten at home and my father handing me a kleenex to cuddle in the hotel bed that night. even at my tender years i remember taking the kleenex and thinking, WTF?!?
Oh, let me cover the food we ate; the good the bad and the ugly:
i made this yummy yummy bruchettta!
dipsey and his delicious, lemony, cocoanutty fried fish
Mama was busy taking care of Max and Lucy so she passed the okra frying mantle on to me. She almost took it back when I made this:
ew
But I got it back when I made this:
oh yeah
this sounded good, but do not be fooled. cheerwine kreme filled doughnuts are NASTY.
kristina made us a sundae bar for dessert one night to curry favor so she got voted back next year! she succeeded!
and dipsey drank buttermilk out of a wine glass. this falls under the "ugly" part.
One day we woke up to find loggerhead turtle tracks on our beach! Daddy wrote a real nice piece about it if you want to read more, but here's my pictorial collage of what happened.
Aunt Lianne discovered the turtle tracks and Uncle R called the turtle people but had to leave a message for them because it was Sunday. Daddy made a temporary marker to keep other beachgoers from stepping on the nest, and that afternoon the turtle people showed up to move the next back into the dunes.
Here are the turtle people looking for the nest:
operation turtle underway
May I introduce you to:
jim
and deb
I won't go into the whole learney part about it (read Daddy's column for that) but believe me when I say IT WAS REALLY STINKING COOL. I um... cried a little when they found the eggs. It was SO COOL!!! I was into it if you can't tell.
turtle tracks
the nest
a turtle egg
relocating the nest
new nest all ready for turtles to hatch! dipsey marked off the nest originally with broken gate spikes with grocery bags tied to the ends. we are klassy, peeps...
I was so all about the turtle nest that Tommy started calling me a turtle nerd. Like, "Hey, Turtle Nerd, quit drinking all the beer." I came by it honest, so I didn'tmindsomuch.
Also, if you get sleepy, you can feel free to fall asleep where ever you are.
papa tony saws logs at the supper table
andy catches up on his beauty sleep on m's lap
dipsey outside after supper one night
cute auntie and uncle
tony (again) and lottie sue hit the hay
Speaking of sleep, one night we were visiting on the deck before bedtime and I made the comment that I would like to sleep outside. Jenny concurred and our husbands declared us nutjobs, but then loaded out a mattress for us to sleep on. Everyone went to bed and...
i went night-night outside!
Perfect time for a self photo! Did I mention it was dark out? We had some trouble getting the perfect pic.
this was my first try, and ironically the best shot i got
pretending to be asleep
i'm still cutting myself out
jenny peeking
more fake sleeping
still chopping my head off...
Jenny declares me an incompetent self photo taker and takes charge. She doesn't fare much better since....
she gets her finger in every shot she takes
see?
more fake sleeping with the finger in the way
zzz zzz zzz finger in the way zzz zzz zzz
I woke up at 5 AM to go peepee... all alone. Jenny abandoned ship! I was determined to stick it out and boy am I glad I did because I woke up to this:
i am starting a new tradition and doing this one night every year we go on beach vacation
Jenny and Matt LOVE GAMES. Jenny especially loves to improvise games - we started playing improvised pool volleyball (i.e. we had no net or volleyball but we had a long stickey thing we stuck on two lounge chairs on either side of the pool that served as a net and a bouncey ball that we wore out by the end of the week)
the fierce competition
If the ball bounced out of the pool, someone closest would jump out and grab it off the deck. A few times though, it was knocked clean out of the pool area. When that happened we would chant "Auntie Lianne! Auntie Lianne! Auntie Lianne!" until she came out of the house and got the ball for us. She threatened every time to not give it back.
i told you kids, it's mine now!
this is the "net" being used to retrieve the volleyball from the dunes. it was too far away to employ operation kristina, and yes, i'm the one that knocked it off into the dunes.
Random cute photos:
mama, lucy and megan
me and my cute mama
um. i don't know... this just really made me laugh...
kristina and i have on the same dress! shon matches us and jenny DID, but the chest gaped open so she changed. she was ticked off that she couldn't be in our matchy matchy purple picture.
but then gets over it and we self photo
auntie recreates the pouting jenny look
huh? says max
BTW, Clay and Kim had to jet early from the beach, and Mama was in charge of Max and Lucy. Lottie Sue soon glommed on, and before you knew it...
mama had a posse
You should know that Lottie Sue totally was INTO my mother. Max and Lucy call her "Grandmother" and Lottie only latched onto the "Mother" part. If Mama was not in the room, she would ask whoever would listen where her Mother was. After a day or two everyone gave up trying to explain who Mama was and it wasn't unusual to hear things like, "Mommy, where's my Mother?" or say things like, "Lottie, tell Mommy that Mother can't put on your bathing suit now and for her to help you."
the fab four's official group shot
mama and dipsey
mama, lucy, max and dipsey enjoy pool time
stealing dipsey's hat is the ultimate in fun in the sun
lucy is ready for her close-up, mr. de mille
the mowrer babes
We all understand the importance of lubing up before going out in the sun:
auntie lianne and spf 1000
greg and spf 1000
I don't and during okra time Kristina is kind enough to give me an aloe rub down.
too much sun
rowdy man enjoys man time
and spencer is bored by man time
i snuggle the cj during his first man time experience. btw, check out my hair - i had forgotten this. when i lived in florida i used to do this all the time, but cut my hair when we moved to tenn. it's now long enough to do this again. for anyone with long hair that's ever had your head snatched bald in the wind take note: two knots bound up with hair ties and a bandana. you will never have to comb a rat's nest out again.
kristina, cj and me
jenny, kristina, me
lottie about to trip on her bottom lip when max tries to bogart a toy
this piece of art in the kitchen freaks me out - her eyes are sideway among other things
mama with a couple members of her crewe (in hannah montana gear) check out this elaborate sand castle - mama did an excellent job of keeping the children from destroying it.
the gilmore family smiles pretty
And now.... back to the real world. Vacation is over for another year. Another great year with family and friends!
I leave you with this photo - a total rip, I know... but here is my folk's Christmas card pic this year:
dipsey, mama, me, tommy, lucy, clay, kim and max. can't wait to do it all again next year!
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