Beach Bums

Before I forget, let me mention my "shining moment" from Wednesday.

After I rode my first big wave to shore and was enjoying the final moments of such an exhilarating ride, I felt a pop. No, I didn't break anything. My bikini top had popped right off! Frankly, I might have preferred to have broken something. The kids were all yelling at me to stand up, and I was laughing so hard that I couldn't manage to explain that I was lying on wet sand because I seriously could not stand up without getting arrested! I glanced around, half hoping to see all the men on the beach pushing aside their wives and children in an approach similar to one they would use if Pamela Anderson had just lost her top. But, alas, I was disappointed to realize that no one was even looking my way. As Grace would say, "Too bad, so sad."

Thursday was our last day at the beach, and Henry kept up with his usual approach of being the social chair of the group. The kid made at least one new friend on the beach each day. Today, it was two brothers who were using skim boards. Henry's decided that the next time we come, we must buy skim boards. Hmmm.....

We went to the Hotel del Coronado and bought a kite. We did not have huge success with the kite, primarily because I was so sunburned that it was painful to even stand in the sun, but the greatest moment was when George got it to fly for the longest period of time.

Mama trying to get the kite to a functional point. It was not as easy as the 1-2-3 instructions on the front led me to believe.

Grace is off and running!

This may be the first time these two have been this close without one punching the other!

Jack ready to give it a go

Jack hugging George after George's most successful flight!

After the kite flying, we went for ice cream and, if you can believe this, to buy four small cups of ice cream and one smoothie at the Del cost $26. This is disguisting, but it shouldn't have been surprising since a bottle of water there costs $3.99 and a hot dog and bag of chips cost $8.50. I was doing the calculations and figured I could have bought nearly 10 GALLONS of ice cream at the grocery for what I paid at the Mootime Creamery. Maybe I should get into the homemade ice cream business. (That's next, Dad.)

George really enjoyed his "double dark in a cone."

Seriously, this HAS to be as bad as it gets!

Now, a business I am seriously considering is dog apparel. Seriously. Grace and I went into this store called Wag'n Tails and bought Humphrey two shirts - one with a skull on the back and one in camo - and a personalized "I have to go out now" bell for him to ring at the door. We almost got a coordinating leash and collar, but they didn't have the pattern we wanted in stock. I won't mention what these clothing items cost, but suffice it to say it's a good business. The woman who owns it said that the fastest growing industries right now in retail are pets and geriatrics. Not sure what they're making for geriatrics, but I'm all about pet clothing. Grace wants to get Humphrey his own PJs, but I told her I have to draw the line there.

Humphrey in his Skull and Crossbones shirt. Come on, it's all the rage. All the celebrities' kids are wearing it!



On a final adoption note, I did get to mail our dossier to our agency today. It will arrive Monday by 2:00 PM. To have it arrive by 10:00 AM would have been another $37. That's another business I should get into! I got brave and went to INS with the kids, hoping they'd do my fingerprints. No go. They guy working security had clearly had a very disappointing week (perhaps a very disappointing life) and he was bound and determined to make every person coming into his station feel the same way. He told me that they were "understaffed." I should have told him that by this point in my life, not only can I do my own ultrasound as well as a self-exam to determine whether or not I'm dilated, I can probably fingerprint myself. I doubt it would have worked, somehow. So, I'll be back there at 8:00 AM on Wednesday morning with fingers crossed and I might say a few Hail Mary's before going in. I don't know if this is an appropriate use of the Hail Mary, but hey, it can't hurt.