Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Lessons From The Beach




Everything you do is an opportunity to learn, and vacation is no exception.

Some of the things I learned while at the beach the last few days:

1.        The best things in life REALLY can be free.

Aiden had a shark tooth necklace we bought on another trip to the beach, but the tooth was sharp and he didn’t like wearing it.  I went into one of the gifts shops and spent time finding him a new one that wasn’t sharp, and also got him a “Moon Ball,” a small ball with unpredictable bounces, which was somthing I thought would be right up his alley.  When I went to pay, the clerk asked me how old my child was and I told her he was 11.  She said they had a batch of faulty mood rings, and that she hated to just throw them all away and she gave me a handful for him.  While he likes the necklace and ball, guess what was the most used thing on vacation?  And not just by Aiden!  We are all now experts in what mood ring colors mean.

2.        Don’t ever trust the weather predictions a week in advance.

Ok, so I already knew that one.  Especially in Florida.  But I was particularly perturbed this time as a week ago the prediction was temperature in the 80’s and sunny.  Yesterday never got out of the 60’s and was rainy and dreary.

3.       Males are crazy.

Ok, so I already knew this one too.  As I said, yesterday never got out of the 60’s and was rainy and dreary.  Aiden and Bryant still went swimming in the Gulf!

4.       Circle K “cappucino” tastes really good when you are cold.

I went and got hot coffee, wearing my hoodie, while the guys were swimming.

5.       You will never use the amenities you look for when booking a room.

We had a full kitchen:  we used the refrigerator to put drinks in and reheated some leftovers from our takeout lunch in the microwave.  I couldn’t tell you if the stove or oven even worked.  We had a heated pool:  see lesson #3.  There was a DVD library for rainy days:  Aiden insisted on checking out a movie as soon as the office opened on Tuesday morning.  We never watched it.  And last but not least, we had a 1 bedroom cottage:  there was a queen bed in the main room and a full bed in the bedroom.  No one used the bedroom.  Aiden insisted on sleeping on the futon in the main room!

6.       Sometimes you can teach an old dog new tricks, if they are a younger old dog.

This is the same beach we were married at and stayed for a few days at a year ago.  There is a Creperie that I and my friend Lynn wanted to eat at, but never got around to it.  Very French menu, not traditional American meals.  Well, I got the guys to eat there for brunch today.  The guys that both have their “go-to” item at every restaurant we ever go to and rarely vary.  While Bryant found it “OK”, much to his surprise, after asking me 50 times what a crepe was on the way there, Aiden really liked it.  He had the “French Breakfast,” two crepes filled with strawberry filling, a croissant, and bacon.  He wants to go back sometime for a chocolate crepe.  I think we will, and we’re going to take Lynn!

7.       Sometimes old dogs don’t like new tricks.

I learned to type on an ancient 50-lb typewriter.  I like keyboards.  I took my new tablet with me on vacation, and wrote a blog on it while I was there.  I do not like typing that much on the virtual keyboard.  I’m typing this one on my laptop.

8.       Last but not least, I need to live at the beach.

I have a lot of allergies....particularly to pollens, orange blossoms, pollutants, various chemicals like pesticides, various grasses and plants...you know, things they don’t have at the beach.  While I woke up Monday morning sneezing my head off, an hour after arriving at the beach, my body forgot what allergies were.  It remembered again as we got about 15 minutes away from our house on the drive home.  It’s for my health, we need to do it!  I am insisting!

Unfortunately, now we are back home and I’m doing laundry.  Yep, that’s why they have wine.  Perhaps that is why my husband just came back from the grocery store with some...

               

 

 

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