Surviving January: Beach Getaway!
Welcome to our Beach in January!
Come plant your feet in the sand…
happy toes
kick back with a piña colada… (er, popsicle)…
beach photoshoppage
and relax in our castle in the sun!
the stage is set
I was so grateful last week for every comment from people who cheered me up, cracked me up, and couldn’t stop short of showing me up! 🙂 So many people said kind things about the photos… I got nervous! It reminded me of my mom’s story of her oil painting lessons in high school. Her instructor raved over the paintings, but she didn’t know how she had done it, and she was afraid she couldn’t do it again. So… she quit! Her amazingly detailed, textured paintings hang in some of our houses. As far as I know, though, she never tried oil painting after the beautiful first few.
I am trying to remember I’m just doing this for fun… in spite of my fears of failing entirely.
just for fun
The photo of the day. The catchlights in her eyes make me HAPPY.
The rest of the photos will be fun for a family album. In fact, I’ve already scrapped them into a photo book. Come sit by our pile of sand and flip through the book – Every one of these faces is precious to me.
start the party!
photo book pages 2 & 3 (old news)
I was debating to myself whether our umbrella was really too big for these purposes. My son piped up, “Oooooh. No, it can never be too big!” Wonder where he gets that…
beach boys
You can click on the pictures and squint a lot to see what I wrote – but it’s basically the same things I’ve written here.
When my ever-supportive husband heard what I was planning for the week, he asked, “HOW much sand did you buy??!” (It was around 200 pounds.) He was there to witness the castle demolition, which got smiles from our oldest daughter – her Daddy’s girl.
feeling happy
getting into it
boats and sea turtles
The keep-the-popsicle-out-of-the-sand thing was too much for our two-year-old.
popsicles (aka transition out of the sand)
Why do I always feel let down when it’s all over? Maybe it feels like you’ve visited, and now you have to go back home…
and you're leaving me with the cleanup! 🙂
Next week, I am avoiding messes… accepting the cold reality of January… and venturing out on the mountain for some vitamin D and fill-flash shooting! (If you’d like to stick around while I clean up, you can see – or skip – my extra miscellany post this week.)
Now… what to do with the sand…
Credits: Around the Way 1 & 2 by Biograffiti, Ocean freebie by Lily Design
oh my! looks like a lot of fun! what did you put the sand in for them to play in? i love the quote, “how much sand did you buy?” classic! enjoy your january adventures!
I layered a sheet, a painter’s linen drop cloth, and a clear shower curtain! (Taking advantage of Southwestern tile while I’m here…) The sand was already wet, and it shaped well into a contained (at first) square.
Now it’s all in a lawn & leaf bag that I can’t budge! I’m thinking of shoveling it into a livestock tub off the deck…
Favorites? The catch-light one, both haircuts, sunglasses, feeling happy, and start the party. It would have been so fun to be there in person!! By the way, I love the haircut. It looks classy. Or maybe sassy. So why not do another one?!! Like you said, it grows! If it’s bad enough, you can hide him in the buffet, like Grandma did Daddy when his haircut went awry.
Well, actually the haircut is growing on me, too. (hahahah!)
Thanks for letting me share your story. I’d love to share your paintings…
It was cool to see you Monday and see some of the “before”. Looking through the pics, I could say, “Oh, I know what she did with that one” or ” I know what she would like to have done with that one, but felt that so much editing wouldn’t be honest photography”.
HA! What fun. Can I come over and play?
I think you can use your sand as traction on all your snow!! Just sprinkle 200 lb on the driveway 🙂
SC – Now THAT is a fantastic idea!!! More snow’s coming…
PA – I think honest photography went out the window here… 😉 Thanks so much for adding us to your trip. The kids ate it up and were sad that you had left the next morning.