I'm back!

Thursday morning storms rolled in coloring the water and sky varying shades of blue and green. Every time I looked up the colors mutated a bit creating a thrilling show of color and light. On this particular day, it took a long time for the storm to arrive creating an angry Gulf and sky. The children and I stayed in most of Thursday and enjoyed the view, books, Scrabble (my favorite game), and the company of my mother - a true vacation day. My mother is a weather buff and she showed the children clouds that might form a water spout. We watched for hours and finally, the rain and lightening moved inland.

Early the next morning we saw a shrimp boat in the fog trawling for our dinner. The fog burned off and the children and I played on the beach most of the day. We caught a few crabs and bait fish. The fun was in the hunt. We let them go and caught some more. Princess kept trying to "rescue" me. In other words, she kept pushing me under in her attempts at life saving. I think I drank a gallon of salt water as I laughed in the waves. My son has a new self assuredness that draws him further from the shore. I watch, ever cautious, but let him explore his new strength and bravery.

The wind and the waves escalate. When my husband takes the children fishing and swimming the next morning they can barely stand in the surf. The wind destroys the beach tent and the flag, but provides a wonderful opportunity for us to watch something new. A couple of young adults had huge kites that they used to pull themselves across the surf and across the sand - way cool! They didn't last long. I can imagine wrestling those big kites in such a wind would be exhausting.

Last time I visited the beach, I lamented the lack of sea oats and sea turtle nests. Both were seen this visit. There are no sea oats on the beach, but behind the house and on some of the remaining dunes toward the wildlife refuge beach the oats look normal. There were a few sea turtle nests. I didn't take a picture because once they are marked they look just awful cloaked in neon orange plastic tape. I know that the neon tape is a necessary evil. The tape helps keep unsuspecting visitors from stepping in the wrong place and helps the Save-the-Turtle group check the nests and keep incubation counts. One of my mom's friends helped a distressed Mama turtle this year. I will see if I can get permission to print the story.