She Left All This Crap On My Porch

Getting to spend time with these fabulous people in Myrtle Beach for a few days was so lovely. We survived all the travel (though there was a moment where I was crouched in the airplane bathroom, somehow holding Elsbeth with one hand and supporting her head with my knee and using my other hand to pull Andrew's pants back up, all the while trying to convince him to quit playing with the vent he found on the nasty, nasty floor).

It wasn't the summer for lounging on the beach with a book (surprise, surprise) especially since Andrew wasn't feelin' the ocean and the sand. He just wanted to stand in the indoor water park area and watch people walk and swim and go down water slides.

I mean, why build boring sand castles and splash in the boring sea when there are fascinating water drains to explore!

Elsbeth, on the other hand, was totally up for getting dressed up in her strawberry swimsuit ...


... and sleeping in loving arms under an umbrella with the ocean breeze tousling her wisps.


And yes, Crazy Aunt Sallie, Melvina and Carrothead were reunited! They were so desperate for time alone that they volunteered to babysit while the rest of us went to dinner. Els had a blowout diaper on their watch, and I heard them discussing later how many years after they marry (!) they think they'll wait until having little Pork-Head's of their own.


(In an exciting and rather scandalous turn of events, Carrothead snuck Melvina into his suitcase and they ran off together to Pittsburg. I've contacted Pittsburg Auntie and she has promised to chaperon.)

OK, stupid stinkin' blogger has quit letting me move my pictures around, so the rest of this entry will be even more random than usual ...

Here's Els having her first sink bath.

So, Andrew didn't love the beach, except for one evening when we went out after sunset. Then he ran and laughed and played. The next morning when I suggested we go back out, he told me he wanted to wait until it was shady again. So maybe the brightness bothered him? I tried to get him to wear his sunglasses, but I might as well have asked him to smear molten lava on his face, so that was a no-go.

(Of course, when we got home, he had tremendous fun playing with and wearing my sunglasses. Crazy kid.)

Here's Andrew enjoying the shady beach.

And my back is forever thankful to my mom and Ashton, who both took turns wearing Elsbeth.

Deep Thought for the Day: I don't understand why Andrew will try (and then actually enjoy) scrambled eggs when I tell him that this is Daddy's favorite way to eat eggs, but was totally unmoved when, for the last two years, I've told him how much I like them that way. This tactic has also worked for carrots and chicken pot pie. Am I really just that uncool?