Fried Food, Cable, and Beaches, Oh My!

What an awesome weekend.  We stayed in a very nice condo… the kind of place that has clean, trustworthy, “I will gladly walk barefoot on this” kind of carpet… (and to our feet, who only feel the harshness of hardwood flooring, carpet was something to really write home about.  This definitely sounds like a 1950’s commercial.)  Our condo also had fancy cable… the kind of cable that has numerous reality shows on anytime of day, the kind of cable that can suck you in and make you lose track of time, the kind that can have you yelling things at the tv like, “Barry!!! Why did you bid on that good-for-nothing storage locker??!??”  or “That mom did NOT just use the  phrases, ‘self-tanning’, ‘teeth-whitening’, and ‘my 3 year-old child’ in the same sentence.” It was glorious. On Saturday afternoon, while sitting on the beach, enjoying a drink, staring at the water crashing less than 10 feet from our toes, Sean said, “I know Jesus is coming back soon because I just saw Toddlers and Tiaras.”  Haha, amen brother, amen. 

 The second night we went to a restaurant within walking distance of our condo.  We ate hushpuppies, french fries, popcorn shrimp, and fried jumbo shrimp…with the exception of a few orders of Sonic Mozzarella sticks, this was our first fried food in over 2 months…it was heavenly.   We were also sitting on an outdoor patio with a wedding taking place about 100 yards away. I got to stuff my face with fried-goodness, while watching a beautiful bride walk down the “aisle” to a small crowd of excited friends and family members. I might have cried a little, and then stuffed my face with more fried shrimp while mumbling things like “this is perfect."
   

By the time we got back to the condo it was still light outside, and we were able to enjoy the beautiful ocean view aaannnddd fancy cable at the same time. (The couch sat right next to the ocean front balcony.) Say whhhhaaaaatttt????  It was awesome. Just awesome.  Sidenote: House Hunters is still my favorite…and House Hunters International?!!?  Fahgetaboutit.

On Sunday we woke up to dreary skies and a rainy forecast.  We easily made peace with this, as we’re both huge fans of watching storms roll in across the ocean. See?

After drinking coffee and admiring the rain from the dryness of our 12^th story balcony, we decided to brave the weather and dip our toes into the sand before this sucker showed up:

Then low and behold we got down to the beach and it cleared up! 

We ended up spending the rest of the day with our toes in the sand, soaking in the sun, and reading the incredible mystery series my father and sister wrote together.  Seriously… they’re AWESOME!!! (… and I wouldn’t just say that. I taught middle school reading.  I’ve read a LOT of kids’ books and these. are. awesome. )  I’m hooked!  

This morning we got up, walked on the beach, (Okay… Sean walked on the beach.  I slept in.  Egyptian cotton is a powerful force to be reckoned with.)Then we had coffee on the balcony, and headed home. 

Such an amazing vacation, and I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to go. This was the first vacation we’d had by ourselves in 2 1/2  years!!!!!!

(P.S. There’s news on the adoption front.  We’ll be going back to Africa soon! Unfortunately we won’t be bringing Abiella home with us but at least we’ll get to see her! Details on that piece of information soon.)