Beach Vacation Slideshow Days 3-5

Here's another slide show Emily did for the remaining 3 days of our vacation to the beach. We had a great time.

*remember to turn off the music in the sidebar.

For some interesting silhouettes Emily took at the beach house visit Pixelation Exploration.

Returning to Tucks--1st Time to the Beach

We first discovered Tucks Landing four years ago. In fact one of our pictures from that trip we included in Andrew and Kathlena's photo albums we left with them while we were waiting on our court date. So, they have been wanting to visit this place for over two years now. We had planned to visit in late September of 2008, but hurricane Ike changed our plans. As a result much of the landscape has changed from when we last visited, but thankfully Tucks was still standing. We enjoy Tucks because it is off the beaten path therefore the beaches are not usually crowded, in fact we only saw a few people the entire time we were there. This particular area is also known for it's large variety of shells. We still found this to be true. When we went in 2006 we were picking up sand dollars every time the waves went out. While we didn't find as many sand dollars we did find many very nice and intact shells that we brought home as souvenirs.
For Andrew, Kathlena and Calvin encountering the ocean was something they had only heard of or read about in a book. The excitement and wonder you can see all over their faces in the slide show video below. Kathlena was cautious at first, but once she got a taste of the waves she was hooked. Andrew just ran to the waves without much hesitation and loved laying on his belly in the sand while the waves rolled over him. Calvin did not care to much for the cold water and sand, but enjoyed the serene atmosphere that lulled him to sleep.






My favorite part of the trip was laid back time with my family. Sitting and talking. Laughing and playing. Discovering and discussing. A nice introduction to summer. Below is a ten minute clip of our trip that Emily our video/slide show expert put together. Thank you, Emily for digitally preserving our beach vacation memories.

*remember to turn off blog music in the sidebar to listen to video

Furry Muffins--Emily and Kathlena's Story

It was already a stressful morning, the day we leave for vacation always is. We had woken up well, let's just say not as early as we would've liked, we still had most of the packing left to do, and we were trying to get to the beach in time to swim, but we hadn't even got breakfast finished yet. Mother was making Blueberry Muffins when Kathlena and I (Emily) came in to help. After what seemed like forever the muffins were at last ready to go into the oven. I greased the muffin pans and set them on the counter between the oven and the pantry. I heard footsteps above me "I guess somebody's in the attic" I said. "Dad's looking for another Rubbermaid tub" Mom replied. (This time we decided to go to tubs instead of suitcases). I turned to empty the dishwasher, we all were relieved that the muffins were finally going into the oven. Mom went over to pour the batter into the pan, Kathlena went over to watch. I was bent over the silverware drawer with my back to them when I heard a loud crash behind me and Kathlena scream.. I turned to see Dad's right leg hanging from the ceiling directly above where Mom stood.

There was a yellow cloud of insulation pouring down all over Mom who was still pouring.

It was all over her, the floor, the counter, and...

...the freshly poured muffins.

It wasn't so funny when it happened but by the next day we were able to laugh about it and the following week after our vacation we had it repaired. After we paint over it you'll never even be able to tell that the hole was there.

However, the incident was quite traumatic for Kathlena, for some time afterwards she was shaking so badly that she couldn't speak other than "it was so scary". But after awhile even Kathlena was able to laugh at it...at least a little. Now she has fun telling the story over and over again for her brothers who missed out on the action.

Here's Kathlena's side of the story captured on film:

We arrived at the beach house without further incident though we didn't make it in time to swim. Andrew and Kathlena were simply beaming with excitement as you can see in the pictures below.