Skip to main content

Back from the beach

We arrived back home last Saturday after a week at the beach, Carova, North Carolina, to be specific. I haven't spent a week at the beach since....the girls were 5 and 9 years old. Considering they are 12 and 16 now, it's been a while!

After a few challenges with transportation once we got there, it was a relaxing week. I should explain: our transportation challenges were rooted in the fact that our beach house was literally on the beach. OK, not so much on the beach (it was REAL close), but we had to drive on the beach for three miles to get to it.

I didn't know this until we got there, but I guess you are supposed to let out some air from your tires when you drive on the beach, even with 4-wheel drive. We did but let out too much air, which had two of our four tires shot, driving on rims on the beach. Chris and the boys spent practically one whole day getting these two tires replaced. $400 later, we were set.

It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weeks I can ever remember in my life. We slept late, ate good food (only ate out once...seafood of course!....and cooked at our house the rest of the time, mainly grilled), read, and spent most of our time in the private pool, hot tub, or beach.

Chewie had never been to the beach before. He had a great time jumping in the waves! Except for one day that we walked to the beach and he burned his paws....he didn't like that.

This week I was forunate to be home again as my office is closed this week as a cost-saving measure. We could take any combination of furlough days (we all have to take 3-5 this year), sick or vacation days for Monday-Wednesday. Regular holidays were scheduled for today and Friday for the July 4th holiday. Teenagers are at church camp and Chris had to work so it's been just Morgan and I. We've had fun from going to the cheap movies to see "Earth" to doing a little shopping, sleepovers with her friends, and working on soccer rosters.

Ah, summer....

Comments

  1. We've driven up there but never stayed the whole way up there. We have stayed at Villages of Ocean Hill, at the bend in the road before it ends!

    Good times there. Glad you had fun.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quite a pay raise!

Today I received a press alert via email from my alma mater, Oklahoma State. Check out the first two paragraphs below: Following only the sixth nine-win regular season in school history, Oklahoma State University today announced a contract extension for head football coach Mike Gundy, giving him a new seven-year contract worth $15.7 million. The contract was announced following action by the OSU/A&M Board of Regents at its regular meeting in Miami. With the new contract, which is effective Jan. 1, 2009 and runs through December of 2015, Gundy’s average annual compensation will be more than $2.2 million. His current six-year contract paid him $1,053,000 this year. What the heck? That's quite a raise, and he didn't even beat OU, Texas, or Tech! Now, I went to OSU when Mike Gundy was the quarterback there. He was the quarterback during Barry Sanders' Heisman year. He seems like a nice guy and a great coach, but wow... In all fairness, I have to point out that I also read

Changing the Focus

I will turn 50 this month. In honor of this milestone -- and just because I want to -- I am changing the focus of my blog. 10 years ago at the age of 40, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer -- papillary carcinoma. I started this blog after my first surgery as a means to communicate. I had lost my voice for about three weeks, and speaking was a challenge. Many well-meaning folks called in the days after my surgery to check on me. While it was fine that Chris and my mom provided updates, I missed being in contact with people. So I started writing. Along the way, I learned that I liked to write and also found other cancer patients and survivors along the way. I needed an outlet, and, unexpectedly, my blog provided some perspective for those newly diagnosed as well as those of us who must endure the various follow-up visits and the anxiety that accompanies them. My last cancer blog post was three years ago. Believe me, the anxiety is still there, but after two recurrences, I&

On my soapbox about "the best cancer to have"

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know I was on my soapbox this morning after reading yet another article about the dreaded subject of how thyroid cancer is "the best cancer to have." Think about that...the best cancer? Why would someone say that? In an attempt to make you feel better about having thyroid cancer, some health care profesionals try to convince those of us who have or have had thyroid cancer that it is "the best cancer to have" because it has a high survival rate. An aside here, that high survival rate applies to papillary carcinoma, one of the three types of thyroid cancer out there. Survival rates are lower for medullary carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma, the other two types of thyroid cancer. Back on topic...OK, so tell us that papillary carcinoma has a high survival rate. Truly, that is good news. But because of this "best cancer to have" statement, and the fact that I was told my thyroidectomy would most likely be just an easy, ove