And now, dear readers the moment has come. This is a sad time for me, but it must be said. Due to Race being away, and only able to communicate through internet, I regret to inform you of the following:
For the next few months, this blog will be a chronicle of our hum-drum, every day, boring lives. Shocking. I know. Those of you who depend upon my daily insights for the sharpening of your intellectual faculties........well.......I'm deeply sorry.

(O.K. *snort*, I am so full of crap....... no real change, other than Race will actually be READING this once in awhile! Oh- and if there were anything ever written on this blog that was even slightly intellectual, I can assure you that it was purely by accident.)

But before I tell you about my boring day of cleaning, let me share some of my best memories from the beach!
First of all....the critters that the kids CAUGHT, but RELEASED before we left for home included: sand crabs, 2 kittens, several anoles, a possum, clams, and a little green tree frog. Glad to say that NONE of these came home with us.
Some of the meals that the fam prepared for us (you knew that this was coming): Prime Rib, steamed shrimp, seafood bisque(I would like to request now, my fathers seafood bisque upon my death bed), seafood bouillabaisse, and Thom's memorable mexican seafood meal that was made utopia by her own outta this world marguerita's!
The kids all had such a GREAT time on the beach. And when they weren't in the sand, they were in the pool, or the hot tub! Our beach vacation is never complete with out one of Thom's now famous treasure hunts. She makes messages and maps and leads the kids all over on a (sorta) scary hunt for the "treasure" which is always a big Pile O' Candy. She dresses up and goes to great lengths to "scare" the kids, and they LOVE it!!!!!!!!! One of her most common costumes is that of an old sea hag, whom they have to go down to the beach at night and talk to for thier next clue. It is a riot, and the kids look forward to it every year. Em's boys will be coming along soon, for a diluted version!
There were a ton of beautiful shells found (thanks to the hurricane), and over all 9 sharks teeth were found this year! Fun stuff.

We are still not unpacked completely, but the kitchen and the dining room are spotless now, so that helps. And the house has lost that funny smell it gets when all the windows and doors have been closed for awhile, and it smells clean again. Austin got the yard mowed today, and Jack and Savannah did the jobs that they were assigned as well. I plan to stick close to home the rest of the weekend, to catch up on the rest, so that Monday will find us back to "normal".

I have SO much blog reading to catch up on! Thanks for the comments below, I appreciate them very much. The one thing that's gonna be lacking around here for the next few months will be adult conversation. (I would like to talk to Austin, but after a few minutes, he begins to speak over my head, so that's no good.)

Have a good night!
Melissa
(Who is returning to her natural, fish-belly white skin tone very rapidly.)