Exotic vacations and other Hampton-like experiences

Oh my.  What haven't we done this summer?!  Holy cow....it's been AMAZING.  May.  First we needed to get the baby blessed before our world travels, so we had to dress up.  Kind of a hardship, but we managed.  A picture wouldn't be quite as true to life if someone wasn't in tears. 

Dining with the beautiful blonde European cousins Memorial Day and feasting on exotic beef sliders, some bunless...

Rock-climbing the Himalayas..a decent workout I s'pose.

                                     

The babe having his first modesty lesson.  Sometimes you get unwanted modesty lessons in your homeland. Who cares if my kid has a sleeveless shirt or dress on?  As they get older they'll figure things out for themselves (and I'll help them along if they have skanky tendencies) but for now, it isn't a huge deal to me.  I won't do bellies; I think that is something the mother wants to show more than the kid, but a little shoulder or leg doesn't hurt nobody and it doesn't scream showgirl to me either.  So CHILLS OUT you Mormon Modesty Nazis!

 ---back to lighter issues--

Our trip to the Hamptons.  Oh yeah.....that's what we like.  Who doesn't want to take the whole summer off as a family and go stay in your beach retreat?  Well, after much convincing (because I wish I could just spend the afternoon in a hammock- but I am too busy planning all my dinner parties) I got A and I out there with their books and pillows and lemonade.  That's the life.  The summer life.  Oh, and look closely at that huge, flourishing garden that boasts maybe 2 tomatoes and 3 zukes.  Poor suckers ferociously trying to survive despite their greatest obstacle in life: me.

Summer isn't complete without swimming in the pure blue ocean.  Look closely and you might see a dolphin or two.

Teaching the kids to make the big bucks was something on my educational summer agenda in-between travels, along with workbooks that are slooowly getting themselves done.  Look at Anika and her friend workin' the system.  You should try this!  Mix 1 koolaid package with 1 cup sugar, and then funnel into straws, stapling the bottom first.  Homemade Pixi Stix!  You can easily scrounge at least 25 cents per stix from the 6 and up crowd, and maybe a dollar from the under 6 group who are most unsuspecting and sugar-hungry.  Just make sure they don't tell their parents where their allowance is going.  

And last but not least, when travelling the world you may see some sights that might leave you feeling a little uncomfortable, and the kids feeling confused. Like this cross-dresser.  What can you say other than maybe everyone wants to look pretty once in a while?  Who doesn't want to wear a fancy sparkly skirt or don fun flowing hair at least once before they die?


Besides all this non-stop action and culture we also met up with the well-bred Northeastern family for a few fun weeks in July. We also enjoyed a family reunion full of good folks and quality fun and now are enjoying the idea of the recently hyped "staycation" after all that crazy summer fun.  Dang, it's good to be home!!!!