and baby makes 6!

Our getaway

We made our sneaky getaway last Tuesday. Destination, where else??? La playa!

We made a full Thanksgiving meal in the Little House, and spent the day surfing and beach combing. We arrived home safe and sound just a few hours ago, and we are all bushed.

More manana when my love is back at work. Computer time while he is home is taboo here and I need to make myself comfy in his lap some more before he puts his monkey suit back on in the morning.

Remind me to tell you about the best thing I have ever found while shell hunting. Trust me, you will never guess. It is ancient and so cool my son spent the entire day combing the shore looking for something cool enough that I might trade with him.

Chow!

Turkey week

Unbelievable. Is it really Thanksgiving week? Gah! What the heck?

I have been completely completely captivated by the Twilight series books for the last week and 1/2 and Bill had to drag me out of the house to go surfing yesterday. I am on the last 100 pages of the 4th book and I forced myself to put it down and go. What can I say. They are really intriguing. The whole crush, tingling when he touches me, infatuation part I can totally relate to. I still feel that way after over 20 years with my guy. Bill is my Edward, minus the vampire part. Mmmmm.

So, be sure and read them. They were very fun to dive into, but now I am looking up from my Edward/Bella induced coma and see all sorts of craziness that has been neglected..

I have 3 days to shop, plan my meals, and figure out how to cook a Turkey in a space reserved for a chicken….or a hen.

This week will be a blur for me, but I hope to post some fun stuff later in the week.

Until then I thought I would give an update on the most spoiled turtles in America. Mertle and Nertle, or whatever their names are this week.

They live on the breakfast bar above my sink, in a enormous container that has an island where they can bask and kick back. They have decided that nothing but whole, freeze dried, ocean krill will do for every meal (which stinks to high heaven), and they prefer not to be woken until after 7a.m. NOT KIDDING.

When they do venture out to the little pond outside, they have an umbrella to shield them from the eyes of flying predators, and they come in every night to the safety of their indoor condo.

The words “spoiled” and “turtle” used together in a sentence have come out of my mouth. It is no secret that these animals, although enjoyed by my children more than words can say, seem to be mine and I am captivated by them as much as the kids. Maybe more so. Okay, forget the maybe. They are my turtles. The kids are just a front.

Just keeping things real here! Sigh.

Siren of the sea

I think if she was given one wish at this time in her life, it would be to have a tail so she could swim with the mermaids.

Eat fresh

Okay….no more politics on “and baby makes 6!”. I have had my say, just like the rest of the bloggers, and now I am done. I want some change. Yes! we! can! stop! talking! about! the! election!!!!

Let’s move on to something really important……..food.

There is no other way to eat fresh shrimp than with homemade tortillas, fresh lime, avocado, and Cholula sauce.

Save yourself some time, and boil the shrimp with their heads on. Only leave them in the water long enough for them to change (AHHHH! There’s that word again!) color. They will become pink, and it is time to get those babies out.

Oh, and a note about buying shrimp….do not buy pink colored shrimp if it is not already cooked. Raw shrimp will turn pink as it goes bad. The shrimp you buy should have a bluish tint, with some gray. Fresh shrimp will be irridescent and it is really kind of pretty. Really fresh shrimp will still be moving. Not kidding here.

Really, really fresh shrimp will still be swimming, having successfully avoided the shrimpers net.

Peel the shrimp, place several on the warm, soft tortilla, add some avocado, squeeze on some lime and shake a few drops of Cholula on it (Cholula sauce is yummy. It is on the table at our house for every meal). Roll it up and mange!!!

Oh, and don’t forget the Tecate!!

If you have not already bookmarked, head on over to the 3rd Coast. I am really loving the larger image format, so there will be new posts daily.

After the rain

This flower gives me hope. Not because it has rain drops still clinging to it’s petals, signifying it being wiped clean and fresh. It gives me hope because of its color. See, if it were a red flower, I wouldn’t feel hope. Only a yellow flower can bring about the hope that change can bring. Change that I can’t define, but since it is yellow, I think that definition will come with time…..

…..I hope.

Change from red. Red flowers are evil and must be destroyed. Preferably with a steak knife wielded by an orange flower. Orange flowers, which come from a mix of red and yellow, are also good. But only when they want to be. Being yellow is what is most important, because having a yellow flower will make everything all right.

Just focus on the yellow of the flower. Just look at the color. After all, we all know that the color of something is what is important. It doesn’t matter at all what is inside.

**edit to add…..I am so damn proud of our country. I am proud to live in an America that elected a black man into the Office of the President of the USA. I would feel that way if he were of Chinese decent as well. Or of any nationality for that matter. What bothers me is those who voted for this man based on the color of his skin, with ZERO education on his beliefs and background….. and folks there were many many of them….just cruise the internet and you will see.

I also know that there were many who fully educated themselves on both candidates and cast their vote for the man who best reflected many of their political beliefs, and to those of you who did this, I SALUTE YOU! Whether you voted Obama or McCain. You go! I may not agree with you, but I am proud of you.

To those who voted based on skin color, black or white, …..shame on you.

Fall fun

Football on an empty beach.

Sand dollars hiding in the sand.

The smell of the sea in the air.

Won’t you join me at the 3rd coast?

Longboard

Pale greens and blues

Reservations not required

Old Mr. Webster could never define

I was waiting for you that morning in January of 2000. I sat wringing my hands and watching for your truck through the kitchen window.

I took a deep breath when I saw you come around the corner and down the road to our driveway. I walked nervously through the garage, right up to the truck you had just parked. I slapped that pregnancy test up against the window. You looked at it, bent closer, looked some more, then back to my face. Then you smiled, reached over and locked the door.

I started shaking and crying, and you opened the door. I climbed up into your lap and hid my face in your neck. I was not sure how you were going to repond because you had told me “no more” in no uncertain terms.

I felt you shaking and I remember saying “You are so mad…..Are you mad?”.

You said firmly “No”, and as you put your hands on my shoulders and pulled me back, I saw that you were crying.

You said “I’m crying with joy”.

Quinn was born late in September, and nothing could have prepared me better for all that we went through with him, than those tears of joy that you shed that winter morning.

“Old Mr. webster could never define
What’s being said between your heart and mine.” ~performed by Allison Kraus

It’s what we do

Billy and I were lounging in bed this weekend, talking about Halloween and life in general. We tend to migrate to our room now, and lock the door once a day just to reconnect without the kids hanging on us. Mia calls it “visiting”, so when we head to the door, she says “oh no! Are you going to visit again??”

There is nothing that sets my heart a flutter more as when Bill takes my hand, leads me toward our room and says “Let’s go visit”. Then winks at me. Be still my heart!

While we were visiting the conversation went to friends and their importance in our life now. I said to him “You know, as much as I love my friends, I am happy to just be with the kids during the day, and with you in the evening and weekends. Your my best friend. I really feel so content with that. It is all I need. Does that put too much pressure on you”.

While lying there peacefully with his eyes closed he replied “Yeah, I am completely stressed out. Can’t you tell?” and he opened his eyes and winked. His winks are really marvelous and make me get all warm and tingly inside. You’ll just have to trust me on this, as, no matter how fast my Nikon is, I will never get a shot of him winking for you. Sorry.

I know that I am lucky to have a husband that loves me and wants to be with me. The man is a saint. You know how he spent Saturday morning? While I went for a run, he cleaned the floors, vacuumed the carpet, washed, dried and folded the laundry, made the bed, washed the sheets for the beds in the 5th wheel, and did the dishes for us. When I came home, the house was clean, which allowed for the rest of the weekend to be filled with fun in the sun

On Sunday I went with my kids and my best friend to the beach to do what we do…..surf and play. At the beach, Cory and I were talking and I said “Should we have invited someone to come with us here?” and he replied “No, I like it better when it is just us”.

And so it is.

I am exhausted, my arms are so sore from paddling I can’t raise them above my head, and I have a cold.

But I am content and very happy. Photos below.

Heading out

Just us

Father and son.

My love. I love the way he is dragging his hand over the top of the wave.

Does that not look too fun??

Getting his board wired

I adore this shot of the two of them waiting for a set to come in….will have to get it in print to hang up on the wall. On an aside, look at those broad shoulders…the man is 51 years old. Not an ounce of fat on him and still charging like a 20something.

Cory is becoming the ultimate surf dude. It’s in his genes.

Enjoy your week!

Shrimp shack