Tag Archives: Beach

The surfer look?

Adventure, Awesome, Family, Fun, , , ,

We’ve been back from the beach for a few days, but my head is sort of still halfway between home and the ocean.  I was looking back over the pics I took and there are far too many of the pier.  The other trend I think I found were of the four of us looking like wannabe surfers.

On the beach

On the beach

Really, it is more of a matter of wearing rashguard shirts so we don’t get sunburned, but that’s not too sexy so we will go with the surfer look.

On the beach

Abigail in particular, is the water-dog when it comes to body-surfing.  We had several days of pretty rough waves and she didn’t seem to even notice.  I was getting beat to death, but she kept going out into the surf.  Of course, she, too, was getting beat up, but it just didn’t seem to bother her.  And heck, scars and scabs on my little girl’s knees and feet are kind of cool.

On the beach

On the beach

Well, beach time is over I guess so I will have to get back into real life mode I suppose.  Really though, I suppose I will have enough sand it my delicate parts to be reminded of the beach for some time to come!

Pier pressure

Awesome,

I mentioned that we are at the beach and are lucky enough to have a house pretty near to one of the piers in the Topsail Island area.  I have this thing for structures I guess.  Every time I see a cool bridge, I pretty much take a picture of it.  It drives Emily nuts a little.  In a way, I guess I get a little satisfaction from that alone, but I digress.  I like bridges and stuff like that.

Topsail Island Pier

On this trip, I have identified the fact that I also like piers.  Every day I walk at least one time to the pier, just so I can look up its skirt as it were.  I am fascinated by how it is built and how it stands the constant bashing of the waves and even the occasional hurricane.

Topsail Island Pier

From a distance, and even close up in many cases, piers are just amazing works of art!  I don’t think I am ready to change careers, but if I were, I think I might consider being a bridge or pier architect…or maybe just a critic…or maybe a hotdog vendor so I can walk on the pier all of the time.

Topsail Island Pier

Topsail Island Pier

Most days, I have seen cool pools formed by the turbulence generated by the pilings of the pier.  There are all sorts of fish and birds that seem to accumulate around the pier.  People are drawn to the pier too.  Of course, people fish from it, but I think I have seen more people resting under the pier than ever before…it is a great shade and wind break…or maybe people are just hanging out there waiting to greet me as I walk by.

Topsail Island Pier

Anyhow, I love the pier and I feel pier pressure to take a picture of it just about every time I walk by!

I am part mermaid

Adventure, Awesome, Family, Fun, , ,

I think I was born to live on the beach.  I have been to the mountains and the cities and foreign lands (like New Jersey), but I think I relax and enjoy my time at the beach more than anywhere else.  If I could live at (or near) the beach, I wouldn’t hesitate.

I keep trying to do my best Percy Jackson routine under water…you know, where he holds his breath for 8 minutes because he is a demi-god- son-of-Poseidon (if you have no clue what I am talking about, check out the movie and books!)  I never seem to make it much past 45 seconds or so which must mean I am not a demi-god.

I guess that must mean I am part mermaid.  In fact, I tried on a seashell bikini top and it looked magnificent…they did throw me out of Red Lobster though.

Anyhow, we went to the beach last week so I felt like I had returned to my homelands.  We had tons of fun boogie boarding and body surfing and skim boarding and falling asleep under the tent and chasing crabs and watching for sting rays and reading mindless books.  Abigail finally discovered that she can ride the waves so the beach turned into a lot of adventure for everyone!

We usually sit around and read all evening but this year we added bocce to our evening fun list.  We all had a bunch of fun playing although Isaac was a little overzealous in his throwing of the bocce balls.  He and I did our victory dance several times which pretty well cleared the beach…so it was perfect!

The local wildlife was interesting though we found one that had stayed out in the sun a bit too long (which we didn’t realize at first…talk about funny as we tried to sneak up on him to get a picture!)  Anyhow, we saw sting rays and little fish and “diggers” and pelicans.  The shrimp boats were always nearby too…and we enjoyed the fresh shrimp indeed!

By the end of the week, things had started to get a bit silly…which meant it was the funnest time!  I don’t know who taught these kids to act this way…probably their mother…