Well, I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July holiday!  I, personally, took a vacation day on Thursday to pre-empt the already three-day weekend to stretch it to four.  I rarely take vacation days, especially on the eve of a holiday.  (That’s when disasters most likely strike in my business)  But I braved it, only got one phone call, only had to log into the office twice, so overall, I consider that a successful vacation/holiday.

I took Thursday off for a reason, a very special reason.  Oldest child, Chris, bought himself a surfboard and with his crazy two-job schedule and my ample unused vacation days, we decided to go out to the beach on Thursday.  We were also considering the holiday beach rush on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  We locals tend to avoid the beach during such chaos and mayhem as the major tourist holidays and stick to our local pools. 

So Thursday morning, we were up and out the door early.  He and a couple of his friends (who didn’t mind “MOM” hanging out with them cuz they’re cool like that) hit the beach. 

I LOVE the beach!  Have I ever mentioned that?  This is just one of the many houses I’d like to live in one day.

And wake up to this every morning.

But I haven’t won the lottery yet, so until then. . . I’ll just drool. 

Anyway, back to the weekend.  His friend, Kyle, is a surfer dude, very cute, very chill, and very Mormon (I know. I don’t get the combination either, but he’s a good kid) and he was there to teach Chris how to surf.  I was just there to soak up the sun (my favorite pastime) and take pictures.  And relish the idea that I now FINALLY had a beach buddy.  He’s always hated the sun and grew to hate being dragged to the beach, but realizing how much fun Kyle was having (while Chris was photographing him), he caught the surfing bug. . . even though there is sun involved.  I think the addition of hot chicks at the beach was a definite Pro in this decision of his too.  I’m just thinkin’.

Chris has always been my stocky child, and with this comes a child young man with tremendous upper body strength – tremendous.  And even though he had little confidence that he’d actually get up on the board the first day out, I had no doubt that could and would.  He’s a determined sort and extremely strong.  He could have made millions in football, but we’ve been all through that already.

Here’s his first attempt at surfing . . .

He did this over and over. 

And there was a lot of this too.  Sitting around waiting for a wave.

I have many more pictures that I’ll bore you with share later.

I was QUITE proud of him!  It was a lot of exercise!  And a lot of sun!

And more importantly, HE had A LOT OF FUN!  A LOT!!!!

When he was done surfing for the day, he sat with me and his friend, Ashley (Kyle had to leave early to go to work) and we were just chatting and laughing and joking around when I realized that I had NO idea what time it was.  I looked at my phone, then it hit me. . . I would be sitting in the office right at that very moment had I not taken that fabulous vacation day to go to the beach. . . Eeewwwww!  I wanted to stay at the beach forever!  I want to retire and do this every single day.  Until I realized yet again, that I haven’t won the lottery yet.

We had the best time!!!!  This is why I can’t imagine NOT living so close to the beach.  Instant vacation on a whim without all those stinking reservations.  HOW FUN!