just another day in paradise

so i am a bad bad blogger. obviously.
i am just so busy..detangling salt water encrusted hair, finding sand in baby bum cracks, watching the man with the parrot on his shoulder ride his bike down my street.
you know.. i am BU-SY.

are you tired of seeing pics of paradise yet?? yes?  sorry. this is all i've got right now. babies on a beach... this is my every day. some cold february week of next year i am going to be bundled up on my couch living vicariously through myself ... eyes glued to all these picture perfect postcard moments. so... i need every single one of them.
they will be my sunshine on cold winter days.
i am simply preparing for the inevitable.

we meandered up north to a different beach of my childhood. this little gem has an inlet where the sea curls inside like a lazy river. there are mangroves lining the shore that become lunch pavilions and princess forts.

this was luci and adriana's favorite beach... they could sit and splash and not get pummelled by an angry wave. grayson and ari were starting to get brave about going in "the deep" which means past their waist in their world..

baby on a boogie board.
if you don't think that's cute your heart has been replaced by a stone cold rock.

the first time ari put on a mask she got claustrophobic and completely freaked out. she said the mask wouldn't let her breathe. i told her to just breathe through her mouth.. she said
"i can breathe through my mouth?"
 i suppose i never specifically informed her of this.

when grayson got home after wearing his life jacket for the first time all day... he was complaining that his "nuh-nuhs" (our word for boobies) hurt. i ignored him. the next day i saw he had chapped his little boy nipples and had scabs on them. for the next few days he would give us constant updates on the state of his nipples. i said he could wear band aids on them next time. ;) he declined.

luci and cappy building sand piles...

sleepy babies with lovely mamas... :)

my little luci had no fear. she would head for the sea like an old friend. she would crawl right in till the water swirled her neck and laugh as if that in fact had been the goal the entire time.

our book selection that we brought down with us has been getting a little old.
the kids have been diving into cappy's ocean themed leather bound books.

we started with the pirates book. if your only vision of pirates is johnny depp with extensions you have been severely misled. they are brutal. i used my power of veto and moved us on to the explorers volume. 

less blood, more adventure.

less walk the plank, more land ho!. 

less nightmares, more dreams of discovering something new and unseen.

those kind of dreams start when ears are young and hearts can see...    

there can be a certain breed of monotony to perfection. day after day of cloudless skies and island breeze. a florida sunshower comes on you fast and leaves even faster. depending on the season and the drought pattern these can happen every day or as it is now about once a week. the kids have been eyeing every gray cloud in the hopes that they could pull out their umbrella... 

it is a strange feeling being 'home' without it really being home. when we lived here we always had a boat. something to at least putter around all the little islands and do quick trips out to the reef. we have now joined the ranks of the land tied here in florida and had to satiate our need for sea legs by taking the water taxi over to a small nearby island to do a little snorkeling and exploring.

it had the perfect little bay for babies and wannabe snorkelers... my dad saw a small shark while they were out snorkeling but didn't tell ari as he was afraid that would quickly end the underwater adventure. when i told her later her first reaction was disbelief, followed by anger at the 'danger' she had been exposed to and not informed of... when i explained that it was a nurse shark and relatively harmless. she said.. and i quote..

" i am astonished that the nature that i thought wanted to eat me turned out to be my friend. how wonderful."

:) i love that girl. :)

this is the old coast guard station.. now it's a museum. i adore it.
house-o-my-dreams. oh the things i would do with that lookout tower room... 
besides just the obvious of doing a lot of looking out. but i would do that too. :) 

ain't no par-tay like a sushi beach partay.

and every evening the marina calls our name.. or maybe that's grayson and ari i hear incessantly starting at about 4 m. we go to da ramina? can we go inside the gift shop? are we going to feed the fish tonight? can we bring our dolls? can we ride our bikes? can i push luci in the stroller down the dock? um...yes,yes,maybe,no,maybe and absolutely not.

amazing circus elbow tricks just don't quit down at the marina...

i have these moments where truth falls heavy on me and i see clearly.

where i can see my hourglass and hear the quiet rush of sand as

one day chases the next into my memory.

measured hours is what we have... when all i am trying to do is get to nap time so i can hear myself think again it feels like a never ending stack of days lined up in a row.

but my breaths are numbered and my sunsets will have a last one.

the awkward world ending that went to bust was a great moment of truth for me... i know someone who was very convinced that the government was going to do some sort of mad scientist craziness and make a big earthquake that would send florida 50 feet under water. this was to happen on may 11 or maybe the 12th.. scratch that.. make it the 21st. oh wait that day is already taken by the rapture billboard people.

it's hard to pick a world is ending date you know??

so i thought well isn't that just great-- i haven't been back to my florida in 10 years and the one month i am supposed to spend there that is the month we pick to end the whole thing??

come on.. throw me a sun bleached bone here people.

i spent approximately 10 minutes cumulatively worried about what i would do if i was in charge of saving these babies lives from a wall of ocean...

and those are 10 minutes that the crazy farm stole from me that i can't get back.

days are meant to be lived.. not feared.

salt air is meant for breathing deep.

sand is meant for swallowing your feet and hitchhiking it's way home with you on your ankles.

the sun is meant to soak in so warm and long that it feels as if you could sink right through the earth and never move again.

moments are meant for eyes to be open and adventures are meant to be had.

babies are for smooching and good songs are for singing loud.

my breaths have been numbered from the time i drew my very first

and i am held in the hand of the one that has called me.

that is peace.

and peace in paradise looks a lot like this. :)