June 18, 2007

Karate Rolls equal Vacation Fun

So you know that tennis match I referred to last time? The one where I was going to be taking someone "down in flames"? Well, the only person who went down was me.

I’m blaming it on the little hole in the court which was placed right where someone attempting to return a serve might step. I stepped in the hole, my left ankle rolled and the rest of my body went along for the ride. It was an absolutely fabulous karate roll, lemme just tell you.

In fact, it was so good that instead of cracking up laughing at me like I would have done had the shoe been on the other foot, Mr. BBM came running from the other side of the court to make sure I was o.k. before erupting in laughter. And yes, it happened right as the resort bus pulled in with a crap-load of beach-goers from the bay side.

Fab-U-LOUS.

I spent the next two days feeling like I had whiplash and cursing my 30-something year old body because "if I was a kid I’d be just fine!". To heal my bruised ego, I spent the rest of the afternoon having a "funny face contest" with Big I. I think I won. I only picked one of the pictures to display because I had no idea how capable I was of contorting my face into. . . well, a whole lot of wrinkles!

If I was a kid, I also would have believed that this dude is indeed Jack Sparrow, as advertised.

I was sort of hoping for a younger hotter replica, but when a pirate DJ shows up with hula-hoops, the kids aren’t complaining.

When I wasn’t complaining about how bad my neck hurts, we took the whole crew and went kayaking over in the bay. The bay here is pretty cool. You can actually walk across the entire bay (if your idea of a good time is feeling the constant sting of jellyfish). But it was a cool day on the beach, and the bay felt much warmer so we took the girls for some kayak rides.

Lil C went out for about two minutes before she decided she was just too far from "MOMMY!!!!" and stood up threatening to abandon ship. Big I went out for a while and had a great time.

My Mom and I also took the kayak out without kids (after I got Mr. BBM to carry me out to get in the kayak since I am so done with being stung by jellyfish after a short stint with wind surfing a few years ago). My Mom and I paddled around for a while, took some pictures of wild life, dreamed about having a home on the bay, and then decided we’d head towards the "rapids."

I don’t know the last time you’ve been around rapids in the middle of a bay, but we were exposed to the sun and. . . whatever, they were rapids. So, we paddled in their direction and then quickly realized that those "rapids" were actually the quickened pace and ripples of the water over a sand bar. We were stuck in about four inches of water.

Logic tells you that you’re going to be o.k. when you’re stuck in the middle of a bay that you can walk across. But my Mom and I threw logic to the wind and panicked because being beached in the middle of the bay, meant one of us was going to have to. . . gasp!!!. . . get out of the kayak and get us unstuck.

I stepped up, because she’s my Mom after all and I got us unstuck in a matter of moments. I also managed to avoid the dreaded jellyfish. I’m sure we also provided some entertainment for the golfers nearby as I must have looked like I was walking on water to free us while looking like a complete loon as I high-stepped and scanned the water for any "predators." It was quite an adventure.

In other news, Big I has become a master boogie boarder. (It could be because of her brand new beach braid.)

She picked a black board with a pirate skull on it and took to the water like the Black Pearl in the pirate movie. At one point, she got dumped and went for a bit of a karate roll herself. Hers, however, was much more eventful than my little tumble.

While under the ocean water, she saw, and I quote "a mermaid, a lobster, an octopus and a shark." Holy crap! If that’s not enough to make you stick to the shoreline, I don’t know what is! And that’s just what I have done.

I finished reading Living the Martial Way and started on another book that I’m already half way through. And Mr. BBM bought me some sunscreen that goes on like stale Crisco which has been able to fend off another sunburn and then some.

Lil C has learned a ton of new words this week. She is seeing sharks everywhere including at the pizza place where we ate tonight. Apparently, there was a little something extra in those mushrooms on the pizza. She’s also quick to tell you that sharks bite, and then launches into her repertoire of animal sounds that always entertains surrounding tables and waiters.

Lil C has cooled off on her love of seagulls. The damn things are just too hard to catch. Oh, and one pooped on her Mom-Mom’s umbrella while she was under it, so I think she gets the picture. She’s cursed like her mama.

She also breaks out in Rhiannon’s umbrella song every time someone refers to the beach umbrella, as in "Mr. BBM, I think this umbrella is going to launch," to which she responds with "ella, eh, eh, eh." It’s really quite cool that my kids are learning hip-hop music. Imagination Movers? Pshaw! What-evah! She steals my sunglasses frequently to really add some style to her Rhiannon rendition. And despite the fact that multiple attempts by Mr. BBM to stretch those suckers out didn’t work, Lil C had absolutely no problem stretching them out to fit a head of Ben Affleck sized proportions.

Tomorrow it’s more of the same. . . Big I and Mr. BBM boogie boarding while I scan for sharks intermittently between page turns. Meanwhile, Lil C will be pointing out at the sea and sending most the beach running as she matter-of-factly states: "SHARK! BITE!!!"