And there is adventure and drama!

Well, it's time for another post in the blog. Yesterday Margee and family went to Seaworld since they had some free passes, so the rest of us took a picnic to the beach. First it wasn't too bad for me to walk to the beach along the boardwalk. Then we got to the deep sand. Then we noticed there was no lifeguard where we were, so we had to go down the beach until we found a lifeguard. Asa and I were the last ones to get to the appointed spot. Then I sat in my lawn chair with my jacket on and my afghan wrapped around me. It wasn't really so cold, but very windy since we were on the ocean. It was enjoyable. The kids couldn't go in the ocean without holding someone's hand, so of course Lea thought she should take off at full speed a couple of times toward the ocean with adults following also at full speed. She really liked to just sit down at the edge and let the water come to her. Zoe soon found out why the ocean is dangerous after she got knocked down a couple of times even holding someone's hand. After she got cold she didn't like it. Asa and Judah really liked to play in the sand, but not go in the water. James helped them build a couple of sand castles before Melinda and Jodi burried him in the sand.

Now for the adventure. We stayed up pretty late playing cards and waiting for the Crawleys to return last night. In fact it was 11:45 when I went to bed. Then at 2:45 I heard a horrid series of beeps that were extremely loud. I was tired and it didn't sound like any fire alarm I had ever heard, so I assumed it was some sort of security alarm. I figured the burglars could just take whatever they wanted. But then, of course, officer Crawley came along with Ryan and Zoe and I had to get up and go outside. I was sharp enough to take my purse with my keys and said people could get in my van. It was the only one parked at the condo. So in piled 5 of the 7 kids and one grandma! They were all wound up like 10-day clocks! I ran the van so we could stay warm since it was probably around 60 or so outside. The girls stayed outside with the two smallest kids for quite a while, while the guys tried to get the ear-piercing beeping to stop. They'd get it stopped briefly only to have it start again. Finally it was decided that it was a malfunctioning smoke detector so they took out the battery. Then it chirped. I don't know what they finally did to it, but at last there was silence and we all returned to the condo and back to sleep. In the meantime the others had alternated in the van and finally I convinced the kids to be quiet for 5 minutes. That was nice! It was 4:15 when we returned to bed.

Yesterday we had talked about where to go to church. Margee and Ward were going to a church similar to the one they went to in the Quad cities that was 45 minutes away and the rest of us were going to go somewhere here. Then we had talked about just having our own service here. Then we had the middle of the night adventure and everyone (adults at least) was tired this morning, so I guess we decided to skip church for today.

Right now all but James, Margee, Judah, Asa, and I are at the pool. We are having a turkey for supper tonight. For Christmas day, we had leftovers at noon and grilled steaks and chicken tenders and pumpkin pie for supper.

I hope you're enjoying our adventure and have a nice day. Oh, yes, I looked at the thermometer on the porch a little bit ago and it was 71 and the sun was shining on me.