Bearshorty's musings

How is August half over already? It's really going by fast. We are starting another heatwave for the next couple of days. That should be fun. At least there is a beach by my parents.

Tanya and I stayed at my parents's house from Tuesday to today this week. We got back this morning. I think she's teething again because she's crankier today and clingier too. It is cute when she says 'mama' all the time and wants to hug me but she doesn't want me out of her sight lately.

We did have summer fun at my parents. On Wednesday afternoon we went with my Mom to the zoo. We went in May last time, and as she is older, Tanya was certainly paying more attention to the animals. She really liked starring at the kangaroos and emus and at the donkeys, the rabbits and the cows. She also liked sheep. The zoo has two black swans and one white one and four type of geese - that was engaging. This time in a little pond under the bridge I also saw white swans with black heads and necks. I've never seen those before and they were certainly pretty. Of course, for all the animals, Tanya really wanted just to play with the cooler that we took with us the most. It was pretty funny.

The zoo is free from 2 to 5 on Wednesdays but my Mom wanted to drive in early to fit Tanya's nap in and grab parking. We ended up on an impromptu hike as we found a nice park with nature trails near the zoo. It was quiet and very pretty with a pond and ducks and high trees. I haven't gone on a hike in a while; it was just lovely.

On Thursday and Friday mornings we went to the beach. On Thursday it was just with my Mom and on Friday with both my parents since my Dad had a day off. Friday outing was a little better since on Thursday there were a lot of vicious flies. I don't think I ever encourtered flies on the beach before much less these nasty evil biting ones. Friday was much better. The water at least was great to dip feet in (I don't really like swimming in the ocean but I love to walk on the shore).

I also managed to watch a movie yesterday since my Dad took Tanya to the playground. (My Dad played with her after work on Thursday and Wednesday too but she wouldn't let me leave the room. I settled for reading a book on the couch but she would periodically come over and climb up for a hug and a kiss. Super sweet but not quite relaxing). I watched 'The Butler' on Netflix. It was a bit too much. I liked parts of the movie and the scenes of civil rights protests were very effective but plot felt too constructed occasionally. This movie probably had all the actors of Hollywood in it and the acting was good but it just didn't gel for me overall.

Feeling sand between the toes, on a nice warm sunny day is just lovely.

Tanya and I are at my parents's house. Since we are traveling to Bear's parents this weekend for the Fourth of July, my Mom wanted time too, so she picked us up on Wednesday and will drive us back tomorrow early morning (where we promptly will repack and go to Long Island).

My Dad was not working today because of the holiday tomorrow falling on Saturday, so this morning we all went to the beach.

My parents live 5-10 minutes from the beach, by car. And over the last decade there was a lot of renovation of the beach area. It is really wonderful now with a long road to walk/bike/rollerblade. In just the last year they built a waterfall, park, new playgrounds, little amusement park and just made it very nice. Hurricane Sandy did destroy a lot but it only gave the opportunity to rebuild.

The beach is big, clean and not crowded at all. At 8:30am there were like 5 people beside us and only by 10:30 people really started to trickle in. Still, lots of space. The water is pretty cold and I don't really like swimming in the ocean too much (give me a pool anyday) but it was nice to just relax on the sand.

It was Tanya's first time playing on the beach - she saw it before but never touched sand. She loved it. She was pulling sand onto the blanket and just enjoying it. Surprisingly, she didn't try to eat the sand. She played until 10:30 and then I walked her in the stroller for her nap, with my Dad taking over once she fell asleep. I got some free time then to just enjoy the beach. It was too windy to read. My Mom brought cherries.

We went back home by 11, since Tanya had to eat and my Mom only likes the beach in the morning. After our lunch, Papa and I went to Dollar Tree to get some decorations for the upcoming 1st birthday party at the end of July (it will be small but I still want it to be nice), and we went to Baby R Us to get more baby food and Mega Blocks that will be a present for Tanya. I also picked up a book as a present for Ida but I will still need to get more for her.

In the afternoon we went back to the beach area but to the amusement park section and a little park by the waterfall. Tanya is very headstrong -she will protest loudly if we don't let her do something - and she also wants to move all the time. She is not a child to sit still like I was. She is now walking if we help her and hold her arms so she wants to do that all the time at hyperspeed. Our backs feel it. Once she will learn to walk, I think she will just start running.