summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Saturday, July 5, 2014

a day at the beach, and other strange happenings....

Lake Ontario...long sandy beach...warm sunshine, cool breeze...

Miss Charlotte Claire. Ten of my eleven daughters went to the beach today. I wanted to get a picture, but don't like taking out the camera/phone when they're all in their bikinis, plus I forgot.

And one son, too, Mr. Jonathan. :)

We played in the waves. The water was cold at first, but with the cool breeze, it soon felt warm. We laughed and splashed and went in the water three different times. When Kathryn took the three youngest to the playground, I stretched out on my tummy on my towel and actually dozed off. Now, a few years back, that would be absolutely unheard of for me to even totally relax on the beach. So I appreciated it. The sound of the waves, the sunshine, the warm sand...bliss. Jon and Char like to roll around in the deep warm sand, but Camille likes to stay clean. A few of the older girls brought books to read, and a volleyball. The seagulls were very naughty, one swooped down and picked up an unattended baggie of chips, so we kept the food put away and hidden. That meant some very hungry kids wanted to eat on the long way home, so we stopped at McDonalds. Don't worry, I behaved.

Life has been busy. Thursday night I guiltily drove off all by my lonesome to a nice hotel in the city, to a getaway with some of my very good very old friends, the friendship being old, but also the friends. :) Six of us enjoyed the pool and hot tub, snacks and drinks and laughs. We stayed up late into the night, then got up and had a marvelous breakfast together.

I spent some time in the pool with kids when I got home, then on out the door again with Joseph and Mirielle and Abigail to the baseball game. It was BUSY. The whole night long, with nary a break. The stadium had free admission plus fireworks after the game. It seems like 95% off the people are patient and happy to be there. I will spare the frustrating details, but when the orders get behind and you have to keep ringing people up, adding to the line of people waiting for their food, then have to remember who had what, it is not much fun. And those 5% of customers start wearing on me with their comments about the waiting and the prices and that they SERIOUSLY have to WAIT for another pot of coffee to brew? SERIOUSLY!? One lady got really in my face about something we had temporarily run out of, so I offered to leave and go to the store and buy her some. Oh, dripping with sarcasm for sure.

As much as I don't appreciate experiencing those people's wrath, it does teach me a few things...

1. I am not as patient as I thought I was. My patience has an end, and then I really need to ask God for help.

2. I will always be a nice, polite customer, and remember that the cashier gets crap from people all day.

When the game finally ended, I felt like I had survived quite an ordeal because of how challenging it was to keep up with the crowd of customers.

I mistakenly thought that now would be a good time to write because the little girls are all tucked in, and some of the older ones were playing volleyball. But, they came home and I have nodded distractedly about Suze getting hit in the face with the ball, and about Kathryn's soccer cleat woes. I need to turn this off and tune them in.

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