Of the (almost) nine years my husband and I have been married, we have lived at the beach for six of them.  In Pensacola, Florida right after we got hitched and then in the Hampton Roads (Virginia Beach) area for 5+ years.  We aren't "beach people".  Well, my very Irish husband isn't a beach person, and since I like him and want to hang out with him it makes me not a beach person by default.  The thought of laying in the blistering sun while reading a book sounds great to me - it sounds like Chinese water torture to John.  So in the six-ish years we have lived seaside, we really haven't stepped foot on the beach unless it was in the evening to take our dog for a walk.

Until now.

Now that we have two very active children who need to have their energy burned off, the beach is the perfect place.  The beach is an energy suck - the sun, the surf, even the little dance we do to get rid of the sand.  Our kids leave exhausted.  Glazed over with fatigue.  This means easy bedtimes and quiet nights.

It is virtually impossible for us to relax on the beach right now with a 2 year old and a 1 year old.  But instead, it is socially acceptable to build sand castles, dig for shells, and bury little tiny feet in the sand.  Because of this, my "big kid" of a husband has taken new found liking to SPF 50 sunscreen and the wide open sand.  He has playmates, not just a lazy wife who wants to read her latest Jennifer Weiner book.

This past weekend we went to the beach twice.  TWICE, people.  Those of you who know me in real life know that this is a big deal.  Not for me, but for my toddler Kate who when I tried to take her to the beach once last year (just once) it was a meltdown of epic proportions.  Imagine a 2 year old clinging to her mothers neck with her knees tucked to her chest because it got her feet just *a teeny bit further* away from the dreaded sand of doom.  Dreaded sand of DOOM.  If my child had sand anywhere on her body - even the smallest speck - it resulted in a freak out.  Which made the beach impossible.  Pair that with a 6 month old who thought sand tasted delicious and a tired solo mama and you had a recipe for NO BEACH.  Like, never ever, I don't even want to look at the beach because it might send Kate into a post traumatic meltdown. 

I have no pictures of last year because I was holding my 2 year old the whole time.  Oh darn.

Thankfully, this year has been different.  A year has gone by and Kate has finally started to embrace the good things about the beach. 

She still tiptoes across the sand and notice her fingers sprawled apart because she can't stand the touch of sand between them...


But she plays, and digs, and love seashells.  She puts her toes in the water and wants to be there.  It is a huge success!  This will likely be our last summer in this area so we are happy we can embrace what makes Virginia Beach a tourist trap and causes all of the darn traffic!


Here's to a fun summer with sandy toes!

But please take time to reflect on why we have this three day BBQ extravaganza.  God bless our fallen soldiers and their families, who have made and continue to make the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.  God bless our deployed troops, who sit in harms way today and are sacrificing weekends, holidays, birthdays, and more.

One year ago today I hugged my husband goodbye.  I watched the news to see the aircraft carrier pull out on it's maiden deployment.

Not really. 

But it's tempting...

Yesterday my sweet friend Michelle's husband Haggis (aka Garret, but who does real names in aviation?) took command of the VAW-124 Bear Aces.  They had an awesome party at a place that was like a utopia for comfort food lovers.

Todd Jurich's Burger Bar is well known for burgers, fries, milkshakes.  The centerpieces on the tables were baskets of cookies.  There was a baked brie wheel that was bigger than a large pizza.  There were lobster rolls, cheeseburgers, and crab cakes.  I'm so happy they had the party at this place because if I had moved away without checking it out I would have been sad.  Very sad.

The point of this is simple.  Michelle sweetly purchased me a Cosmopolitan in honor of my birthday and this blog.  It was seriously the biggest and strongest Cosmo I have ever consumed.  Like whoa.



It was delicious.  I got buzzed drunk.  John was thrilled.

But I was dying to try the milkshakes.  And this Mcfatty didn't have the guts to order one while all the other girls were sipping their tonic water and picking at their fruit.  I already had grease stains on my dress from the burgers and fries.  I was a class act.

So next time you see me at a party and feel like purchasing me a drink, remember, my blog name has changed to Keep Calm and Have a MILKSHAKE.  I thank you in advance.