friend of a friend of a friend

A friend of a friend of a friend let us use his beach house this past weekend. We took off for 4 days with another family with 5 kids, a family with a 6-week old, the grandmother of the 6-week old, and our family of 6. We squeezed into 3 bedrooms and shared one shower and one squatty potty. It was all squatty all the time, my friends.

The house we stayed in was in a village, about 5 miles from a beach. The cow next door mooed throughout the day, and the kids climbed trees for the first time in 1 1/2 years. Growing up in KY I never lacked a tree to climb, but in a modern city of millions, our kids aren't afforded that opportunity. So they spent the majority of their time climbing trees, picking fresh fruit from the abundance of trees in the house's backyard, and taking trips to the beach. The trees in the backyard consisted of fresh figs, quince, walnuts, and apples. A fresh fig just plucked off the tree is really delicious! It doesn't taste a thing like a fig newton, but that's the only thing I knew of figs before moving here.

We hit a beach in a really small village the first day, and the water had at least 5 shades of blue. It was the most beautiful beach I've been to. The second day we tried a different beach in a more touristy area, and we were welcomed by a swarm of jellyfish. At least I think they were jellyfish. Their tentacles were itty bitty, and they didn't sting. However, it did sting when Annie got hit in the face by one in their jellyfish tag game. The kids collected them, squeezed them, and played jellyfish tag.

So thank you, my friend of a friend of a friend who let us use your beach house. I am so refreshed. Even though most all the kids slept in one room camped out on the floor, we heard the little 6-week old throughout the night, we were squeezed in tight quarters, and we shared one little squatty, I feel absolutely refreshed from my time away. It's amazing how good friendships do that to you. I feel strengthened.