emergency blog

WHEW. I am finally getting to this. True, I am at work. But this is something my boss does not need to know. Last week in Rhode Island was awesome. It was great to be with all of the family and it was actually relatively (haha, relatively!) stress-free. Natalie, Jane, and I changed each other's voicemails which was a major highlight.

Common phrases to be heard at the beach house:
"You have just earned one MILLion...punches in the face"
"(fill in the blank). So hot right now."
Out of the mouth of Gerry, as Paul was up to bat for around 5 minutes without a hit:
"Paul. Not so hot right now."
In the event that something bad happened:
"Bad news Bears!" (I hated this one. Just for the record. It only exited my mouth ONCE and I immediately regretted it).
"GREAT JEAAAARRRRRBBBBB" or "GREAT JOOORRRRBB" Thanks to homestarrunner.com for that one.

A few questions about the week though: Why did Natalie insist on calling my cell phone multiple times when I was standing right next to her? How did Uncle Phil tolerate sleeping in the gross, gross, musty basement? Why is there still sand in my bed? Why was the mattress on Natalie and my bed SO THIN we were practically sleeping on bars? Why was the "den" aka kid's bedroom ALWAYS SO HOT?!! Does Natalie's radio play another station (we listened to Golden Forties - I kid you not - the ENTIRE WEEK.) Why did Natalie feel the need to push me in the face as I was calmly sleeping next to her? Will I ever be able to play Fishbowl again after this massive overdose? Why did Kennon (Paul's girlfriend) sleep UNDER our bed when she had a cot available to her? How did the boys manage to refrain from jumping on us to wake us up? AND: the most crucial question of them all - WHY did Paul betray us girls in such a harsh way and play "Taps" to wake us up the morning we left? All these and more are lingering in my head.

However, there were some highlights, including: making Tom (a friend of mine) into a mermaid on the beach (look for pictures of that on the blog later this evening), having 5 of my favorite cousins lying directly on top of me, the AMAZING sand castle, beach walks, many, many solitaire games, watching Annie mime "muffler," talking with my cousins until 2AM, changing each other's voicemails, listening to Grandpa talk about meeting Grandma, the homemade butter pecan ice cream, Hershey Bar Pie for breakfast, biking around Watch Hill (especially when the girls and I went to the beach comPLETELY loaded down on our bikes - that was fun), talking to Eric on the phone, watching Kerry's speech at the DNC, celebrating 3 birthdays, and much, much more.

I think this was one of the best family vacations so far. Of course, I say that every year. But I also mean it every year. Look forward to some hot family pictures to be posted on the blog, as well as my current musings on religion and humanity (in response to Jack's comment on my blog. You've had me thinking). This evening, I am NOT going out with friends, I am staying in and doing important things, like buying books online and POSTING ON MY BLOG, and sitting on my butt. And, of course, going to bed early. I am more excited for tonight than I have been for hanging out with friends every other night. Sorry, guys.

Thanks for your patience in waiting for this post =)